The Dominican Republic

One of the things Sheer and Associates is going to use this blog for is to take a look at the some of the areas of the world where we offer services.

We’re going to start with the Dominican Republic.  We’ve done a fair amount of work there over the last few years, most of it due diligence for Las Vegas-based gaming concerns that want to do business there.  Sheer and Associates has an investigator based in the capital, Santo Domingo.  Thomas Sheer is well acquainted with the country, having spearheaded a number of charitable projects there during his years with the Knights of Malta.

The Dominican Republic (DR) covers the eastern two-thirds of the Caribbean island of Hispaniola.  It shares the island with Haiti; Hispaniola lies roughly 70 miles west of Puerto Rico.  The Dominican Republic is the second-largest Caribbean country after Cuba by population and area.  Santo Domingo is located on the south coast of the island.  The DR is a popular tourist destination and facilities there vary according to price and location.  Spanish is the official language.  Though English is widely spoken in major cities and tourist areas, it is much less common outside these areas.  There is a large Dominican population in the United States; in the last census 1.6 million people identified themselves as Dominican.  Most immigrants from the DR to the US settle in the Northeast, with half of those living in New York City.

The State Department has issued no travel warnings for the Dominican Republic.  Click: http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/cis/cis_1103.html for the latest on Department Travel Warnings.

The State Department does however warn about street crime there, saying it is especially a problem for tourists.  For more on crime in the DR click:  http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/cis/cis_1103.html#crime .  The State Department also cautions visitors to the Dominican Republic against overland travel to neighboring Haiti.

For more information on the Dominican Republic, please visit the US Embassy website:  http://santodomingo.usembassy.gov/. For an interesting look at the inner workings of the embassy read the State Department’s Inspector General’s report: http://oig.state.gov/lbry/reporthighlights/54105.htm.  For tourism information visit the official Dominican tourism website: http://www.godominicanrepublic.com/.