Rafael Trujillo was born
in San Cristobal, Dominican Republic, in 1891. After leaving school
he worked as a telegraph operator. At the time Dominican Republic
was occupied by the United States. In 1918 Trujillo
joined the Dominican National Guard that had been created by the Americans.
He made rapid progress in his new career and by the time the US
Marines left in 1924 he was the head of the Dominican National
Guard.
In 1930 Trujillo ran against
incumbent Horacio Vasquez for president. Trujillo was able to use
his power to win the election. He afterwards claimed he had won ninety
five percent of the vote. After he gained power Trujillo established
a secret police force that tortured and murdered the opposition to
his rule.
Trujillo used his political
control to obtain great personal wealth. He achieved support from
the United States by becoming Latin America's leading anti-communists.
Cordell Hull, US Secretary of State (1933-1944),
defended Trujillo by saying: " He may be a son-of-a-bitch, but
he is our son-of-a-bitch."
President Dwight
Eisenhower began to change his opinion of Trujillo after the overthrow
of Fulgencio Batista by Fidel
Castro in
January, 1959. Eisenhower observed that: "It's certain that American
public opinion won't condemn Castro until we have moved against Trujillo."
The Central
Intelligence Agency (CIA)
also warned Eisenhower that Trujillo was so unpopular in Dominican
Republic that it was only a matter of time before he became the victim
of a left-wing revolution. Therefore it was suggested that the CIA
should become involved in replacing him with a more suitable pro-American
supporter. CIA's Black Operations (Executive
Action) was brought in to
remove Trujillo.
This
plan had the support of President Romulo Betancourt of Venezuela.
He told Eisenhower: "If you don't eliminate him, we will invade".
A training camp was setup in Venezuela by Dominican exiles flown there
from the United States and Puerto Rica by the CIA. This group had
been recruited from the privileged sectors of Dominican society in
order to make sure that the overthrow of Trujillo did not result in
the establishment of a communist government.
Rafael Trujillo was assassinated
on 30th May 1961 when his car was machine-gunned by a group of men
on a quiet road outside the capital. Before the CIA could get their
people in power, Rafael Trujillo Jr. rushed home from France
and installed himself as the country's new ruler. Over the next six
months he executed all his known opponents.
President John
F. Kennedy favoured
Joachim Balaguer as the temporary ruler of the Dominican Republic.
As Kennedy remarked at the time: "Balaguer is our only tool.
The anti-communist liberals are not strong enough. We must use our
influence to take Balaguer along the road to democracy." To reinforce
this policy a US naval task force with 1,800 US
Marines aboard appeared off the Dominican coast on 19th November,
1961. As a result Trujillo and his supporters left the country. Once
in power Balaguer began deporting all the major left-wing leaders
in the Dominican Republic.
Juan Bosch was elected
as the new president and took power in February, 1963. He was more
left-wing than Kennedy and the CIA wanted.
Bosch immediately announced a programme of public works, land reform,
low-rent housing and the nationalization of selected businesses. He
also ruled that communists and socialists would not be persecuted
as long as they obeyed the law. The United States press now began
comparing Bosch to Fidel
Castro. The Miami News
reported that: "Communist penetration of the Dominican Republic
is progressing with incredible speed and efficiency."
The CIA now decided to
use the Dominican Army to overthrow Bosch. In July, 1963, a group
of army officers warned Bosch that the military would only continue
to support him if he adopted a policy of "rigorous anti-communism".
Bosch responded by going on television to announce that in a democratic
society the military must remain out of politics.
Juan Bosch was overthrown
as a result of a military coup in September, 1963. Newsweek
Magazine reported that: "Democracy was being saved
from Communism by getting rid of democracy."
Open
Debate on the Kennedy Assassination
Available from Amazon
Books (order below)
