NEW YORK — A delegation of Dominicans from New York, headed by Congressman Adriano Espaillat, the first immigrant from that country elected to the US Congress, rang the bell on Monday to begin the session on the Nasdaq market, to thus mark the 179th anniversary of the independence of the Dominican Republic.
After the bell, in which the Minister of Finance, José Vicente, participated, together with the representatives of his country in Washington and New York, images of the Dominican flag and the iconic carnival character, Diablo Cojuelo, paraded through the gigantic screen of Nasdaq in Times Square.
The Dominicans, many carrying their flag or dressed in the red, blue and white colors of their national emblem, continued the celebration at the consulate, where tribute was paid to Espaillat.
Once at the Consulate, the Minister of Finance praised the Dominican community, whose members he called “heroes” who do not forget their country. “They live with one foot here and the other there,” and despite facing all kinds of vicissitudes in the United States, they do not forget to send remittances to their relatives, he stressed.
“Dominicans have been an important presence in New York politics. Through their work, commitment and dedication to their communities, they have managed to become influential leaders and an example for many generations,” said Consul Eligio Jaquez.
Espaillat, who before Congress was an assemblyman and then a state senator in New York, also thanked the first Dominicans who paved the way and remembered his grandparents who settled in 1950 in Upper Manhattan, an area that today has become the Dominican neighborhood par excellence.
When highlighting the progress of the community, he recalled that two years ago six young Dominicans were elected to the City Council. “We need more in the state legislature,” said the Dominican, first elected to the state Assembly in 1996.
“It has been a long road (until reaching Congress), but I am satisfied,” he said.
The mayor of the city, Eric Adams, joined the independence celebration together with the commissioner of the Department of Transportation, the Dominican Ydanis Rodríguez, to unveil the name of a plaza, on Dyckman street, between Broadway and Seaman avenues, in Upper Manhattan, such as Quisqueya Plaza.
In that act, Rodríguez announced an allocation of 7 million dollars for improvements to that public space, surrounded by restaurants, mostly owned by Dominicans, a park and a few steps from a subway entrance.
This is a street that was closed during the pandemic to be used by restaurants to serve the public and became a meeting point for the community. Then it became a permanent place in 2021 and from today with that very Dominican name.
Espaillat last year introduced a resolution in Congress to change the name of the areas from Washington Heights, Hamilton Heights and Inwood to Quisqueya Heights and be a “cultural center for Dominican-Americans throughout the country.”
