I just recently came back from my first overseas assignment since moving to Miami (not counting Lebanon). Our patch extends across the southern US into the Caribbean, so I expect this first trip to be the first of many. We started off in the Dominican Republic for a few days to begin telling the story of how desperate people are to leave the island. In the last year there has been a huge spike in the number of migrants from Haiti and Dominican Republic risking their lives to reach Puerto Rico. Many of them pay thousands of dollars to take off from the northern coast. The sleepy fishing town of Nagua has earned itself a reputation as a launching point for smugglers. Yolas. That’s what they call the flimsy vessels that transport desperate migrants to Puerto Rico through the treacherous waters of the Mona Passage. They’re usually a bit bigger than the ones pictured here, but not often by much. The journey can take anywhere between 10 hours and three days……

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Dominican Republic Fuji X-Pro1 Karim Haddad Puerto Rico Travel Photography