2011: the electoral board proposes deleting "indio" from the ID card (Santo Domingo, November 2011)

SUMMARY2011: the electoral board proposes deleting "indio" from the ID card (Santo Domingo, November 2011) [Connections: Latin America & Caribbean, Nov 5, 2026]

RECORDA reform of Electoral Law 275-97, drafted by the Junta Central Electoral (JCE) with Organization of American States technicians and announced by JCE president Roberto Rosario, would have limited the cédula's color options to "mulato," "negro" and "blanco." El Diario NY (17 Nov 2011): the reform "dejará fuera el 'indio' como opción para definir el color." A Listín Diario editorial quoted there: "aquí nos hemos inventado un color, el 'indio'." Indian Country Today (5 Dec 2011) quoted Taíno activist Jorge Estevez (National Museum of the American Indian): the change "appears as an organized effort to force Dominicans to identify with just two racial components," and "indio" "has been traditionally our only and closest connection to Indian identity." Robert Mukaro Barrero (United Confederation of Taíno People) called it "discriminatory."

PATTERNA state body proposed removing the one Indigenous-sounding category from the national ID, with no Indigenous option offered in its place

LENS (WW9)One pen stroke and a whole nation's last paper link to the land is gone

OPENWhether the 2011 proposal passed is not confirmed. The 2026 card design listed by El Caribe (name, birth date and place, ID number, civil status, blood type, signature, photo, occupation) shows no color field, but the date the color field was dropped needs deep research

SOURCEEl Diario NY, 17 Nov 2011; ICT, "No Indian ID law being proposed in the Dominican Republic"; Dominican Today, "Legislation eradicates Dominican 'Indians'"; El Caribe, JCE resolution on new cédula, 6 Mar 2026.