Sad situation

Danny W

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Mar 1, 2003
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I just got off the phone with my girlfriend in SD. Her brother is leaving his family and trying to make it to Puerto Rico in a yola (sp?). This has come up before, and we have been able to dissuade him, but after tonight's conversation, I give up. Like others on this message board, I have enjoyed the discussions on how to get the best exchange rate, real estate prices, electricity and fuel problems, etc. But the average person is now eating once a day, and poorly at that. This guy (her brother) works his butt off from 5 in the morning pushing his guagua, and his family is starving - and there's no fuel for it even if he could afford it. The family is going to Marcoris to live with the mother's family and hope he makes it. I wonder what I would do if I were in his place. Would I start stealing in order to support my family? And there are normal, hard working people.

I guess I not saying anything that hasn't been said before, but it's getting harder to look the other way and enjoy the life of a gringo tourista. - D
 

mountainfrog

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Dec 8, 2003
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Cannot get workers

Well, I may live on a different island then.
I have been unsuccessfully trying to find two farm hands to improve grazing land (uprooting weeds mainly).
It?s a rural area here but there are four bars along the roadside blasting off loud music until well after midnight.
There the local tigeres get their fill ... and they do not seem to starve.
I really feel sorry for honest and hard-working people who cannot find work.
Actually, I am looking for them.
 

Danny W

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Mar 1, 2003
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Does pulling weeds pay enouch to feed a family with 3 kids when the price of bread has tripled in the last year? People are working, they're just falling desparately behind. - D
 

kjdrga

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Mar 25, 2002
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Danny W

It is a sad situation, one that was created many many years ago, but after having lived in the DR and gone to many funerals for people who have drowned trying to get to puerto rico (one family lost three adult children in one instance), you can not talk people out of their dreams and asperations. (I should clarify, for some people since they've known a family member this has been their dream to go to nueva yol, for others desperate times call for desperate measures to ensure that your family eats)

I can recount the stories of even when they do make, how the are caught and sent right back. I can recount the tales of rape and abuse along the way...but this is happening everywhere, not just the DR.

If you're really upset, start by lobbying your local politician to make foregien policy changes, free trade law changes. Otherwise welcome to the world of desperation and oppression/depression felt by a largely ingnored population (the poor)

It's sad indeed, and the only advice I can give is pray he makes it safe.
 

Chris_NJ

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Dec 17, 2003
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Does anyone have any idea how many people actually do make it to Puerto Rico? And what do they plan to do when they get there? do they usually have some connections there for a job?
 

ERICKXSON

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Dec 24, 2002
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most of these people make it to ny via PR. Puerto Rico doesnt have enough jobs for themselves, imaging a 100,000 off the boat Dominicans searching for jobs? nowadays Puerto Ricans are making their way to Central Florida.
 

Narcosis

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Dec 18, 2003
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It's all a vicious cycle

Haitians come to the DR to "pull weeds" and "dig ditches", Dominicans go to PR to make below min wage but in a hard currency, and Puerto Ricans go to Florida to find min wage jobs that are now scarce in PR..
 

simpson Homer

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Nov 14, 2003
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The Ignorant country

This is how problem start.

a Dominican who work so hard to apply legally for a visa and then get refused! How do they know that you don't have enough prove to come back to the Dominican?

Who are the one who ask for money on the street of USA, EUROPE AND SOME OTHERS CONTRIES

Many people say that why dominican don't open the door to Haiti but people need to know also that Dominican rep. give free school to Haitian and any other immigrants.

We have Bad school and Bad Hospital but never we say not to that.

I know that there many Dominican delincuent in US but what would you do having 3 kids and not body give you a job?

I had a friend that tried many times to go PR and last time he did was in a container he departed one Saturday and on monday I got the phone call from my sister telling me that he died inside.

The captain of some boat get a fine for US25,000 thats why some times when they got cought they kill the Polizon.

I have a friends that they were going to a church reunion to England he was having the letter singned from one US organitation and still he got refused his VISA untill they sent a letter to the Vatican explaining that the guys from DR could not go because the UK visa was refused. 1 week later they call the guys to give them the visa.

What's the point to have a consulate in one country where you are not going to give them visa where the 00.2% get the visa.
many times you have the money, house, car and all the souvenirs that every embassy ask and still many times say not because you have too much that you don't need to leave your place to visit other.

I know every countries have the own rule and reasons but "God many people have longdistance relationship for years and years because one week visa get refuse. What's the point of a 5 year couple the partner can't get the visa if any way they will get married late or soon?


Homer Simpson
 

XanaduRanch

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Sep 15, 2002
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While I agree with you Homer that the visa rules are arbitrarily discriminatory, any government has the right to do that. I am not an anti-immigration type. It's the backbone of the U.S. drive and ingenuity and I am saddened so many of my former fellow Americans just try to hold on to their own subsidies and gifts by denying others the opportunity to enter and contribute.

Still, the problem here lies squarely on the shoulders of the current government. They only are thinking about themselves and their own swiss bank accounts and think nothing of the 9 million plus would-be hard working Dominicans just waiting for the government to get out the way so they can make a real living.

On a personal note the husband of one of my wife's immediate family took off at night three weeks ago leaving a note behind that he was headed for a yola ride to Puerto Rico so he could make his way into the U.S. and find away to support his family.

He has not been heard from since.

Thank you, Hippolito. You're definitely the champion of the poor. Fourmore years and no one will be poor here anymore. No one will be left.

Tom (aka XR)
 

Hillbilly

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Jan 1, 2002
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Some thoughts on this

Phucking yola rides are not cheap. So the clown, instead of getting his woman to handle a Paletera on the corner for some house change, or maybe getting a washing machine to rent out, takes the money he got from selling his guagua and gives it to some sh!thead who will just as soom dumb him in the Caribbean, or he will be picked up by the CG of the USA and returned p!ss poor and disgraced without the proverbvial pot to whizz in....

So far this year nearly as many people have been picked up by the coast Guard in January as in all of last year. DannyW, next time pick a family with a little more class? You know, like maybe they already have visaas and don't need to take yolas to PR??



As for sustaining a family of three on "Pulling weeds" ? Yes, you can. You get RD$175 a day and breakfast if the farmer has any sense....not much but Haitians can certainly be the best dressed people in the farming communities and stlll take money home...
But weeding is too low a job for a "Chofer" ...


HB
 

Forbeca

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Mar 5, 2003
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When life seems bleak

people can do crazy things. These are not educated people, they are looking for a quick solution to a desperate situation. common sense is not part of the equation. I cannot even imagine what it would be like to see your children starving and you don't know where your next meal w/b coming from. It is a sad situation indeed.
 

mainer

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Mar 22, 2002
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My friend just came back from a Carribean cruise last week, and he has a photo of a yola taken from the side of the cruise ship. (The Captain called the Coast Guard and waited until they were rescued). You cannot see the actual boat for all the people that were in it. It had been drifting for six days. How anyone can think that they actually have a chance is beyond me.
 

XanaduRanch

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Sep 15, 2002
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Fashion Plate Workers

Hillbilly said:
You get RD$175 a day and breakfast if the farmer has any sense ... not much but Haitians can certainly be the best dressed people in the farming communities and stlll take money home.
I am laughing because it's so true. Jose always looks sharp. Of course he does tend to 'borrow' my hats and clothes now and again. But I have to admit he looks much better in them than I do anymore. Ah to be young again.

Tom (aka XR)
 

Chirimoya

Well-known member
Dec 9, 2002
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mainer said:
How anyone can think that they actually have a chance is beyond me.

But quite a few do make it, and that's why others are tempted to follow, despite the well-publicised risks.

There won't be exact figures on this for obvious reasons, but I wonder what the estimates are for the numbers of illegals who make it across successfully.

Chiri
 

suarezn

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Feb 3, 2002
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I agree with HB in that the people who are making the trip to the US are not the poorest people in the DR. Even those who make the yola trip (the cheapest way) are not completely destitute. On the other hand I can completely understand how someone would make the decision to leave the DR and try to get to the US, even though the risks are great. In my town, for instance, a lot of people have died trying to make the trip, but a whole lot more have made it and have returned some time later with a lot of money. The people that are still there and whose only hope is to continue to work their butt off, for next to nothing, just so they can get by, the promise of quick riches is too great to pass up. They see people who used to have nothing (i.e. used to work in the rice fields, or pump gas, or wash cars...) make it to the US and a couple of years later return driving the latest Lexus, Mercedes, etc...How can you then convince the rest of the people to "just stay home, work hard and eventually you may have something to show for it"...it's impossible.

Chiri: I can tell you from my hometown and surrounding area I know of about 10 people who have died over the years...There are thousands who have made it.

Also, consider that there is probably about a million dominicans living in the US. I would say at least 60% of them came here through some illegal mean (Yola, fake passport, etc)
 
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Chirimoya

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Dec 9, 2002
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suarezn: funny you should reply to my post, it was your hometown I had in mind when I wrote mine.

I lived there briefly in 1999-2000 and one enduring memory was a conversation with a woman who said she was planning a trip in a yola. The people I was with really tried to persuade her to abandon the idea and try other safer and legal alternatives to improve her economic situation, but she would not budge. There were a couple of tragedies in the news that very week and she was stubbornly focusing on the success stories.

I don't know whether she did it in the end.

Chiri
 

Chris_NJ

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Dec 17, 2003
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Unrealistic expectations?

I think that the payoff of reaching the US can be a good one, but I wonder how many people have unrealistic expectations of life here in the US. Sure, an illegal day laborer can make the same here in a day ($100) as he could make in 1 month in DR, but the cost of living is also much higher. Most immigrants I have met are happy to get by like this but many are disappointed with life here.

1 guy told me that he assumed they would be handing out fancy cars and mansions when you arrive at the airport in the USA. Sure, he has some more possessions now than we when he got here 10 yrs ago, but the bottom line is he lives day to day (which is not much different than DR).
 

AZB

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Jan 2, 2002
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If you make 175 pesos a day plus rice and bean lunch then life would be much better for you in usa because it can't get any worse. These guys come to NY or puerto rico and work for minimum wages in latin community. They can pump gas in a gas station or work in construction sites. they take over work that no one wants. Some even get involved in illegal businesses. They make money but they certainly don't spend it like the americans. they live in areas where no one wants to live ex: projects, slums or simply poor ethnic neighborhoods. They keep a low profile and stick to their own communities. they still eat rica and beans and live in groups. Often times they sleep on floors or sofas or even rotate in beds ex: one guy sleeps and while the other works the night shift, then the night shift person sleeps on the same bed in the day time while the other works the day job. There can be as many as 10 people living in a 2 bedroom apartment in a slum area. They pay about 60-100 dollars a month per person for rent and cook at home and stay together to make some money and move on to a better life or simply send most of the cash home to their family members. they might save enough money to come back and open up a small business and start a better life in DR. many find ways to get their papers together and get green card and stay there.
So there is light at the end of the tunnel for these people.
 

Danny W

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Mar 1, 2003
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Here's a little bit of irony for the cynics out there (of which I am not one). Earlier in the day, this poor guy spent hours arranging for funeral insurance for his mother. She is an illiterate 77 year old who had 14 kids. She has no means of support and an absent husband. Instead of worrying about food or medical care or housing, her big obsession was that she should have a casket and burial plot. So now she has burial insurance (no food) and her son is about to set sea in a yola. - D