The 2010 Census highlighted the familiar trend that immigrants from Dominican Republic have settled in Puerto Rico in large numbers, becoming part of communities and accepting jobs Puerto Ricans do not want.
Dominicans continue to risk their lives on the high seas to search for a better future in U.S. territory. A case in point is the shipwreck that happened on December 4.
Sociologist Víctor García Toro said Cuban immigration to the island began in the 1960s, and Dominican immigration was “quite a bit later, and significant numbers in the late 1980s and early 1990 became more frequent.”
“These populations have come to work, to seek better living conditions, and many use the island as a bridge. They’ve come to Puerto Rico to go to the United States,” said García Toro.
During the past year, the front pages of local and international newspapers featured stories about the presence of Dominican immigrants for months, after squatters were found in Villas del Sol community, in flood-prone areas of Toa Baja. The underprivileged community became the setting of multiple, violent encounters between the so-called squatters and state authorities, until an agreement was reached to swap lots of land; the families relocated there and received the deeds for these lots.
Numbers show 68,036 Dominicans live on the island, as well as 17,860 Cubans and 9,965 Mexicans.
But data from the 2010 Census also reflects an increase in the number of South Americans living in Puerto Rico to 14,016. Colombians are the largest group with 5,377, followed by 2,945 Venezuelans. Also, Argentines number 1,737, Peruvians 1,618 and Ecuadorans 1,075.
There are 4,383 Central Americans living on the island; Panamanians make up the largest group, 1,200, followed by Salvadorans, 812.
Immigrants from Spain total 5,060.
An interesting fact is that, on an island where Spanish is the native language, out of the 3,725,789 residents counted, 37,334 said they do not consider themselves Hispanic or Latino. Meanwhile, 19,553 identified themselves as Hispanic or Latino, but did not specify their country of origin and were included in a category called “Other Hispanic or Latino.”
The above is from impreMedia’s ground breaking series, “The Future is Now/El futuro es ahora”. Every week we will visit a different state and explore the lives of Latinos and the impact they are having. This week we went to Puerto Rico. It was written by Manuel Ernesto Rivera/ Special for impreMedia.
