The above commercials were produced by the Dominican Navy, the United States Embassy in Santo Domingo, and the United States Coast Guard to deter illegal sea exits. They were part of “The Sea is History” exhibition at Duke University Library.
Hundreds of thousands of Haitians, Dominicans and Cubans have left their homelands since 1960 by sea. They travel in fragile vessels or smugglers’ boats without prearranging authorized entry into another country. The aim of this exhibit is to raise questions, increase awareness, and encourage informed thought about these people:
Who are the maritime migrants of the Caribbean?
Why do they leave their homelands?
What is the nature of their journey?
What do they represent both literally and symbolically?
What duty do we owe to these mariners?
We hope the exhibit is a voyage of discovery for the viewer.
English transcripts can be found here.
This exhibit will be coming to the Duke University Marine Lab and North Carolina Maritime Museum on July 23, 2010.
~Southern Fried Scientist
Lol, their text makes it sound almost mystical.
Those from Hispaniola would have left because of a) the dirctatorship ending in ’61, their civil war in 1965 and poverty in general.