Dominican Republic: In The News

This past week was a busy one for me, and I apologize for not posting on the days I didn't cook. To make amends, here are a few stories about the Dominican Republic that have recently made the news.

The Dominican Student Association at Utah State University (USU) held its 4th annual "Areito" on February 18th. A "cultural celebration of the Dominican Republic expressed through dance, music and food" designed to promote "intercultural connectivity," the event also included a religious performance by Tribu InDependient, a group of Dominican students from different Christian denominations. The event's name comes from a traditional dance often performed on Dominican Independence Day, February 27th.

Priscilla Gomez, Miss Bavaro Caribe, competed this month against 40 other women in the 2012 International Carnival Queen Pageant in Curaçao. The winner? Yasmin dos Santos Lima from Cape Verde. (You'll see the announcement at about 5 minutes in.)


The Dominican Republic Ministry of Tourism has launched a new, multi-channel marketing campaign that uses social media terminology as a metaphor for sharing the experience of a trip to the island. Magaly Toribio, Vice Minister of International Promotion, explains that a DR vacation should be "a status update, both literally and in the Facebook sense."


And finally, the newly minted Miami Marlins are having trouble getting their reliever Juan Carlos Oviedo to Spring Training camp due to immigration problems. Haven't heard of him? That's because he played with them during the last three seasons under the name Leo Nunez. Oviedo falsified his name and age when he was younger so that he could play professional baseball in America.