Category Archives: Dominican Republic

This American pope: Leo XIV’s bloodline reflects the US melting pot

Posted on by

A fraught history of race and immigration connect the new pope with his homeland

Pope Leo XIV, who on Thursday was elected as the first-ever US-born leader of the Roman Catholic church, has a familial bloodline that reflects his homeland’s fraught relationship with race – and why the nation’s stature as a melting pot of origins has long endured, records unearthed by genealogists show.

The maternal grandfather of 69-year-old Robert Prevost, the newly minted pope, was evidently born abroad in Santo Domingo, the capital of the Dominican Republic, according to birth records that professional genealogist Chris Smothers cited to ABC News in a recent report. When Leo’s grandfather, Joseph Martinez, obtained an 1887 marriage license to wed the future pope’s grandmother, Louise Baquié, he listed his birthplace as Haiti, which at the time was the same territory as Santo Domingo, Smothers noted.

Continue reading...

Dominican Republic ends search for survivors after nightclub roof collapse

Posted on by

An official statement said “all reasonable possibilities of finding more survivors” had been exhausted in a disaster that has killed at least 184 people.

Rescue workers in the Dominican Republic on Wednesday ended the search for survivors of a nightclub roof collapse as the death toll surpassed 180 in the Caribbean nation’s worst disaster in decades.

Emergency personnel late Wednesday reported 60 more deaths compared to the morning’s count, with the total confirmed tally reaching 184.

Continue reading...

World Series champion Octavio Dotel killed in Dominican Republic nightclub collapse

Posted on by

Former Major League Baseball pitcher Octavio Dotel was among the dozens killed when the roof of a nightclub in the Dominican Republic collapsed during the early hours of Tuesday morning.

At least 58 people died and 160 were injured at the nightclub in Santo Domingo where a crowd that included athletes and politicians were attending a merengue concert.

Continue reading...

More than 70 people dead after roof collapse at Dominican Republic nightclub

Posted on by

Crews search for survivors after more than 160 injured at Jet Set in Santo Domingo

More than 70 people have died and about 160 others injured in the Dominican capital early on Tuesday after the roof collapsed at a nightclub where politicians, athletes and others were attending a merengue concert, authorities said.

The death toll reached 79 by the late evening as crews continued to search for survivors in the rubble at the one-storey Jet Set nightclub in Santo Domingo, said Juan Manuel Méndez, director of the Center of Emergency Operations.

Continue reading...

Rubio to visit Central America with migration and Panama canal on agenda

Posted on by

US secretary of state to visit region amid concern over Trump threat to ‘take back’ canal and tensions over China

Marco Rubio, the US secretary of state, will travel to Central America this week on a five-country tour that will focus on limiting migration to the United States, curbing Chinese influence in the region and on securing Donald Trump’s ambitious goal of reasserting US control over the Panama canal.

Rubio will travel to Panama, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Guatemala and the Dominican Republic from Saturday to Thursday this week, meeting with the presidents of each. It is the first time in more than a century that a secretary’s first official visit abroad will be to Central America.

Continue reading...

Stop ‘draconian’ mass deportations of Haitians fleeing gangs, activists say

Posted on by

Tens of thousands deported from Caribbean states, as Dominican Republic pledges to return 10,000 people a week

Activists have called on Caribbean governments to halt the mass deportation of Haitians fleeing escalating gang violence that has claimed thousands of lives and displaced hundreds of thousands of people.

In the past month, tens of thousands of people have been deported to Haiti, including 61,000 from the neighbouring Dominican Republic, whose president recently pledged to deport 10,000 migrants a week.

Continue reading...

Rays’ Wander Franco arrested in DR over incident in which ‘guns were drawn’

Posted on by
  • Shortstop held by police over incident on Sunday
  • Player facing separate charges over sexual abuse claims

Police in the Dominican Republic have arrested Tampa Bay Rays shortstop Wander Franco after an altercation involving firearms.

ESPN reported that authorities held Franco and an unnamed woman for questioning on Monday after an incident in the parking lot of an apartment complex on Sunday “in which guns were drawn.”

Continue reading...

Tropical Storm Beryl predicted to turn into first hurricane of season

Posted on by

Storm is forecast to glance off Barbados on Sunday before heading through Caribbean and toward the Yucatán

Tropical Storm Beryl is forecast to become the first hurricane of the season before skirting the southern tip of Barbados in the south-eastern Caribbean on Sunday.

Beryl currently holds maximum sustained winds of 60mph (95km/h) and is traveling west at 21mph (34km/h), according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Hurricane Center.

Continue reading...

Haiti crisis: gangs attack police stations as Caribbean leaders call for emergency meeting

Posted on by

National palace guards set up security ring after gangs attack at least three police stations in Port-au-Prince

Police and palace guards worked on Saturday to retake some streets in Haiti’s capital after gangs launched massive attacks on at least three police stations.

Guards from the National Palace accompanied by an armored truck tried to set up a security perimeter around one of the three downtown stations after police fought off an attack by gangs late Friday.

Sporadic gunfire continued to be reported on Saturday. The unrelenting gang attacks have paralysed the country for more than a week and left it with dwindling supplies of basic goods. Haitian officials extended a state of emergency and nightly curfew on Thursday as gangs continued to attack key state institutions.

Continue reading...

Dominican officials arrest Tekashi 6ix9ine on domestic violence charges

Posted on by

US rapper scheduled to appear in court on Thursday and is being held in a Santo Domingo jail

Authorities in the Dominican Republic have arrested the US rapper Tekashi 6ix9ine, who is scheduled to appear in court on Thursday on charges of domestic violence.

The rapper, whose real name is Daniel Hernández, is being held at a jail in the capital, Santo Domingo, where he was arrested on Wednesday, officials said.

Continue reading...

Four-day work week to be trialled in Dominican Republic

Posted on by

Employees will earn same salary but hours will be reduced from 44 to 36 hours as part of national voluntary trial, says government

Companies in the Dominican Republic are preparing for a voluntary six-month pilot of a four-day work week, the first move of its kind for the Caribbean country.

The initiative would launch in February, with employees earning the same salary, the Dominican government said, and the standard work week reduced from 44 hours to 36 hours, Monday through to Thursday.

Continue reading...

Dominican Republic explosion death toll rises to 10 with another 11 missing

Posted on by

Four-month-old among victims and over 50 people also injured in explosion at commercial center in San Cristóbal

The death toll from a powerful explosion near the capital of the Dominican Republic has risen to 10 as firefighters searched through smoldering rubble, authorities said.

More than 50 people also were injured in Monday’s explosion at a bustling commercial center in the city of San Cristóbal, said Joel Santos, minister of the presidency. At least 36 of the injured remained hospitalized, Santos said.

Continue reading...

Dominican investigative journalist targeted with NSO spyware, report says

Posted on by

Nuria Piera, known for her investigations into corruption, was targeted three times, Amnesty International says

One of the Dominican Republic’s most prominent investigative journalists was targeted using spyware made by NSO Group, according to a new report released by Amnesty International.

Nuria Piera, who is well known for her investigations into corruption, was hacked three times between 2020 and 2021, according to Amnesty’s forensic analysis of her mobile phone. The revelation marks the first confirmation that NSO’s military-grade spyware, Pegasus, has been used to target journalists in the Dominican Republic, making it the third Latin American country – after Mexico and El Salvador – where such abuse has been discovered.

Continue reading...

US warns its ‘darker-skinned’ citizens of Dominican Republic’s migrant crackdown

Posted on by

Haitian migrants are being deported from Caribbean country and authorities seem to be targeting people based on their appearance

US officials in the Dominican Republic are warning “darker-skinned” Americans they are at risk of being swept up in the country’s crackdown on Haitian migrants.

The advice from the US embassy in Santo Domingo suggests that authorities there are using a person’s appearance as a criteria for detention of those suspected of being in the country illegally.

Continue reading...

Hurricane Fiona batters Turks and Caicos as Puerto Rico fights flooding

Posted on by

British island territory imposes curfew and urges people to flee flood-risk areas after Category 3 storm lashes Dominican Republic

Hurricane Fiona has blasted the Turks and Caicos Islands as a Category 3 storm after cutting a path of devastation through the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico – where most people remained without electricity or running water.

The storm’s eye passed close to Grand Turk, the small British territory’s capital island, on Tuesday morning after the government imposed a curfew and urged people to flee flood-prone areas. Hurricane-force winds extended up to 30 miles (45km) from the center.

Continue reading...

Flooding and landslides in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Fiona knocks out power to island

Posted on by

Category 1 storm damage ‘catastrophic’, says governor, while it continues to strengthen and barrels toward Dominican Republic

Most of Puerto Rico is without power after a category 1 hurricane bringing heavy rains and dangerous winds made landfall on Sunday evening, causing severe flooding and landslides and damaging infrastructure.

Hurricane Fiona was causing “catastrophic flooding” in Puerto Rico early on Sunday evening, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) said.

Continue reading...

Canada air crew caught up in ‘hellish’ Dominican Republic drugs bust begs for repatriation

Posted on by

Five-member crew was detained after they found a bag of cocaine on 5 April and spent nine days in jail in a ‘hellish situation’

A five-person Canadian airline crew caught up in a drug-trafficking investigation is begging their government to repatriate them after two months trapped in the Dominican Republic.

“It’s absolutely horrendous – terrible, terrible stuff we’re going through,” said captain Robert Di Venanzo, who said he and his crew could be held for up to a year while an investigation proceeds.

Continue reading...

Dominican Republic environment minister shot dead in his office

Posted on by

Officials say Orlando Jorge Mera, founder member of Modern Revolutionary party, shot and killed by close friend

The Dominican Republic’s minister of the environment and natural resources has been shot and killed in his officeby a close friend, the office of the president said in a statement on Monday.

Authorities said Orlando Jorge Mera was shot by Miguel Cruz, who has been detained. No further details were immediately available.

Continue reading...

Boat capsizes near Puerto Rico, killing 11 as a ‘mass rescue effort’ is under way

Posted on by

The total number of those aboard remains unclear although 31 have been rescued; the incident is the latest in a string across the region

Eleven people were killed and dozens were rescued after a boat capsized near Puerto Rico on Thursday, authorities said.

It was not immediately clear how many people were onboard the boat when it turned over, said a US coast guard spokesman, Ricardo Castrodad. He said a “mass rescue effort” was still under way.

Continue reading...

Dominican Republic starts work on border wall with Haiti

Posted on by

Officials claim the controversial barrier will stop migrant crossings, as well as drugs and contraband, from crisis-hit Haiti

The Dominican Republic has begun work on a border wall with Haiti, sparking controversy between the neighbouring Caribbean countries.

Construction began this week on a concrete barrier that will span nearly half of the 244-mile (392km) border between the two countries, with Dominican officials claiming it will reduce flows of migrants, drugs, weapons and contraband.

Continue reading...