Living in the TCI has it's risks too for Dominicans

the gorgon

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Sep 16, 2010
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http://suntci.com/another-dominican-woman-murdered-p2275-108.htm

This has become a regular occurrence for Dominicans working in the Turks and Caicos with deaths, rapes and beatings.

The girls go there to earn the US dollar and having paid very high fees to get a work permit have to succumb to realities of living in a foreign land at the mercy of locals.

yes. but try to remember that the girls who are the subject of this article did not go to TCI to work for Microsoft or Google. they are dealing in the seedy underbelly of the region, and bad things are always lurking in the background.
 

Bronxboy

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Jul 11, 2007
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yes. but try to remember that the girls who are the subject of this article did not go to TCI to work for Microsoft or Google. they are dealing in the seedy underbelly of the region, and bad things are always lurking in the background.

You play with fire, you get...........................
 

greydread

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Jan 3, 2007
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While we're doing victim cliches..."try to claw your way out of extreme poverty and you will most likely die trying". There is nothing that these Women could have done to deserve this mistreatment.

Let some little blonde bimbo from anywhere USA disappear and they'll shut the whole Island down but a Dominican Girl on a work visa gets raped, beaten, shot and burned and left for the birds to eat and all she gets is a bunch of cliches? There's something really wrong here.
 

jstarebel

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Oct 4, 2013
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I've seen first hand how things go in Providenciales for Dominicans and especially illegal women or those working "in the clubs" with work permits. First keep in mind that TCI was in 2007-2009 the most blatantly corrupt Caribbean island I'd ever been to. The British government stepped in and sacked the local government in 2009 with many arrests including Prime Minister Michael Mizak who was extradited to the UK from Costa Rica.

I had two ICE officials living in Turtle Cove landing apartments while I was there, and I was invited to more than one "Poker Game" by them and cards and chips were not at these parties. Rounded up illegal and legal girls working the clubs were the "Free main event". For the Dominicanas, going along allowed them to stay legal or not, and when a girl had a work permit and said something, it was quickly pointed out that they are the reason she has a work permit. Then the question; "Would you like us to revoke it"? The girls working the clubs were making four times what they made in Sosua doing the same work, so they just went along with everything. Even the Dominicans doing domestic labor cleaning houses and apartments were also prone to sexual harassment and threatened with deportation if they didn't comply. Provo is not a good place for Dominican women. On the men side, Dominicanos make up the main skilled labor in TCI with Haitians making up the non skilled labor.

In 2007, 68 Haitian migrants traveling to Provo by boat were discovered by a USCG Hel? and turned over to TCI marine police. The police boat out of Provo intercepted the Haitian boat and proceeded to ram the vessel and wake the vessel by circling the vessel creating a large wake to the point that the Haitian boat capsized. The TCI boat was said by the six or so survivors to have left after the capsize and returned to port. Body parts were floating up on the south side of Caicos Banks on Provo. This can be Googled if you want.

Dominicans and Haitians are not the only immigrants treated this badly. Seven Stars Resort, and the development of a multi million dollar resort on West Caicos was the scene of an international Israeli construction firm using Chinese labor force as what was to be described as "Slaves" by the media. 400 Chinese workers working for $4.00/hr. had not been paid in two months. They were forced to live in squalor without proper sanitation facilities, proper food, or proper water. The Chinese workers held the construction company management hostage to bring to light their treatment and working conditions. This is also on the Internet. Have a look..

In being fair, things have changed and the above post as well as selling Crown Land and selling work permits were what caused the British Government to intervene. Things have to be different now. By the way, the one Dominicana "Ramona Lopez Sanchez" who was found dead with her head caved in and set afire on the cricket field was killed by her boyfriend after she caught him with another Chica in bed. After the fight and the make up, they were sleeping and she took a kitchen knife and was going to cut off her novios pens, but he woke up. The rest of the story you know, but he was arrested for the crime the next day. One last thing. The TCI Police department was the TCI saving grace. No native TCI belonger works on the police force. They all come from other islands and lawlessness would have most certainly been the case during this time had it not been for the police force. The only good thing on Provo..
 

Contango

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Dec 27, 2010
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While we're doing victim cliches..."try to claw your way out of extreme poverty and you will most likely die trying". There is nothing that these Women could have done to deserve this mistreatment.

Let some little blonde bimbo from anywhere USA disappear and they'll shut the whole Island down but a Dominican Girl on a work visa gets raped, beaten, shot and burned and left for the birds to eat and all she gets is a bunch of cliches? There's something really wrong here.

Dammm the white man.. Whitey is the problem.... blah blah blah..
 

the gorgon

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Sep 16, 2010
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great posting, rebel. yes, Mikey Mizak was a piece of work. him and his boys used to hang out in POP, on a regular basis. that entire Turks posse was something else, when things were flush. it is not like it was before, because in those days these boys really threw some parties.
 

pauleast

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Jan 29, 2012
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Poverty is the problem, Dumas.

Then talk about poverty and not inject race into a thread for once. The "bimbo" was Natalee Holloway. A recent high school grad. She was on a vacation. She was not on a " dancer" visa like so many Dominicans that travel to turks and Aruba. No woman deserves to be killed, however there is a big difference between teenage girls going on a high school grad trip and a "dancer" servicing the budget all inclusive travelers. I used to travel to Aruba and Turks on the regular for business. They have both become budget destinations and now have an abundance of Dominican and Haitians. Most of them are on dancer visas as the can't, don't, won't assimilate into the higher paying hotel service jobs.
 

greydread

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Jan 3, 2007
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There are many countries where Dominican labor is sought out because of its affordability and the rates of pay in these countries allow those in the emigrant work force to provide for their dependents back home far beyond their domestic earning potential. These opportunities can be great for the workers as some eventually apply and are accepted for permanent immigration status and bring their families into superior growth environment (ex. the growing middle class of Dominican immigrants in Sint Maarten). Better education, better sanitation and infrastructure, greater employment and entrepreneurship opportunity and lower crime are powerful incentives for anyone trying to raise a family.

Here's the problem as I see it and how it affects stories like the one shared in the OP. Remittances are good for a poor nation and when thousands of its People are working abroad and sending enough back in remittances to alleviate the poverty which affects more than 40% of the population. What is important to note is what hasn't changed. The failure to sufficiently invest in public education to change the export work force from menial services to technical, medical and administrative services has left the population stagnant in its poverty as the rate of reading comprehension doesn't even come near the "literacy rate" claimed in official reports. The 19th century mindset of keeping the masses uneducated and poor with plenty of beer and rum to drown their sorrows in is actually working against the country as a whole as global competitiveness in all aspects of business and at every level determines who wins and who loses in the 21st century. Many "developing nations" are failing to develop because they aren't socially equipped for the move up. Some countries are so beset by political unrest and official malfeasance that they don't have a chance at improvement and I don't think that describes the D.R. at all. The opportunity to send bankers and doctors and technicians and engineers out into the global work force to replace the bartenders, bus boys and fake waitresses of previous generations is growing every day but the leaders don't seem to have the will to make this happen. So these People who are as capable as any anywhere, aren't being prepared to compete for any opportunities greater than their Parents and Grandparents were and this puts them at even greater risk abroad than they were at home. They end up surrendering their passports to whatever middle-man "agency" is pimping..um, er representing them and they are essentially slave labor until their contract has come to term. They find themselves at the mercy of not only the middle-men but of their hosts as well in an environment where it is easy to convince them that they have no rights and that their lives are as cheap as sand.

The government is a silent partner in the victimization of these workers in that news of another fatality of another of its citizens in yet another country doesn't trigger outrage, recall of its citizens, closing of its embassies...it's just business as usual, reinforcing the appearance as a society which assigns very little in the way of value to the vast majority of its citizens. The poverty in the country will not lift until this mindset turns around. It's poverty of the soul.
 

jstarebel

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Oct 4, 2013
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Then talk about poverty and not inject race into a thread for once. The "bimbo" was Natalee Holloway. A recent high school grad. She was on a vacation. She was not on a " dancer" visa like so many Dominicans that travel to turks and Aruba. No woman deserves to be killed, however there is a big difference between teenage girls going on a high school grad trip and a "dancer" servicing the budget all inclusive travelers. I used to travel to Aruba and Turks on the regular for business. They have both become budget destinations and now have an abundance of Dominican and Haitians. Most of them are on dancer visas as the can't, don't, won't assimilate into the higher paying hotel service jobs.

Sorry Paul, but I disagree with just a partial portion of your post. The Dominicanas in TCI do make up the majority of the work in the hotel service jobs (laundry, maids, and landscape) at least on Provo. Belongers there are more than happy to make money off of the Dominicans and Haitians by renting rooms of the unfinished homes they own out by South Dock for money instead of working (for the most part).
 

snowqueen

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I really hate to see blame laid on victims, which was alluded to in some previous posts. I don't care if she was walking down the street naked, it is still wrong to asault, rape and/or murder a woman.
 

the gorgon

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Sep 16, 2010
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I really hate to see blame laid on victims, which was alluded to in some previous posts. I don't care if she was walking down the street naked, it is still wrong to asault, rape and/or murder a woman.

nobody is putting the blame on anyone. we are simply making mention of the little matter of assumption of risk. these girls know why they are going to TCI, and are aware that it can be a risky undertaking.
 

greydread

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nobody is putting the blame on anyone. we are simply making mention of the little matter of assumption of risk. these girls know why they are going to TCI, and are aware that it can be a risky undertaking.

The fact that living at home is hard enough to make any level of risk at all seem like a good idea rather than to continue to wallow in despair is at the root of many problems. I met a group of young Men from Uganda in Addis back in January headed for guest worker visas in Dubai. I didn't have the heart to tell them what they were in for, they were so full of hope. It is the same with young Dominicans signing on to these foreign contracts, young and full of hope, thinking that they've hit the jackpot only to wind up in virtual slavery, unable to complain or get out until their visa runs out. They've got Kids as young as 18 in this system and they simply aren't equipped to protect themselves from the legion of professional vultures waiting to squeeze them dry and throw them away. At least in the Dutch islands their health and well-being is monitored by government agencies. At some of these other locations their lives are in the hands of fate.
 

the gorgon

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Sep 16, 2010
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The fact that living at home is hard enough to make any level of risk at all seem like a good idea rather than to continue to wallow in despair is at the root of many problems. I met a group of young Men from Uganda in Addis back in January headed for guest worker visas in Dubai. I didn't have the heart to tell them what they were in for, they were so full of hope. It is the same with young Dominicans signing on to these foreign contracts, young and full of hope, thinking that they've hit the jackpot only to wind up in virtual slavery, unable to complain or get out until their visa runs out. They've got Kids as young as 18 in this system and they simply aren't equipped to protect themselves from the legion of professional vultures waiting to squeeze them dry and throw them away. At least in the Dutch islands their health and well-being is monitored by government agencies. At some of these other locations their lives are in the hands of fate.

GD, the mere fact that so many people get on yolas explains quite a lot.