Vicente Noble

"A la ocasión la pintan calva."
*Opportunity knocks only once.
-Spanish Proverb.*

**Vicente Noble** is a town in the southwest Dominican Republic, approximately 200 kilometers from Santo Domingo. It is part of the Barahona Province.

## Vicente Noble

### Region

Enriquillo
Barahona Province

## History

It was families from Azua de Compostela who initially settled in this enclave. For years, the town was called *El Hato*. The population was increasing with new births and relatives of bordering populations. It was renamed *El Alpargatal* until in the **1940**s it was finally registered, decreed by the dictator Trujillo, with the current designation in commemoration and memory of Colonel Vicente Noble, defender of the Dominican homeland and victorious of the first triumph of the Dominican army in the Dominican-Haitian war.

## Geography

According to the ONE, the town has a total area of 225.63 square kilometers (87.12 Sq.mi). Vicente Noble is bordered by the Barohuco city of Tamayo to the northwest, the Azua towns of La Ciénaga to the east, and the town of Enriquillo to the west. Paraíso is approximately 190 km (*118 miles* west of Santo Domingo, and 80 km (*50 miles*)east of the Internatinal Border Line at Jimaní.

 Fond Negro

### Demographics

It has approximately 24,000 inhabitants, including neighboring towns belonging to the municipality, despite the fact that its population has been diminished in recent years by the migratory exodus.

## Emigration

The majority of the vicentenobleros that decided to look for new horizons in other countries did it in Spain . The community of Vicente Noble in Madrid , the capital of Spain, is the largest outside of the Dominican Republic. They settled initially in areas of the outskirts of the city such as Aravaca and Pozuelo de Alarcón , later others came and did it in the neighborhood of Cuatro Caminos, currently the most Latin and Caribbean of the Spanish capital, but today they are distributed by different neighborhoods of Madrid even in other cities of Spain. Another minority party opted to travel to New York and settle in the United States .

For the vast majority, their quality of life and social status has improved markedly. Many have invested part of their earnings in the construction of housing in Vicente Noble for their families. Some have also bought their houses in Vicente Noble and have returned to the town and start some commercial activity with the money saved. The reward has been in many cases good after the sacrificed effort to live and work outside your borders, leaving behind children, parents, siblings, spouses, family and friends.

Another part of the Vicente Noble community in Spain has been established in the country. They decided to bring their relatives little by little and to be one more family in the Spanish state.

Vicente Noble also receives a large number of visitors, most of them Spanish. Some come from the hand of their wives or husbands, originally from this municipality, who got married in Spain. More and more marriages between vicentenobleras/os with Spanish are more frequent. Others are accompanied by Vincentian friends to discover the Dominican Republic and share with the people of Vicente Noble.

## Economy

Its economy is based almost 50% on remittances, which come mainly from Spain and New York . Sometimes becoming the second city that receives most remittance after San Pedro de Macoris ; but this has been affected lately due to the economic crisis suffered by these countries, especially Spain .

Today it is one of the most important towns in the province of Barahona and a good pantry for the rest of the Dominican Republic as Vicente Noble is one of the main fields of cultivation and production of plantain and sugarcane and other products such as tubers but to a lesser extent.

Its next mineral deposits stand out, mainly the marble one of Vicente Noble besides salt and plaster.

Other important sectors are the construction of mainly house and the flowering of small businesses.

## References

*Vicente Noble* - [1]

Michael Vedrine