Lemme outta here!

According to Dominican Today (domincantoday.com) "The figure for Dominicans who became green card holders or permanent [USA] residents [in 2009] was 24,496."

These are refugees, escaping from corruption, and difficult economic situations to the Promised Land, where every resident has a dollar tree in the back yard. How I wish that instead of leaving, there would be leadership arising from among the masses, to turn this country around!

Yep, the first ones would do so at the risk of their lives, but where are the Dominican Martin Luther Kings, and Rosa Parks'? Where are the ones who will say enough is enough and we aren't going to put up with it any more?

Seems like everyone just wants to take an easier way out...run to the US, or to Spain, and leave their country to become what it will.

If that is the case, then when will the government take the Cuban view and stop people from leaving? Who is going and who is staying? How many years can so many people leave a small island, till there is no one left?

Well, the poor people cannot get the visas, for the most part. The rich people do just as well here, and they can always get visas to visit. So the new middle class that has arisen, seems to be the ones who are most likely to end up in the US. These are also the ones who could actually bring about change in the country. They are better educated than the poor, and they know how to work.

It is hard to blame them for leaving, though. The injustice of daily life here wears on you. You work hard, and don't progress. You pay your bills, but are consistently cheated by those same companies you are paying. You suffer constant injustices. There is no recourse. You don't dare report anyone, because the person you report them to may be part of the same mafia, and there may be reprisals. You have no way of knowing who is legitimate and who is corrupt until you have brushed up against that person.

So there you have it. This Dominican Life is rough. People want out. They should stay. They should go. I don't know.