Politics, Business & Culture in the Americas

Dominican Republic and Luis Abinader: An Overview

This article is adapted from AQ’s special report on the Summit of the Americas. Click here for the full list of countries. A wealthy former businessman with some of the Americas’ highest approval ratings, Abinader ended the Dominican Liberation Party’s 16-year hold on the presidency when he was elected in 2020. The president has made an anti-corruption push, and authorities … Read more

Pride parade DR

A Shaken Dominican LGBT Movement Finds Strength After Orlando

The Dominican Republic’s lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community was shaken after the nightclub shooting in Orlando a month ago. At least four victims were from that small country, and the attack underscored the discrimination many LGBT activists feel in their own, largely conservative society. In a particularly ill-timed display of opposition to LGBT … Read more

dolares

Film Review: Dólares de Arena

This article is adapted from the Fall 2015 print edition of Americas Quarterly. To subscribe, please click here “I like your body, did you know?” Anne tells Noelí as they lie in bed with the sun shining through the windows. “How much does it cost?” The scene occurs toward the beginning of Sand Dollars, a … Read more

Fortaleza San Felipe

10 Things to Do: Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic

Walk in Columbus’ footsteps. Just outside the present-day port, Christopher Columbus founded La Isabela, one of the earliest European settlements in the Americas, in 1494. Visitors can see the ruins of the explorer’s first house and a reconstruction of El Templo de las Américas, where the first recorded Catholic mass in the New World was … Read more

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My Struggles as a Black American in the Dominican Republic

When I lived in the Dominican Republic, there was a point when the jeers from the streets, shouts of “Arréglate ese pelo!” (Fix that hair!) and mocking gestures about my prominent pajón (afro) became too much to deal with. In a country of complex racial dynamics, where straightened hair is a social currency and billboards … Read more

 

Monday Memo: Mexican Same-Sex Marriage—Haitian Deportation—U.S. and Venezuela Meeting—Nicaraguan Protest—ELN Leader Death

This week’s likely news stories: Dominican Republic set to deport individuals of Haitian descent; Mexican high court paves way for full marriage equality;  U.S. and Venezuelan officials meet in Haiti, address strained relations; Nicaraguans protest Chinese-funded canal project; top ELN commander killed in Colombia Dominican Republic to Deport Dominicans of Haitian Descent: The Dominican Republic … Read more

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