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Nothing gave Dominicans more pride than to see Sosa hold Major League Baseball’s homerun record, albeit for less than 24 hours before McGuire reclaimed U.S. dominance in “America’s favorite pastime.” Only merengue, a tropical music and dance form, exceeds baseball in its ability to raise Dominican nationalist sentiment vis-à-vis the United States. For years, Dominican musicians and actors, as well as important leaders, have employed merengue to combat cultural imperialism and encourage loyalty to home. A merenguero’s power to raise nationalist sentiment and define debates concerning immigration between the Dominican Republic and the United States is most evident in Luisito Marti’s Nueba Yol and Juan Luis Guerra’s Visa Para un Sueño. The first Dominican leader to fully harness the power of merengue for political ends was dictator Rafael Leonidas Trujillo. Although it was already the most important dance of Dominican origin, merengue was prohibited in many of the upper class Dominican ballrooms until the 1930’s. Ynmaculada Cruz Hierro of the Dominican Newspaper Listin Diario explains that Trujillo saw to it that merengue replaced waltzes and polkas at high class parties because “at one time, when he was a junior official, Trujillo was not permitted to enter one of the those upper class parties.” The promotion of merengue simultaneously disavowed European elitism and helped define a culture unique to the Dominican Republic. Merengue became a symbol of national unity and a preferred mode for disseminating trujillista propaganda. During the dictatorship, popular lyrics extolled the virtues of Trujillismo even as it was speciously based on terror and rule by a mano dura (iron fist). After Trujillo was killed in an assassination plot that many Dominicans deemed heroic (see next page), merengue faced an uncertain future. Artists trained during the trujillato, including “king of merengue” Johnny Ventura, summarily dropped the overt propaganda, but they emerged from the Trujillo era with a heightened awareness of the power of their craft. Johnny Ventura would later become an active political figure, and in 1998, win the mayoral election of Santo Domingo, the capital and largest city of the Dominican Republic. In an interview in the summer of 2000, Johnny Ventura asserts, “I believe getting involved—not just the artists—in the search for solutions to the great wrongs and problems that we [Dominicans] face should be everyone’s obligation.” Of course the great majority of Dominican leaders are non-artists, but Ventura’s statement highlights an assumption in Dominican culture that merengueros can make serious contributions to Dominican society and politics. Monumento a la muerte del Tirano Trujillo's Death Monument De 1930 a 1961, el tirano Rafael Leonidas Trujillo dirigió la República Dominicana como dictador y se mantuvo en el poder mediante el imperio del terror. En 1961 su auto fue valientemente interceptado frente al mar y baleado por colaboradores y subalternos suyos que pasaron a la historia como héroes al asesinarlo a los 70 años de edad cuando se dirigía a ver una amante fuera de la ciudad en la compañía exclusiva de su chofer y sin su peligrosa guardia personal.De los conspiradores, todos excepto dos fueron capturados y asesinados por seguidores del régimen dictatorial que terminaría poco tiempo después. En el lugar del asesinato se encuentran estas esculturas para conmemorar la importancia del hecho y el arrojo de sus autores. Rafael Leonidas Trujillo ruled the Dominican Republic as dictator imposing terror on its inhabitants from 1930 until 1961, when he was killed by a group of brave men. They intercepted his car when he was on his way to see a mistress outside the city accompanied only by his driver, without his fierce personal guard.All but two of the killers where quickly captured on the days and weeks that followed and killed by members of the government that would soon fall without the presence of its leader.Source:http://www.sdq.com/galeria/malecon/monumentotrujillo.htm Another merenguero, Luisito Marti, gained social stature standing alongside Johnny Ventura as an original member of the famous Combo Show group. However, unlike Ventura, Marti did not use his popularity to gain elected office. Instead, Marti used his Combo Show fame and the recognition gained from his own merengue group, El Sonido Orignal, to launch a successful career in film and television. Through these new media, Marti gained a strong voice in immigration debates by becoming a pop critic of Dominican culture particularly skillful at disillusioning his fellow Dominicans. He currently produces a TV series Mil caras del engaño that exemplifies his dedication to educating the naïve. In an interview on June 17, 2000, Marti explains that his purpose has been to bring to viewers stories in which people have been deceived so as to help his audience not fall naively into similar traps. In film, Marti made his most convincing attack on the Dominican cultural naïveté by criticizing an often-held Dominican assumption that America is a promised land worth leaving the Dominican Republic for. His acting role in the Angel Muñiz-directed film Nueba Yol allowed him to show Dominicans a wealth of reasons not to immigrate to the United States and not to have excessive faith in the American Dream. In Nueba Yol, Luisito Marti plays the role of Balbuena, a Dominican desperate to get to Nueba Yol and achieve the American Dream. “Nueba Yol” is best understood as a mythical land where achieving the American Dream is easy. Marti does not just play the part a movie character. As Balbuena, he personifies the hopes and dreams of all Dominicans who yearn for the existence of a Nueba Yol. He mortgages his humble home to buy a visa from a corrupt American consular officer. With fraudulent visa in hand and a Puerto Rican friend as his guide, he unwittingly departs on a journey for his cherished dreamland. His expectations run high. After all, his friends have assured him that in Nueba Yol money grows everywhere, like lettuce ready for picking; that dollars float down the streets unnoticed. Consistent with his passion for enlightening the naïve, Marti shows his Dominican audience the shocking reality behind the mythical Nueba Yol. Before long his character finds immigrant life in America is not at all what he expected. Balbuena’s experience shows that honest money is not so readily earned, and that it can be difficult to find any job. Although he achieves some measure of success with his uncommon pluck, the film clearly paints a bleak picture of Nueba Yol for those who would undertake a similar search for the American Dream. By the film’s end, after multiple shootouts and run-ins with drug lords and exploitative employers, Balbuena is barely alive and longs for home. Of course, this real Nueba Yol plagued with crime and violence is the very New York City frequently portrayed in many Dominican newspapers. Last year, multiple articles appeared in the Listin Diario and Hoy newspapers detailing two particularly disturbing trends in the real Nueba Yol. First, hardworking Dominican taxi-drivers in rough neighborhoods have been recurring victims of homicide. The New York state legislature responded rapidly with protective laws, but the killings revealed how honest working Balbuena type immigrants don’t necessarily get ahead in America. The second disturbing trend has been the frequent deportation of Dominican nationals from the U.S., most of them criminals involved in drug-related felonies. By June 8, 2000, already 750 deportations of criminals had taken place for the year 2000 . The negative press contributes to the disillusionment of potential immigrants by showing them that New York is not only dangerous, but corrupting as well. Arguably, Luisito Marti has provided more effective material to alter the political debate surrounding immigration than the Dominican press. He played the role of Balbuena for over 10 years on television and in two full-length films. By becoming the icon of every Dominican determined to better his or her economic position through immigration, Marti’s onscreen character was able to show large audiences the true Nueba Yol and the sad state of the America Dream. Common Dominicans could watch TV and relate to the Balbuena they had grown to know and trust. When Balbuena was rumored to have reached Nueba Yol in his first film, many Dominicans made their first trip to a theater to see the outcome. They turned out in droves to the showings of Nueba Yol. The New York Times judged it “a smash hit” in the Dominican Republic where it broke box-office records. The Los Angeles Times notes that even in New York, “the movie out-grossed all the other English-language films showing at the same theater.” There is no way to know what effect, if any, Nueba Yol can have on someone deluded by the myth of the American Dream. Watching a film and internalizing its message are two different things. Even so, Luisito Marti’s contribution to reformation of the Dominican immigration culture lies in his accurate portrayal of the harsh realities and unexpected obstacles Dominican immigrants face in New York. Unfortunately, the film glorifies Balbuena’s illegal passage to New York enough that it loses some instructive power to those who would attempt to reach America through improper channels. However, any Dominican who watches Nueba Yol, is likely to understand, as Balbuena did, that Nueba Yol and New York are two different things. Juan Luis Guerra and Visa Para Un Sueño Grandes Éxitos de Juan Luis Guerra 4-40 Juan Luis Guerra 4-40's Greatest Hits Visa para un sueño 3:25 Visa to a Dreamland 3:25 (Juan Luis Guerra) (Translation: Chaz Crismon) Eran las 5 de la mañanaun seminarista, un obrero, con milpapeles de solvenciaque no le dan pa' ser sincero At 5 AMa seminarist, a worker, (waits) with tons ofbona fide documentsthat they don’t take seriously Eran las 7 de la mañanay uno por uno al mataderopues cada cual tiene su preciobuscando visa para un sueño At 7 AMone by one to the slaughter (they go)cause anyone will try his luckgetting a visa to a dreamland El sol quemándoles la entrañaun formulario de consuelocon una foto 2 x 4que se derrite en el silencio The sun beating down on them (holding)a comforting application formwith a 2 x 4 photothat melts in silence Eran las 9 de la mañanaSanto Domingo, ocho de enerocon la paciencia que se acabapues ya no hay visa para un sueño At 9 AM(in) Santo Domingo, (on an) eighth of Januarywith patience run out (they lose hope)cause a visa to a dreamland no longer exists Buscando visa para un sueño (bis)buscando visa de cemento y caly en el asfalto quién me va a encontrar Getting a visa to a dreamland (repeated)getting a visa from cement and limeand in the street outside whose going to find me Buscando visa para un sueño (bis)buscando visa la razón de serbuscando visa para no volverbuscando visa para un sueño (bis) Getting a visa to a dreamland (repeated)getting a visa the purpose of lifegetting a visa to never returngetting a visa to a dreamland (repeated) Buscando visa: la necesidadBuscando visa: qué rabia me daBuscando visa: golpe de poderBuscando visa: que más puedo hacer?Buscando visa: para naufragarBuscando visa: carne de la marBuscando visa: la razón de serBuscando visa: para no volver Getting a visa: my necessityGetting a visa: what a fury it puts me inGetting a visa: a real struggleGetting a visa: what more can I do?Getting a visa: to shipwreckGetting a visa: victimized by the seaGetting a visa: the purpose of lifeGetting a visa: to never return The words above are the lyrics to a merengue by Juan Luis Guerra that directly deal with the futility of the American Dream. They express the frustration Dominicans have as they apply for American visas, and specifically the frustrations of those who find the American dream outside of their reach. Those individuals are so desperate to seek a better life for themselves that they consider illegal methods of immigration once they are denied visas. As popular Dominican artist of world renown, Juan Luis Guerra helps to instill pride in fellow Dominicans and raises a strong voice against immigration to the United States. He is an excellent of example of a Dominican who made it without selling out or moving to America. His record label comes from a little known Dominican company, Karen Records. Residing in Santo Domingo, he writes and sings merengues of the highest quality, a point acknowledged last year by his receipt of the very first Latin Grammy ever awarded. In the summer of 2000, Juan Luis Guerra’s “El niágara en bicicleta” concert tour was definitely taken advantage of by the ruling Dominican elites who understand the political power of merengue. Besides mayor Johnny Ventura, then president-elect Hipólito Mejía and vice president-elect Milagros Ortiz Bosch were in attendance at the Santo Domingo show. Though the concert was scheduled to start at 8:00 PM, a staged surprise entrance of the two future leaders and greeting ceremony lasted until 9:00 PM. The official presidential transition was to take place days later in the Casa Rosada, but anyone who was at the Guerra concert could have mistaken the event for some kind of inauguration. Rounds and rounds of spontaneous cheers of “Hipólito, Hipólito, Hipólito!” echoed through the filled-to-capacity Quisqueya Stadium. Before the night was over Hipólito Mejía and Juan Luis Guerra exchanged vows of solidarity with one another, each acknowledging the other to be a great asset for the future of the Dominican Republic. The nationalistic fervor only subsided for the few minutes when the crowd solemnly watched scenes from a jola rescue mission on gigantic twin concert movie screens. During the clip, helicopter sound effects cut through the crowd as they watched fellow Dominicans being lifted up out of their wreaked jola ravaged by the sea. This was the introduction to Visa Para Un Sueno, Juan Luis Guerra’s song that helps Dominicans reflect on the merits of attempting illegal immigration to America. The events Guerra describes in the beginning of his song are part of a daily drama at the American consulate in Santo Domingo. Early in the morning, hours before the consulate opens, there are already long lines of people seeking interviews with the American vice consuls. Each one of them has to pay $45 for an interview regardless of whether his or her visa application is approved. The majority of applicants are refused non-immigrant visas because they cannot “prove strong enough ties to the Dominican Republic” and demonstrate low-risk for “over-staying”. Guerra’s song helps educate the many Dominican poor who do not realize that they have no hope of getting a visa. They are consistently judged too likely to “over-stay” (and become unwanted immigrants to America) by a formula too difficult to comprehend. Guerra’s argument is easier to understand. He characterizes the “slaughterers” (vice consuls) as indifferent to the American Dreamer, like the “cement and lime” building that encases them. In his lyrics, Guerra maintains that “visas to a dreamland do not exist” and that there is no use seeking them. Furthermore, he demonstrates that illegal immigration by jola leads to certain “victimization by the sea.” Then what hope does Guerra’s merengue offer Dominicans? It offers them the pleasure of knowing that if they stay loyal to home and do not try to escape to a mythical dreamland or Nueba Yol, the concert will continue, life will be enjoyable and safe, better fortunes will lie ahead. Bibliography: Ynmaculada Cruz Hierro, El tortuoso camino de un ritmo, Listin Diario, 8 Aug 00 Ruth E. Hernández Beltrán, Johnny Ventura: "Ya no haré tantas presentaciones como antes", Listin Diario 25, Jul 00. http://www.sdq.com/galeria/malecon/monumentotrujillo.htm Word Count: 2595
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