{"id":281475,"date":"2025-04-14T09:21:09","date_gmt":"2025-04-14T09:21:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2025\/04\/14\/a-small-city-that-lost-big-in-the-dominican-nightclub-tragedy\/"},"modified":"2025-04-14T09:21:09","modified_gmt":"2025-04-14T09:21:09","slug":"a-small-city-that-lost-big-in-the-dominican-nightclub-tragedy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2025\/04\/14\/a-small-city-that-lost-big-in-the-dominican-nightclub-tragedy\/","title":{"rendered":"A Small City That Lost Big in the Dominican Nightclub Tragedy"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"text-align:center\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2025\/04\/14\/multimedia\/14int-dominicanrepublic-dispatch-01-ckmj\/14int-dominicanrepublic-dispatch-01-ckmj-facebookJumbo.jpg?ssl=1\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"A Small City That Lost Big in the Dominican Nightclub Tragedy\" title=\"A Small City That Lost Big in the Dominican Nightclub Tragedy\" \/><\/div><p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-0\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Half the board of directors of a seniors club perished, as did the president of the Lion\u2019s Club, a high school teacher and the owner of a trucking company. Tony Blanco, a retired major league baseball player who died in the disaster, was a native son.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">So was Rubby P\u00e9rez, the merengue singer whose concert drew more than 400 people \u2014 many from his hometown.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In the wake of a nightclub roof <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/04\/10\/world\/americas\/dominican-republic-nightclub-collapse-deaths.html\" title=\"\">collapse that killed hundreds of people<\/a>, the Dominican Republic is brimming in grief. That heartbreak is perhaps most palpable in Haina, an industrial city outside the capital that lost more than two dozen people in the tragedy, including community leaders and cultural heroes.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">A gritty municipality best known for its bustling seaport and a legacy of lead pollution that once gave it the unwelcome moniker \u201cthe Dominican Chernobyl\u201d now has another undesirable distinction. When the roof of the Jet Set disco came crashing down last Tuesday morning, killing 226 people, it dealt a heavy blow to the small city.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-1\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Twenty-five people from there were among those who died.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cGod has a way of communicating with us, and sometimes it is difficult to understand,\u201d the former Red Sox player David Ortiz, better known as Big Papi, said Sunday. Mr. Ortiz used to live in Haina, and traveled there to help bury its dead.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-2\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Joined by the president, Luis Abinader, dozens of residents gathered in a sweltering gym to say goodbye. They clutched white roses and tried through tears to understand how a single town could lose so many people. Some wondered aloud how they would ever manage to laugh and sing again.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">A photo slide show of the victims flashed on two large screens while an evangelical pastor and a Catholic priest offered consoling words.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The singer Joselito Trinidad performed stirring ballad renditions of \u201cLooking For Your Kisses\u201d and \u201cI Will Return,\u201d two of Mr. P\u00e9rez\u2019s merengue songs. He sang in the high pitch that Mr. P\u00e9rez, known as the \u201chighest voice in merengue,\u201d was famous for.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-3\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cWe are a people who have known how to unite through thick and thin, and this is no exception,\u201d he said before singing. \u201cAs a native Hainero, I raise my voice so that we remember that voice that took wings and went to a better place.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In the gym, many bleacher seats remained empty: People around town were busy attending funerals.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">When the service ended, one woman ran after the president\u2019s entourage sobbing and demanding accountability.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-4\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cOh, my beautiful friend, there\u2019s no one like her anymore!\u201d cried Kirsis Bautista, whose friend, Juana V\u00e1squez, died in the disaster. \u201cMr. President, justice! Let me see Luis Abinader and say: \u2018justice!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. P\u00e9rez, 69, was a well-known merengue artist and a member of the Golden Haineros, a private social club for people over 55 to gather and attend educational workshops. The club\u2019s 143 members were also his fans, so 25 of them made the half-hour trip to Santo Domingo to watch him perform at Jet Set.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-5\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Only 12 made it out.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The organization\u2019s vice president died, as did the treasurer and event planner.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cThe first thing I said when I heard about what happened was that I was going to quit,\u201d said Hect\u00f3r Rinc\u00f3n, the club\u2019s president. \u201cPeople told me, \u2018no, we have to find the strength to keep this going in honor of those who died.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The seniors rent a space above a nightclub called the House of the Drunk, where they play dominoes and throw birthday parties, adhering to strict rules: no talk of politics, religion or sports.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">On Sunday morning before the service, the club was still decorated in balloons and birthday banners from the last celebration, but a large black ribbon on the front door gave away that something terrible had happened. The mood was grim among a handful of members, gathered before yet another funeral.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-6\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Now instead of organizing jewelry-making workshops, Mr. Rinc\u00f3n is looking for psychologists to help survivors. \u201cThis is like a war,\u201d he said. \u201cWhen you come back from war, you are not the same.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-7\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Rinc\u00f3n grew up with Mr. P\u00e9rez, and they sang in a choir together as teenagers.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cHaina was his everything,\u201d Mr. Rinc\u00f3n said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">He tried to share more fond memories of his friend. Tears got in the way, so he talked instead about the town\u2019s industrial history.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Haina\u2019s official name, which nobody uses, is Bajos de Haina, or the Haina Lowlands. Home to about 158,000 people, it is about eight miles west of Santo Domingo.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The country\u2019s only oil refinery is here, and its port moves more than a third of the country\u2019s maritime cargo.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-8\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Rinc\u00f3n recalled its heyday, when a sugar mill and other factories churned out engineers, mechanics and workers in other skilled trades. Those businesses are gone now.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-9\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cThis was a town of migrants \u2014 mostly miners and agricultural workers,\u201d said Jes\u00fas Ram\u00edrez, a member of the Lions Club, which lost three members. \u201cAnd it turned out some of the country\u2019s best sports players and artists.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The Lion\u2019s Club will particularly miss its president, Luis Emilio Guill\u00e9n, who was also vice president of the seniors\u2019 club. A former soccer player who owned a trophy company, he was known for attending every cultural and sports event.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cWe are going to continue the work he was doing in sports and culture,\u201d said Margarita Tejeda, who represents Haina in Congress and is a Lion\u2019s Club member. \u201cThis is a collective pain. Everyone is in a lot of pain.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-10\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-798hid etfikam0\">Hogla Enecia P\u00e9rez<!-- --> contributed reporting from Haina.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/04\/14\/world\/americas\/haina-dominican-republic-nightclub.html\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Half the board of directors of a seniors club perished, as did the president of the Lion\u2019s Club, a high school teacher and the owner of a trucking company. Tony Blanco, a retired major league baseball player who died in the disaster, was a native son. So was Rubby P\u00e9rez, the merengue singer whose concert [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":281476,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2025\/04\/14\/multimedia\/14int-dominicanrepublic-dispatch-01-ckmj\/14int-dominicanrepublic-dispatch-01-ckmj-facebookJumbo.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[55389,183086,995,122,53519,179782,218057,3131,218058,19126,23453,218059,214057,4602,12163],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/281475"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=281475"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/281475\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":281477,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/281475\/revisions\/281477"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/281476"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=281475"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=281475"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=281475"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}