Dominican Republic and Haiti: Country Studies

Dominican Republic and Haiti: Country Studies
uninhabitable, 800,000 needed repairs, and only 500,000 were
considered adequate. The need is greatest in the National District.
Squatter settlements have grown in response to the scarcity
of low-cost urban housing. In Santo Domingo these
settlements are concentrated along the Ozama River and on
the city's periphery. When Joaquin Balaguer Ricardo returned
to the presidency in 1986, 3,000 squatters were forced from the
construction site of the lighthouse along the Ozama River.
They were moved to the side of the construction site where a
slum area developed. A high wall was built to keep the area
from being seen.
Public housing initiatives date from the late 1950s, when
Trujillo built some housing for government employees of moderate
means. Through the 1980s, a number of different governmental
agencies played a role. Often motivated to create jobs
during economic crises, the Technical Secretariat of the Presidency
has designed a variety of projects in Santo Domingo. The
Aid and Housing Institute and the National Housing Institute
bear primary responsibility for the financing and construction
of housing. In general, public efforts have been hampered by
extreme decentralization in planning coupled with equally
extreme concentration in decision-making. The primary beneficiaries
of public projects are usually lower-income groups,
although not the poorest urban dwellers. Projects have targeted
those making at least the minimum wage, namely the
lower-middle sector or the more stable segments of the working
class.
Racial and Ethnic Groups
Ethnic Heritage
The island's indigenous inhabitants were mainly the Taino
Indians, an Arawak-speaking group, and a small settlement of
Carib Indians around the Bahia de Samana. These Indians,
estimated to number perhaps 1 million at the time of their initial
contact with Europeans, for the most part had been killed
or died by the 1550s as a result of harsh Spanish treatment. The
Tainos were especially ill-treated.
The importation of African slaves began in 1503. By the
nineteenth century, the population was roughly 150,000:
40,000 were of Spanish descent, 40,000 were black slaves, and
the remainder were either freed blacks or mulattoes. In the
mid-1990s, approximately 10 percent of the population was
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