“La Línea,” due to its proximity to the Dominican-Haitian border, came to be located in the northwestern region of the island of Hispaniola (Santo Domingo). The towns of Villa Vásquez, Guayubín, Montecristi, Santiago Rodríguez, Manzanillo, Loma de Cabrera, Capotillo, and Dajabón were very far from the rest of the country at a time when travel was done on horseback along harsh, lonely paths, before the road-building efforts that began during the U.S. military occupation of 1916–1924.

Indiscriminate logging and the use of burning as a tactic to eliminate guerrilla fighters opened the way for the spread of bayahonda, leaving spaces where oregano grew vigorously, and marking the Northwest Line as a territory shaped by adversity and a constant struggle for survival.

Popular imagination created the legend that the abundance and exquisiteness of oregano meant that, when slaughtered, the goats were already “seasoned.” They were considered the tastiest in the world. The challenge, then, was to satisfy the enormous demand, overcome great distances, and face the lack of technology to preserve meat.

In response, colonial methods used to preserve beef and pork were revived, relying on salt, lemon, sour orange, and the sun as natural preservatives. The goats were deboned, seasoned, and laid out under the relentless regional sun, allowing them to be transported long distances without spoiling and turning them into a highly valued food.

Even today, it is not uncommon to find this practice, and because of the exquisite flavor of the stew, people still claim that Liniero goat, naturally seasoned with oregano, is the best in the world.