Word: trujillos
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Considering the island's ugly history (see box), it is a wonder that the Dominican Republic's leftists did not make their move long before. The tinder for revolution has been building for generations, and in the unstable years after Dictator Rafael Leonidas Trujillo, the Dominican military has been the strongest anti-Communist influence. Most often it was in the person of Wessin y Wessin...
...Wessin y Wessin helped stop the Armed Forces Secretary from overthrowing the seven-man civilian Council of State that administered the country after Trujillo. A year later, he led a coup to depose the country's newly elected President, Juan Bosch, whose promises of reform won wide praise but whose attitude toward Communists was highly permissive. Bosch declared an amnesty for all exiles, permitted scores of far leftists to return from Cuba and Europe?"the better to watch them," he said. When Bosch refused to restrict the Communists' right to travel and even allowed trips to Cuba, Wessin...
...overseas. All the while, Bosch's supporters plotted for their leader's return ?and apparently found considerable backing among young army officers. Bosch's men also found encouragement among the country's leftists, notably the Castroite 14th of June Movement, which attempted an abortive anti-Trujillo invasion from Cuba in 1959. To exactly what extent Bosch himself knew of the Castroite involvement is unclear. The fact remains that in the past few weeks, according to intelligence sources, considerable numbers of Cuban-trained Dominicans have been slipping across the Windward Passage. Last week three boats loaded with...
...Navy's official order, it was "military occupation . . . military government . . . military law." The occupation lasted eight years, and along with their public works the marines created a national police to keep peace after their departure. The police became the instrument for one more dictator: Rafael Leonidas Trujillo Molina, an ambitious colonel who rigged elections in 1930 and ruled the country for 31 deadening years...
...Trujillo's favorite titles were "Benefactor of the Fatherland," "Chief Protector of the Working Class," "Genius of Peace." In a grim way, there was something to the brags. He imposed a rare order on his powder-keg country, built efficient hospitals, crisscrossed the country with good roads, built housing projects for his 2,900,000 people, improved the water supply and increased literacy. Business prospered, and so did Trujillo?to the tune of an estimated $800 million fortune. He and his family owned 65% of the country's sugar production, twelve of its 16 sugar mills...