Word: santo
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...popular mood in Santo Domingo was unmistakably jubilant. Thousands of cheering citizens waved white flags in honor of the victorious Dominican Revolutionary Party (P.R.D.). They thronged the streets, tooting auto horns and shouting political slogans: "Ya ya Balaguer se va. ¿Que felicidad!" (Balaguer is going. What happiness!). After twelve years in office, the defeated Joaquin Balaguer, now 70 and nearly blind, was departing in favor of Politician-Farmer Antonio Guzmán, 67, a Social Democrat. It was the first time in this century that a freely elected President of the Dominican Republic had succeeded another such freely elected...
...inauguration. Heading the group were Secretary of State Cyrus Vance and U.N. Ambassador Andrew Young. But the most important symbolic presence was that of Lieut. General Dennis McAuliffe, Commander in Chief of the U.S. Southern Command based in the Panama Canal Zone. He was dispatched to Santo Domingo as a reminder to the Dominican generals, who have little love for Guzmán, that the U.S. supported his election and expected them to do the same...
...that moment, an army officer with soldiers burst into Santo Domingo's electoral commission headquarters and declared: "This is now over! Get out!" Technicians broadcasting the results were ordered to cut their signals; radios and television sets throughout the country went dead. As word spread of the army's intervention, the country of 5 million was thrown into confusion. Had a coup taken place that would invalidate the election and keep Balaguer in power...
...armed forces immediately denied that there had been a coup, stating in a communiqué that "false rumors are being spread by the enemies of peace." Yet Santo Domingo had the look of a city in the midst of military takeover. Troops patrolled the streets of the capital as apprehensive Dominicans remained safely inside their homes...
Some knowing Dominicans insisted that the invasion of electoral headquarters was an impetuous decision by Santo Domingo Police Chief Neit Nivar Seijas. According to this theory, the top cop, a veteran backer of Balaguer, panicked when he saw the voting returns running against his boss. Balaguer denied this. The army's interference, he explained after nearly two days of silence, was the fault of a mere lieutenant who decided, on his own, to safeguard the ballots after he had heard rumors of a planned coup...