LA COLINA
By Evaristo De León
La Colina is a neighborhood
to the north of San Francisco de Macorís. It is very important due to it has the
oldest and the biggest aqueduct in the city. Many people in La Colina work on
construction. The people are kind and honest there. La colina is the third biggest
neighborhood in San Francisco de Macorís. To the ironic act of the people, you can
find a city district with more than one thousand houses and more than thirty
streets in La Colina.
First of all, July Rivas was the land owner in La Colina. He
lived there from 1950 to 1983. July Rivas’s wife was Mrs. Luz Cordova and they
had three sons and one daughter. July Rivas had a cattle ranch with coconut
trees, orange trees, palm trees, and mahogany in La Colina. In those times,
July Rivas had a law paper deed with just 14 duties because nobody could
declare more than 14 duties by law. One day, a robber got into the land and
went up a coconut tree. Bobolo found him. He had a gun. They fought and Bobolo
shot him and to death. July Rivas had to go away. July Rivas permitted a company
to build a neighborhood in one part of the land. Later, the people who worked
in the company began to see the trees that could be useful to build houses such
as palm trees, and mahogany. Several months later, July Rivas sold all the
property to Rafael de la Cruz at the end of 1983.
After that, in 1984, some people bought different
pieces of land and other people invaded the greatest part of the land in La
Colina. When Rafael de la Cruz became the land owner, the people began to get
into the land. In that time, Arelis Lora was one of the first founders. She
said that just two houses were built with zinc and carton. Later, a company
wanted to urbanize the land with Rafael de la Cruz permission. They had to go
away because of the invasion. The company excavated the part where they planned
to make the streets and put water pipes. The invaders began to steal the pipes
and sell them. Rafael de la Cruz had no idea what to do and let the invaders
build houses. He didn’t have papers for all the land. Later, Rafael de la Cruz
tried to go there with some police officers and some people who had guns. But
it was not enough to get the land back. The invaders began to cut coconut
trees, palm trees, orange trees, and mahogany to build their houses. Many of
them argued for the pieces of land with one another. Later, everything calmed
down. After that, many people sold their pieces of land and others bought them
with no problem although they didn’t have title deeds. Later, there were
tension days. One day, people heard that the police was going there and they
were alert. Many people agreed and said that they would not give the land back.
After that, the land owner tried to negotiate with the invaders, but they didn’t
want to. Fifteen years later, the City Hall in San Francisco de Macorís gave
them papers which said that each person was the land owner of their pieces of
land. Sometimes, it is heard that the land owner and his sons want their land
back. The invaders agree to fight or die for their pieces of land. Not many
founders are alive. Just three of them live there. Nowadays, family’s founders
say that they going to do whatever to keep the land. Many people that live in
La Colina bought their pieces of land and they don’t want to give them back.
Thirdly, the people built
their first houses with zinc and carton. Just two houses were finished. Then,
the people fenced their pieces of land and cut the coconut trees, palm trees,
orange trees and mahogany. They hurriedly built the houses by using whatever
they had. They just wanted to keep the land. Later, they finished their houses
and moved there. Some people took off the pipes and sold them to build their
houses because the company had gone. Some of them built houses that were blown
down by the wind. They only wanted to be there and keep their territory. They
built houses and fought for that. Later, they finished the houses and some of
them sold them. Some people went over there to buy the pieces of land. After that,
almost everything calmed down and the land owners stopped to push them. Later,
many of them tried to build their houses with concrete.
The fourth and last aspect to mention is that the people
didn’t make streets before building their houses in La Colina. They began to
build their houses and they didn’t care about building streets. Later, they thought
of what would Las Colinas be without streets. First of all, they began with one
street and they named it Calle 1. Later, the street had holes and trenches
because of the pipes that they had taken off. After that, the major Felix
Rodriguez sent a bulldozer to fix it. When the bulldozer finished, the people
were happy. At the beginning, there were some problems. The rain caused
trenches. They tried to throw crushed stones to fix it, and that worked only
for two weeks. That made inhabitants to build other street in the back of La
Colina. They named it Calle Principal. That street was connected with the Calle
1.
Most of the people in La
Colina lost their land and others did not. Nothing happened because they needed
it. La Colina had two streets named calle 1 and calle principal. Those who
didn’t have their houses near those streets, used many different paths. During
15 years, those were their ways. Later, the City Hall gave the people papers
and sent equipments to work on all streets La Colina needed. When they finished
making the streets, there were many. Only two had names and the others did not.
In 2010, the government together with the City Hall of San Francisco de Macorís
asphalted all the streets in La Colina. They gave names to all the streets,
too. The streets are named by letters and numbers. Around 12 streets are named
by numbers and others are by the letters.
In conclusion, July Rivas
was the land owner and lived in La Colina since 1950. This had a great forest
with coconut trees, palm trees, orange trees, and mahogany. July Rivas wanted
to urbanize the place while he lived there. He had to go away. Later, July
Rivas sold the land to Rafael de la Cruz, who continued with the plan of
urbanizing it. In 1984, some people bought some pieces of land to urbanize them
and others invaded it. The invaders built their first houses with zinc and
carton. Later, they cut the trees to continue building their houses. Some of
them fought to keep their pieces of land. After that, everybody calmed down and
they began to make the first street in the land. Later, they continue with the rest
of the streets. Fifteen years later, the City Hall sent equipments to make the
all streets that La Colina needed and they gave names to all of the. Many of our
city districts in the Dominican Republic began the same as La Colina.
San
Francisco de Macorís 2012
