About the Dominican Republic - Population: 10.1 million -
Languages: Spanish - Main religions: Roman Catholic (95%), Other
(5%) - Local population: About 1,200 - Why they came here: Many
Dominicans moved to America to escape the reign of former
dictator Rafael Trujillo. Many settled in New York City. More
recently, Dominican-Americans have moved out of the Big Apple to
smaller cities like Utica. More than 65 percent of all
Dominican-Americans still live in New York state, however. -
When they came: Between the 1930s and 1960s - "The Brief,
Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao," by Junot Diaz (fiction) - "The
Devil Behind the Mirror: Globalization and Politics in the
Dominican Republic," by Steven Gregory Felix Baez, 46, and Roila
Debaes, 43, both of Utica, and Luis Inoa, 70, and his wife
Maritza Inoa, also of Utica, dance to the music of New Jersey
band Felix Rodriguez at El Canelo restaurant in Utica. Credit:
Cassaundra Baber/Observer-Dispatch Utican Daily Guerrero, second
from the left, has founded the Harvard Colleg