Bodega Dreams Characters

Detective DeJesus is a Cuban police officer investigating Salazar’s murder along with Detective Ortiz and Captain Leary. He is racist against Puerto Ricans, despite the common struggles faced by both Cuban and Puerto Rican immigrants in New York.

Detective Ortiz is a Puerto Rican officer investigating Salazar’s murder along with Detective DeJesus and Captain Leary. Ortiz respects Julio for standing up to DeJesus’s racism against Puerto Rican people.

Captain Leary leads the investigation into Salazar’s murder. He’s not really interested in the case and just wants to tie up the loose ends quickly and easily. Quiñonez uses Captain’s Leary’s disinterested attitude to show that the police don’t take criminal cases in Spanish Harlem very seriously.

Victor is Negra’s husband. He has a passionate but rocky—and often violent—relationship with Negra.

Pastor Velasquez runs the Pentecostal church that Blanca attends. He often stresses that religion saved him from a life of drugs and petty crime. Blanca is close with Pastor Velasquez, but Julio believes that the Pastor’s religious attitudes are sexist and disempowering for the Latinx community in Spanish Harlem.

Googie is Roberto Vega’s older brother who struggles with a drug addiction. He lives in Chicago.

Blanca’s mother is a Latinx immigrant who single-handedly supported her family and raised her two daughters Blanca and Negra. Blanca thinks that her mother is a good example of a strong, empowered woman—but Julio thinks that society held her back by denying her an education.

Mr. Tapia is a Latinx immigrant teacher at Julio’s school. He tries to empower the Latinx students and protect them from teachers like Mr. Blessington, but he has little power.

Hipolito is a young boy who immigrates to New York at the end of the story with his grandfather Geran.

Mr. Cavalleri is a mafia boss who lives in Queens.

Inelda Aldino is the woman who stabbed and killed Popcorn.

Junior Jiga is a young Latinx boy who’s been given this name because he carries around a jiga (knife) and slashes people’s faces with it when he gets into fights. Quiñonez mentions Junior Jiga to highlight the pervasive violence in Spanish Harlem, where the story is set.

Lucy is Blanca’s best friend in school.

Mr. Tapia mentions Puerto Rican Hollywood star Rita Moreno to inspire his students to believe Latinx people can achieve great things against the odds.

Mr. Tapia cites Latinx baseball star Reggie Jackson to inspire his students to believe Latinx people can achieve great things against the odds.

Doña Ramonita is a woman who runs a botanica (a store that sells religious goods). She enacts indigenous rituals for the Latinx community in Spanish Harlem.