Good Times and Bad Blood: Violence, Solidarity, and Social Organization on Dominican Streets

The corner of Gomez and Independencia is one of the Distrito Nacional’s busiest yet manageable intersections. Everyone wants a piece of the traffic flow. The northwest corner is an ideal staging ground for all sorts of economic activities because a large tamarind tree gives off enough shade to keep most people out of the sun. Adjacent are a large paletera, or cigarette and candy stand, a fruit seller, and three middle-aged women who sell newspapers to passing motorists. These share their turf with the nine boys and young men who sit a long the low stone wall waiting for the traffic light to change to red so that they can rush to wash the windows of the halted vehicles. When traffic stops, they have 90 to 120 seconds to make their transaction.