The Cocolo dancing drama tradition developed among descendants of British Caribbean slaves who had come to the Dominican Republic in the mid-nineteenth century to work in the sugar fields. This linguistically and culturally distinct community set up their own churches, schools, benevolent societies and mutual assistance lodges.
Their most distinctive expressions, however, were annual dancing drama performances. Originally pejorative, the term “Cocolo”, which refers to the migrants working on the British sugar plantation of the island, is now used proudly. - Guloyas is traditional personages of the carnival of San Pedro of Macorís. The origin of this carnival is in the cultural miscellanies product of the migrations that were coming in different epochs to this ground of bateyes and ingenuities.

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on this subject: Proclamation of Masterpieces 2001- Element inscribed on the Representative List 2008