According to the estimates of the last census, carried out in 2022, the Dominican Republic has a population of 10,695,000. Of these 3/4, equal to 73% are mestizos, 16% white and 11% black. The other minor ethnic groups present in the country are Asians, especially Chinese, and Europeans (mainly Spanish). There is also a small…
An indigenous ethnic group, the Ashaninka live in the central forest of the Ucayali department in the Atalaya province of eastern Peru. The children learn not only from practice but also through feeling and listening. The Ashaninka children do not learn through theory but by daily practice from an early age: the boys still barely…
The economy of the Dominican Republic is a liberalized, open, and strongly export-oriented economy. For about a decade, it has been experiencing a phase of expansion, becoming one of the fastest growing in Latin America and the Caribbean, as evidenced by the estimates of the World Bank. The engine of this growth, which generated an…
A painful story that continues today. Internal tensions have favoured the spread of corruption. Difficult union with Haiti. Privileged relationship with the United States. Increasing tourism. The Dominican Republic is located on Hispaniola Island which it shares with Haiti, which borders it to the west. It occupies about two-thirds of the entire territory of the…
The Dominican Republic is a presidential republic based on the system of representative democracy with a Head of State directly elected by the people every 4 years. The president exercises executive power through a government directly appointed by him and he is the head of the three-armed forces present in the country: the army, the…
What is the importance of time to the Asheninka, an Amazonian people of western Peru? Let’s find out. In the Amazonian world, time is marked by elements that can be stars, plants, animals, and others. The day is marked by the sun. The sun is what largely determines the conception of time and consequently the…
To a large extent, the ancestral medicine of the Ashaninka, an indigenous Amazonian ethnic group that lives in western Peru, revolves around the Ayahuasca ceremony, the name that is currently used to name an ancestral practice of the original peoples of the Amazon. It is a ritual practice performed by the shiripiare healers or shamans…
Being both a priest and a journalist represents the two most dangerous missions ever. This is the experience of Father Omar Sotelo Aguilar, an energetic Mexican priest of the Society of San Paolo who for years has been at the forefront of reporting on the criminal system that entraps his country. In Mexico, last year…
On 21 June, the winter solstice in the southern hemisphere, Andean cultures celebrate the new year. Fire, music, fruit and corn are the symbols. And open palms to thank and welcome. On 21 June, the winter solstice, Andean cultures celebrate the beginning of a new year, 5531. In Cochabamba-Bolivia, in the province of Quillacollo, the…
During the month of June, various traditional festivals are celebrated, including Inti Raymi, thanksgiving to the sun and the earth, for the abundance of crops. The history of these festivals dates back to the Inca empire when they were established to venerate the Sun King and Mother Earth (Pachamama) for the favours received in the…
On the outskirts of the capital of the state of Amazonas, the Casa Mamãe Margarida school helps vulnerable girls to find hope and the concreteness of the Gospel in education and training. Sr. Liliana Daou Lindoso, the Salesian Sister in charge of the house, tells us about it. St. Joseph the Worker is a dormitory…
The Asheninka live in the departments of Pasco and Ucayali, which are part of the central jungle of Peru. They are estimated to be around 15 thousand people. The term Asheninka has to do with blood family and community family and means ‘Our kinfolks’. The social environment of the Asheninka is based on family, which…