A community surrounds the Santiago garbage dump in the Dominican Republic that is named “Cienfuegos,” or, 100 fires. Thousands of people from this community survive solely on the trash Santiago city produces. Called “buzos,” or divers, they pick through garbage for anything recyclable to sell: from metal, plastic, cardboard, paper, and glass to dolls, shoes, clothes, and food. Options for the buzos, including children, are limited: about only three in ten can read and write at a basic level. The buzos call themselves the forgotten – “Los Olvidados” – in a society which treats them the same as the junk they sift through.
But the weight of Dominican Republic’s history can be felt through all of them, as individuals and as a community. With racism and exclusion, and a profound gap between the rich and poor, Santo Domingo alone has the highest per capita ownership of BMWs in the Western Hemisphere. Tourist destinations such as Jarabacoa and Samana hide DR’s problems within the walls of resorts, looking palpably scoured of culture in favor for the sterile zest of international tourism. The landfill however defies Santiago’s appeal as a tourist destination. An eyesore for the city, it has also been a major source of air pollution, and locally an ecological disaster of soil and water contamination. Everyone blames the government for doing nothing. The governor of Santiago province blames the city. The city blames the media. The media blames anyone with authority. And no one does anything.
Documentary Photographs by Isabelle Carbonell