IF ONLY HAITI HAD PRODUCED A TRUJILLO:

Dominicans make history: Expatriates vote in Boston, elsewhere as island nation changes hand at helm (Johnny Diaz, May 17, 2004, Boston Globe)

With yesterday's election, in which presidential challenger Leonel Fernandez defeated the incumbent, President Hipolito Mejia, the Dominican Republic became the latest country to allow expatriate voting. Brazil, Argentina, Venezuela, and Honduras are among others.

At least 52,000 Dominicans who are registered to vote headed to voting booths set up in schools and community centers in heavily Dominican enclaves in the United States and overseas. Dominicans in cities such as New York, Miami, San Juan, and Madrid cast their ballots by picking a color that represented their candidate's party.

In New England, the Dominican Consulate organized voting places in Boston, Lawrence, Salem, Worcester, and Providence. Ever since Dominicans began immigrating to Boston and beyond, they have pushed for the right to vote in their homeland's elections. In previous elections, some Dominicans flew back to the island nation to make their political voice heard.

"Even though we are here, we are very aware of what is going on back in the Dominican Republic," said Alba Rosado, who was helping at one of the voting tables yesterday at the John F. Kennedy Elementary School. "By voting, we are looking out for what is going on there."

While the number of overseas registered voters may seem paltry for a country with 8.8 million residents, Dominicans' strong ties with family abroad can influence votes. The election has been scrutinized by Dominicans on the island and abroad because the Caribbean nation's economy has plummeted in the last year.

"A lot of Dominicans come here, work hard, and pay their taxes, and they send a great part of their checks to relatives back home," said Angel Amy Moreno, professor of a course on the history of Latinos in Boston at Northeastern University.

Dominican citizens living abroad have sent back an estimated $2 billion a year in family remittances, according to the US Department of State's website.

"So that money they earn here is sustaining the economy in many ways back in the Dominican Republic," Moreno said. "Public officials and the politicians in the Republic know very well the role these countrymen play in supporting the economy and influencing their families."

Interesting enough that, contra the anti-immigrationists, such folk are a source of stability for their nations of origin, even more fascinating is to compare the D.R. to Haiti, with which it shares an island. Haiti has followed the example of the French, the Dominican Republic of Franco, with predictable results.

Posted by Orrin Judd at May 17, 2004 8:44 AM