Acastá la nota

Para todos los que se quejaban de que no encontraban la nota de la radio, acá está.

Les pego el guión abajo para que lo puedan seguir. Mis profes de la Cultural Inglesa, ¿estarían orgullosas?

La música del final es un himno compuesto por los revolucionarios, quienes lo cantaban en actos masivos en la zona colonial de Santo Domingo -- sitiada por Marines y la 82 División Aerotransportada, además de soldados de las dictaduras de Brasil, Honduras, Nicaragua y Paraguay.

(Foto hosteada en javierortiz.net/)

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FEET IN TWO WORLDS: DOMINICANS IN MANHATTAN

NEW YORK, NY November 05, 2007 — The story of Dominicans in America is the story of Dominicans in New York. The largest concentration of Dominicans is here: more than half a million in 2000, and one out of every three live in Manhattan. What drew them to this country, and, to the city? For many it was a combination of economic need and political turmoil at home.

In 1965, President Lyndon Johnson sent troops to the D.R. to help stop a popular uprising that supported the reinstatement of a democratically-elected president. This military action changed the political direction of the Caribbean country, and prompted many Dominicans -including some who fought against American troops- to move to the U.S.

The impact of those early immigrants continues today as reporter Diego Graglia tells us as part of our occasional series, Feet In Two Worlds.

REPORTER: It's a warm evening on Amsterdam Avenue near 171st Street. Kids in red baseball uniforms play on the sidewalk. Men argue over a game of dominoes by the curb and a group of women chat on a stoop nearby.

This is Washington Heights, the heart of the Dominican community in the United States. Dominicans are the largest immigrant group in the city.

What you probably don't know is that some of them are here because in 1965 the U.S. sent more than 20,000 troops to Santo Domingo to stop a popular revolution. Many of the rebels ended up in New York because the U.S. government thought they would be less of a threat here than if they stayed in the Dominican Republic.

DINORAH CORDERO: "There are hundreds and thousands of people who participated in the democratic movement in the Dominican Republic who are engaged here."

REPORTER: In 1965, Dinorah Cordero was a young Catholic activist in Santo Domingo. When a group of Dominican military officers revolted to reinstate democracy, she was one of thousands of civilians who joined in the revolt.

They supported President Juan Bosch, who had been ousted by a right-wing military coup seven months after he took office.

Dinorah and those fighting for democracy were known as the Constitutionalists. But from the U.S. perspective they were dangerous rebels.

PRESIDENT LYNDON B. JOHNSON: "What began as a popular democratic revolution..."

REPORTER: These were Cold War times. President Lyndon Johnson was concerned the Dominican Republic could go Red and become a second Cuba.

PRESIDENT JOHNSON: "...and was taken over and really seized and placed into the hands of a band of Communist conspirators."

REPORTER: But only a few of the rebels actually were Communist.

CRISTIAN ESTEVEZ GIL: "Mi nombre es Cristian Estévez, Sargento Mayor Escribiente..."

REPORTER: In 1965 Cristian Estévez Gil was a Dominican Army sergeant major. Along with his captain and other soldiers, he started the rebellion against the right-wing regime by arresting the Army chief of staff.

ESTEVEZ GIL: "The people were happy, all the people were on the streets, armed. They thought there was going to be liberty and democracy, that dictatorship would end."

REPORTER: Instead, a four-day civil war ensued. And then the Marines arrived.

ESTEVEZ GIL: "And the American Marines, you know, take over the whole city, that's the moment my commander stopped..."

REPORTER: American favorite Joaquin Balaguer won the next presidential election. His conservative economic policies and violent persecution of leftists forced numerous Dominicans out of the country. The U.S. provided visas for many of them.

ESTEVEZ GIL: "En el momento que yo salí de Santo Domingo..."

REPORTER: Cristian and some comrades in arms were sent to New York and given work permits, with one condition: Don't mess with politics again.

Cristian says he never did. He's been a building superintendent in The Bronx for over thirty years. He raised three kids here, in the country he once fought.

Other immigrants found ways to remain active in politics. First, it was the struggle for human rights and democracy in the Dominican Republic. Over time, they also focused on issues like housing, education and immigrants' rights in New York.

RAMONA HERNANDEZ: "These are the people who founded most of the institutions that we have today, particularly the community-based organizations. But also the cultural organizations that we have: Club Cívico Cultural Dominicano, Asociación Juan Pablo Duarte, these are organizations that were created in the late '60s."

REPORTER: Ramona Hernandez is the director of the Dominican Studies Institute at the City University of New York.

HERNANDEZ: "The seed of what we are today as a people here, the seed of that consciousness, of that Dominicanness came with those men and women who came early, during those years."

DINORAH CORDERO: "The generation of '65 was always on the streets, demonstrating and denouncing. It was very engaged."

REPORTER: Dinorah Cordero became an American citizen. She's now a well-known community activist.

CORDERO: "You think you won't find social injustice here, but you realize there are injustices, there is discrimination. Those ills help you realize that you have to keep on with your work."

REPORTER: Forty-two years after U.S. troops landed in Santo Domingo, some Dominicans are still fighting. But now it's their new home, the United States, they want to make a better place.

For WNYC, I'm Diego Graglia.