Lautaro, are you sure. I trust your writings ok I guess. Well haitians too during that time had preferential treatment to enter USA and especially Canada. During the Duvalier era middle class and educated haitians also communist influenced haitians had to leave. The latters went to montreal. At present neither dominicans nor haitians are on the list. Since we are in the subject of immigrating, Haitian national should be eligible for a TPS. Unfortunately this proposition was rejected by US congress.

Now I would like to know if any of you read or know about Trujillo relationship with his haitian grandmother. I think Trujillo just despised blacks whether dominican or haitian didn't make a difference. There is also revelations that he was related to the haitain president Stenio Vincent which was during the massacre. Both were mulattos that hated blacks period and I think that's one of the reason the haitian government didn't make too much of an uproar. Trujillos family went to haiti during his assassination to escape. Is that ironic how Duvalier and Trujillo were secretly in cahoots with each other. It was about power and control. Peña Gomez lost because of his haitian background. Lets not forget the campaigns Balaguer had out there. Despite his haitian background he was indeed on of DR's favourite politicians. I personally think he would of made a terrible president. Duverge was indeed haitian. I would really like to know how things would've been if Haiti didn't start the rebellion. What would've been the outcome.

Lautaro Saint Domingue is commonly used among haitians to refer to DR. I think haitian diplomats are putting air saying it offends them. In fact it is rare to hear any haitian national of any class to say I'm going to La République Dominicaine unless they are in a formal setting.

The specific diplomat that I'm referring to, mr. jabao, is J. N. Leger on his book "Haiti, her history and her detractors", which can be found here:

http://ia340938.us.archive.org/2/items/haitiherhistoryh00lguoft/haitiherhistoryh00lguoft_djvu.txt

Even though Leger doesn't explicitly say it, it's obvious that he's irritated by the continued insistence of the americans in referring to the DR as "San Domingo". You have to understand that, if there's something that have defined the haitian diplomatic sector during its history, it's their spirit of corps and the almost perfect coordination of all their personnel, a spirit that, were it possible to replicate on the other sectors of that society, would very well bring Haiti to stand on its own two feet.

On Trujillo's relationship with his grandmother, you'll not believe this, but he was pretty close with her family, specially an uncle, Teódulo Pina Chevalier, who helped him a lot when he got himself in trouble on his youth (which, on his case, was a lot). Téodulo had his own dispatch on the National Palace and could insult the military men as much as he pleased. An account of his personality can be found on the book "Anecdotas y Crueldades de Trujillo" by Lipe Collado. Look for it, because it's quite a fun to read. :-)

I can understand the reason for the US giving both naitonals preferencial treatment, mr. jabao, considering that the wounds on their ego for losing Cuba were still smarting, and, considering Juan Bosch support to the haitian exiles trying to overthrow Duvalier and the exiles support of the Constitutionalist side on the dominican civil war of 1965, the US couldn't give itself the luxury of letting another of the Caribbean islands to become another red stronghold under their own noses without their reputation suffering terribly on that account.

Muchacho you have made great points. The immigration comment about preferential treatment towards the DR is true. We do have a large number of visa's compared to other countries. At the same time, not everyone can come here so they risk their lives to leave for resons you have already stated. Yes, some of the recent migrants do embarrass some of us especially the ones who have been born here like myself to parents who arrived during the mass exodus of the 60's and early 70's.

Poor Haiti, Jabao, do Haitians feel negelected and left out from the rest of the world. You have influenced New Orleans, Chicago, Venezuela, and DR but have not been respected or taken into account. All you hear from Haiti is that its the poorest country in the Western Hempishere with violence, extreme poverty, political unrest, UN troops, corruption for MANY years. Most Haitians migrate to DR instead of taking the yola to PR like Dominicans do. One joke about Haitians is that when they cross the border to DR they feel like they are in Miami. LOL. However, it's like a Dominicans dream to go to NY (meaning the U.S.) and now all over the world (European countries).

I think like you have stated Jabao. A Haitian with money is welcomed in the DR but a poor one is not welcomed regardless of race. DR is just trying to advance, modernize, and develop while Haitians who come in, mostly illegally (they don't belong without papers), are poor, mostly uneducated, and hurt the work force in the DR by severly lowering the pay rate of workers.

All Dominicans know that Haitians work hard and contribute to the DR's construction boom but it's at the expense of the Dominican worker. The Dominican businessman is benefiting tremendously from this mass migration of illegal Haitian workers in the DR since it's relatively unregulated from Haiti and supported by the Dominican business society which some politicans are directly invovled.

The real solution for the problem is

DR
A. Increase wages in general for all Dominicans since the current minimum wage will not allow the average Dominican to live a decent life, rather it contributes to poverty. B. Invest in free public education for all Dominicans. C. Create more jobs for Dominicans. D. Penalize all Dominican business who hire illegal Haitians to work. E. Re-patriot illegal Haitians back to Haiti. F. Continue to create and expand on social porgrams for the poor. (ie. Soledaridad)

Haiti
A. Control the border and limit the flow of Haitians. B. Develop the economy and create jobs for Haitians. C. Provide social programs to assist poor Haitians. D. Create campaigns denouncing illegal migration to DR.

Mr Lautaro,

You hit the knail on the head. Duvalier along with Trujillo were allowed to be in power for only one reason. Both were not fond of communism which would of been a real threat to USA one caribbean island was enough. I am definitely going to try to get my hand on that book. I really would like to get into the pysche of Trujillo and his fascination with whiteness. It seems he obtained everything but was stuck with that brown tan which he tried to cover by using powder. What an inferior complex which still is alive in both countries? Did he speak french or creole? Did he understand it? I know many haitian dominicans who can understand creole a little but can't speak it. Dominicans of haitian descent are so dominicanise and have no clue of haiti just like a dominican of 10 generation. BTW, isn't Gomez's son into politics?

"She travels back and forth every year and accordiing to her it's the kreyol influence from the large Haitian population. "

Lipski made a similiar observation some time ago and provides an analysis that indicates that this phenomenom might be more pervasive and imbedded in history than your mother's observation implies. Luckily I found a link with Lipski's paper:
http://www.personal.psu.edu/jml34/afrodom.pdf

Interestingly enough some linguists consider the Cibaeño propensity to enunciate their final vowels in certain instances as the Spanish "i" (ex. mujer=mujei) as a left over from some rustic canary islander's dialect. The canary Islanders are the principal white ethnic component in the Cibao valley.
There is some very interesting work being put out on the Canary Islands' immigration to Hispaniola
by Prof. Hernandez Gonzalez if anyone is interested. It shouldn't be to hard to find some online articles by him concerning the subject.

Yep, he's on politics, but unfortunately, there are two things against his being succesful: 1- He didn't inherit his father's charisma or talent for making connections., and 2- He has allied himself with his father's political enemies.

NY4life,

I think that in order for DR to modernise itself that Haiti my beloved country has to improve. Haiti hasn't got the respect it deserves but we are still proud and have our head up. No matter if they portray us in a negative light we know who were are. You can ask any illiterate haitian and they will tell you 1804 was our day of independence. I think the international community doesn't really care and manipulate the DR by distorting the facts and make it appear dominicans are the bad guy. With our history and turmoil between the two this is the easiest exit for the international community. As I said they don't care, they can live any time but dominican republic will always be there. So that's why it is a must that dominicans put there heads with haitians for justice for both nations. We live on the same island and it is our duty to take care of it..the island could care less who's haitian or dominican. Although, we need to set boundaries. I think your solutions are feasible but until haiti improves. It will always be the easiest way to escape although the grass isn't always green on the other side. Better communication among the two goverments and bilateral agreements. This routing things to USA to get to the same island is ridiculous..we are the ones losing out. There are many haitians in the USA/Canada and Europe doing well and want to return on day to retire. Doesn't that sound familiar. I have to say if dominicans don't participate in the future of haiti that tension will always be there. another thing raising the salary of dominicans isn't going to give them initiative to work harder. It has more to do than that.

Also, don't forget Cibaeno. Taino's have significantly impacted the Cibao region with town names, river names, and words. El Cibao is taino word any word that ends in -ao as well.

"Also, don't forget Cibaeno. Taino's have significantly impacted the Cibao region with town names, river names, and words. El Cibao is taino word any word that ends in -ao as well. "

Eso no hay ni que mencionarlo..