Argentinian Anita Ontiveros, the first female camera director on television in the Dominican Republic, acquired her Dominican nationality by giving her heart to this Caribbean country. Of her 76 years, which ended with her death on Wednesday, she spent 56 on this peninsula, where she gave her best as a wife, mother and professional.
Like Ontiveros and her husband Horacio Lamadrid, dozens of foreigners have similar stories of one day arriving in the Dominican Republic, most of them with no intention of putting down roots there, but fate had reserved for them to write their stories in Quisqueya .
In addition to other professionals, there have been numerous examples in the world of music and communication for almost 100 years.
Names like that of the Cuban dancer Clara Elena Ramírez, the Venezuelan theater actress Germana Quintana or the Cuban actor Orestes Amador.
In the field of music, these include the Haitian artist Félix Cumbé, the Colombian merengue player Tueska, the merengue player Michel Flores and the Swiss singer Silvio Mora.
In the field of communication, the list is extensive: among others, the Cubans Roberto Cavada, Zeny Leyva, Evelyn Betancour, Laura de la Nuez, Alfonso Quiñones; the American Alicia Ortega; the Colombian Caro Brito; the Yugoslavian Ivana Gavrilovic and the Mexican Ezequiel Abiú.
Likewise the Venezuelans Elianta Quintero, La Beba Rojas, Bárbara Plaza, Katherine Hernández, Enrique Crespo, Alí David, Jéssica Pereyra and Ana Carmen León. The Romanian Alexandra Hatcu stands out among the influencers.
During the Second World WarIn the midst of the Trujillo dictatorship and with the openness that the regime showed to refugees of Spanish, Jewish, Arab and other nationalities, Dominican society welcomed a large number of professionals, intellectuals and personalities knowledgeable in theater, television, music and dance Pioneers of teaching in the country.
One of the greatest contributions was made by the Cuban dancer Clara Elena Ramírez, Pioneer in the teaching of classical dance. As a choreographer, dancer and dance teacher, she was the founder and director of the ballet school named after her.
Ramírez was born in Santiago de Cuba and died in Santo Domingo on February 19, 2007 at the age of 88.
Manuel Corripio, Germana Quintana (center) and Rafaela Martínez de Corripio. The veteran theater actress has proven that she is Dominican at heart.
in artrecent history counts among these foreign, nationalized and resident Dominicans the actress of Venezuelan origin Germana Quintana.
“La Señora Teatro” was born on July 16, 1940 in Caracas, Venezuela and arrived in Santo Domingo in 1978.
In addition to her work on television alongside Freddy Beras Goico and Cecilia García, she is a pioneer of independent Dominican theater and founder of theater groups.
In 1995, together with Lidia Ariza, he founded the Pro-Arte Dramático Foundation, which aimed to create an independent theater. They later founded the Teatro Las Máscaras, one of their legacies in the country.
The Cuban Orestes Amador in “Confessions of an Elephant.” Theater is his passion, an art he developed in the Dominican Republic.
The playwright Orestes Amador, who left with great pain due to political censorship and freedoms in Cuba, is 30 years old and lives in the Dominican Republic, a country that recently granted him citizenship. He came here through the Universidad del Este and was hired to teach dance theater courses.
“I had two great feelings during these times, one being the sovereignty given to me and the other leaving my mark as a Dominican,” the Cuban told LISTÍN DIARIO.
“I always felt like a Dominican, I spent a month in Cuba and after ten days I was already crazy about becoming a pa'ca,” said Orestes, who felt a lot of warmth from his friends.
The Cuban Roberto Cavada is part of the Corripio Communications Group and took over the leadership of the news sector from Telesistema.
Another Cuban story is that of Roberto Cavada. When his family emigrated to the United States in the 1990s, he chose to remain in his home country, where he was part of the Cuban Film Institute. Through this position he came to the then organized film festivals in the Dominican Republic in 1997.
In 2000 he decided to settle in the land of merengue and pelota until today's sun.
In the Dominican Republic, together with some friends, he began producing concerts by Cuban artists such as Amaury Pérez, Silvio Rodríguez and others.
One day he was asked to direct the project “Telenoticias”, but he wasn't really interested in being on screen, so he preferred to look for a person for the screen. However, the profile he was looking for was never found and Telesistema executives convinced him to be him. From then on, the results were obvious as they propelled the 11th Newscast to an unprecedented lead.
Alicia Ortega won the Great Sovereign for 2022, awarded in March 2023. Photo: Glauco Moquete
ALICE ORTEGA
Alicia Ortega is a journalist from Dallas, Texas (USA) who on March 22 became the first person born outside the Dominican Republic to foreign parents to win a Grand Sovereign.
She has a Cuban father and a Colombian mother, but has lived in Dominican territory for more than two decades and has been married for 32 years to the Haina businessman and Palestinian origin Fernando A. Hasbún, with whom she had her daughter Dominique F. Hasbún Ortega , 23 years old. There is also Jessica Hasbún, Fernando's eldest daughter, who Alicia considers to be her daughter.
Tueska, Colombian merengue and pop singer who established herself in the Dominican countries and raised a family there.
On the other hand, the Colombian Tueska He fell in love with the music and charm of the Dominican Republic. In her native Barranquilla, María Alejandra Tuesca (Tueska) went up for the first time to sing the merengue to “Dormir Juntitos” with Eddy Herrera. And then the rush came.
Shortly after that fantastic night, she traveled to Santo Domingo to be part of Las Chicas del Can and married artist-entrepreneur Evelio Herrera in 2014.
In 2016 they decided to separate, but she remained on Dominican soil with film, theater, television and music projects. Later he found love again.
On February 18, 2022, she became a mother for the first time to a baby who she named María José.
Together with his partner, engineer José Miguel Florencio, they welcomed their first-born daughter.
“Everything I imagined was not even close, what we feel surpasses everything. “I’m a mom,” she said happily and excitedly at the time. He is now continuing his musical projects.
Fernando Villalona with Félix Cumbé.Vladimir Santos/External source
FELIX CUMBÉ
The golden years of merengue were marked by the grace and style of the merengue player of Haitian origin, Félix Cumbé, who came to the country at the age of 13.
Fritz Sterlin, his first name, became known in Aníbal Bravo's orchestra, but his stage name comes from Fernando Villalona, who became famous with the merengue Félix Cumbé.
Silvio Mora tried to prepare traditional merengue, but with “El Camarón” he achieved the desired success.
A more recent case is that of Silvio Mora, who spent his childhood in Switzerland, where he was born. Yes, the boy was born in the European country. Her parents were Swiss, he was of Italian origin and she was of Jamaican origin.
His parents came to the Dominican Republic to work when Silvio was nine years old (he is now 43 years old).
His father died in Dominican territory and his mother (Jeannite Mora) decided to stay. Over the years he became the “showman” of the hotel.
In November 2001, a group of musicians from a hotel “decided to resign with me to form the group Silvio Mora y su Orquesta.”
After recording several songs and encountering the difficulties of the medium, the panorama became more complicated, although it became clearer.
He entered the world of entertainment with a style that he defines as crazy, dynamic and electrifying. Seeing that this formula didn't work in all environments, he decided to make a change, a process in which he is grateful for the help of Michael Miguel Holguín, his managing director.
One day, while preparing to present the show “Candelá” in Altos de Chavón, Silvio heard the techno “Calabria”, performed in a very colloquial and difficult to understand English, and one of his companions asked: “What? “The song really said. Song.
Silvio, who has a habit of changing song lyrics, replied: “It's a mix of English and Russian, but I'll translate it for you. What she means is that she eats shrimp if she likes it.” “They put on the 'bun' and everyone responded with laughter,” says the artist.
When he saw people continuing to laugh at the joke, he realized he could exploit it and decided to improvise a song out of it.
“I tried to dominate the song and people liked it incredibly,” he said. From then on, his musical journey didn't stop.
Elianta Quintero, a Venezuelan journalist based in the country, is a member of Telemicro.
Venezuelans
In recent years, Dominican radio and television have been nourished by a Community of Venezuelan journalists, actors and communicators who leave their mark and contributions with high-quality work.
Among them is the journalist Elianta Quintero, who has been the presenter of the outstanding Telemicro News program since May 2016.
Elianta Quintero has been responsible for the news program of the star show “Noticias Telemicro” (Telemicro, Channel 5) since 2016.
He never imagined that when he arrived in the Dominican Republic he would have to face the terrible reality and live with his compatriots that many have to go through when they leave their country, without a plan and without anything certain.
“There are many people who come to me in very difficult situations, who are looking for a dream and come across the reality of those countries that also have their difficulties. We had to support within our means. Apart from social change, the reality of my people is one of the most difficult things I have had to face,” the communicator confessed to Listín Diario in 2017.
He came to the country to collaborate with his 25 years of experience in media relations and to contribute to television technology with which he worked on Venezuelan television. “I have come to share what little or great knowledge I have through the media,” he said.
“La Beba Rojas” never had the thought of emigrating to another country, but she found love and work in the Dominican Republic.
Reymarvi Rojas, known as La Beba Rojas, As a successful Venezuelan actress, she then worked at Telemicro in “Sábado Extraordinario” and “La Opción de las 12” and is now part of the presenting team of “Activando la sangre”.
While she worked stably in her home country of Venezuela, La Beba Rojas never entertained the idea of emigrating to another country, even though her country was on the path to impoverishment and the political and social situation was becoming increasingly difficult for its citizens.
Being with her family was her top priority, but an attack on her husband Fabio Velásquez and her son Fabio Alejandro when she was five (he is now 13) was pivotal in shaping her partner's plans for For Some Time he thought about settling in the Dominican Republic.
In 2016, the actress, known to a generation thanks to her work on television, especially in the comedy program “Bienvenidos”, alongside Miguel Ángel Landa, was hired in the Dominican Republic to film “Sábado Extraordinario” (Telemicro , Channel 5) to be moderated by Hony Estrella and his compatriot Leonardo Villalobos.
The communicator traveled to Santo Domingo every week until, driven by the horror her family experienced, she ended up living in the Dominican Republic.
On the other hand, Katherin Hernández He came to Santo Domingo in 2011 and became part of the Global Democracy and Development Foundation (Funglode) team. In June 2014, he moved to the news channel CDN 37 under the leadership of journalist Nuria Piera to host the outstanding news program “Final Approach”.