Villa González

**Villa González** is a town in the Santiago Province of the northwestern Dominican Republic. The area produces some of the finest tobacco in the Dominican Republic.

## Villa González

### Region

 Santiago Province
Cibao N

### Distance to:

Santiago: 16 km (*10 mi.*)
Santo Domingo:
174 km (*108 mi.*)

## Geography

The town of Villa González is located at 19.53954° N, -70.78929° E. It sits at the base of the southern slope of the Northern Cordillera, 14 kilometers (*9 miles*) northwest of the city of Santiago de Los Caballeros. According to the ONE, the municipality has a total land area of 101.50 square kilometers (39.19 square miles). It is bordered by the town of Altamira (Puerto Plata Province) on the north, the city of Santiago on the north and east, and the municipality of Villa Bisonó on the west.

It includes three Municipal Districts: **El Limón**, **Palmar Arriba**, and **Villa González**.

70% of the surface of the municipality is flat and the rest is mountainous. Its soils are deep, loose, and fertile, with medium moisture retention and rich in potassium. The main hydrographic sources of the municipality are the Yaque del Norte, Alonsico, Las Lavas and Quinigua rivers, and the Arrenquillo stream. In its territory, important natural landmarks such as the Pico Diego de Ocampo stand out, which is the highest height of the Northern Cordillera, the Peñón cave and the mouth of the Two Hills located both in the Northern mountain range, these are ecological reserves.

### Climate

An average rainfall of 1,500 to 2,000 mm (*60 to 80 inches*) / year is recorded and an average temperature between 26ºC and 28ºC (*79\* - 82\*F*).

## Economy

The vocation of the municipality of Villa González is mainly agricultural. The most important crop is tobacco, and to a lesser extent, beans, corn, tomato, eggplant, banana, yucca, avocado and chili. The quality of tobacco and cigarettes produced by Villa González is recognized internationally. This municipality has two free zone industrial parks that concentrate 7 companies, with approximately 1,783 employees in total. It also highlights the extraction of aggregates for construction, and to a lesser extent, by poultry and pig farming.

Villa González is an essentially agricultural community, based on tobacco, whose industrialization and commercialization processes have been developed around it, the majority of its economic activity is based on exports, generating a large amount of foreign exchange for the country and numerous jobs. It produces about 50 percent of Dominican tobacco. The Compañía Anónima Tabacalera cigarette and cigar factory is located in the municipality and there are 15 other cigar factories, some of which are part of the Free Zone regime.

The Ulises Francisco Espaillat canal irrigates most of the productive lands of the municipality, which has also allowed tobacco, local agricultural production, to a lesser extent, to have other products such as corn, beans, sorghum, sweet potatoes, cassava and plantain. Livestock production is also available.

## Infrastructure

Due to its proximity to the city of Santiago, its social equipment is reduced, because the population usually moves to that city to obtain health and education services. The social equipment of Villa González is conformed by the Milagros Hernández High School, 12 public schools and 6 private schools; Dr. Napier Díaz Municipal Hospital, 3 polyclinics and 3 private care centers; the Miguel Díaz Library; the Cuzco Peña Softball, Prospero Guzmán Baseball fields and the Juan Pablo Duarte and Villa Nueva basketball courts.

## References

Villa González [1]

Michael Vedrine est la mejor