Rafael Leonidas Trujillo

Rafael Leónidas Trujillo was the general of the Dominican Republic from 1930 until 1961, occupying the office of President of the Republic ( 1930 – 1938 , 1942 – 1952 ). At the end of his final term as President, he engineered his continued rule of the country as de facto head of state or Dictator .

Unfortunately, at this moment, next to nothing is known about the time period 1916-1924, except that during this time period, US Marines occupied the Dominican Republic and quelled political unrest.

RISE TO POWER

Trujillo was born to poor parents in San Cristóbal , Dominican Republic. During the United States occupation (1916–1924), Trujillo joined the National Guard, trained by the United States Marines to maintain order after the occupation. Quickly rising to high rank, Trujillo overthrew President Horacio Vásquez in 1930. After a devastating hurricane destroyed much of Santo Domingo , Trujillo devised a rebuilding plan to modernize the city, which he renamed Ciudad Trujillo (Trujillo City). He also renamed the highest mountain of the country ''Pico Trujillo'' (Trujillo Peak) after himself. Statues of himself were everywhere in the Republic.
Trujillo used his political control to obtain great personal wealth. He achieved support from the United States by becoming one of Latin America's leading anti-communists.

He ruled with absolute authority. Until his demise, Dominican schoolchildren recited daily prayers for "God, country, and Trujillo," many households were required to post plaques professing allegiance to the official state party, Partido Dominicano , and travel by Dominicans with in their country was surveiled or prohibited. His secret police jailed, tortured, or killed any opposition.

CONSTITUTIONALITY OF REIGN

Trujillo legitimized his absolute power over the country by passing new Constitutions and by winning elections in which he and his party, el Partido Dominicano were the only participants.

INTERNATIONAL POLICIES

Trujillo gained international attention for his rather open policy of allowing Jew ish immigration from Europe in the 1930s , at a time when larger and wealthy nations were turning back Jewish refugees. Some historians regard this gesture as a public relations ploy and perhaps as an attempt by Trujillo to "whiten" the predominantly mixed-race nation, a policy called ''blanquismo.'' Other historians regarded this gesture as humanitarian and without ulterior motives. After the Spanish Civil War , he also encouraged the immigration of Republican exiles.

In pursuing ''blanquismo,'' he ordered Dominican troops to massacre 20,000 dark-skinned Haitian sugar cane workers in 1937, an action that he claimed was a sovereign response to the Haitian government's support of exiled Dominicans who were working to overthrow him. The US demanded that Trujillo pay reparations, which Trujillo bargained down to $500,000. The Haitian workers were identified as immigrants, and then murdered by the truckload, if they could not pronounce the letter r in "perejil" the Spanish word for parsley. This action firmly established the Haitian-Dominican border at Río Masacre , or Massacre River (a river that was in fact named after the slaughter of French Pirates in the 17th century). He then settled the border region with Haiti, relocating Dominican families to new agricultural developments there.

Trujillo sided with the Allies during World War II , and his Anti-Communist policies initially gained the favor of the United States.

Trujillo's demise was partially brought about by his poorly concealed involvement in an attempt on the life of Venezuela n President Rómulo Betancourt , which led to economic sanctions from the United States and other Latin America n countries. By 1960, the Organization Of American States had unanimously approved to attempt to destabilize the Trujillo regime by continuing harsh sanctions and ending diplomatic ties.

DOMESTIC POLICIES

Trujillo oversaw the modernization of the Dominican Republic. Under his reign, a middle class of professionals and technocrats was created, along with scores of other public services such as a school system and a health system. He expanded and maintained the telecommunications and transportation infrastructure that had been created under the US occupation earlier in the century.

Trujillo undertook many public works projects and openly encouraged foreign investment, and the country prospered. During his regime, the country saw growth in key agricultural sectors, especially Sugar ; steadily declining infant mortality rates; rapid population growth, and, by many measures increasing quality of life.

SCANDALS, MIRABAL SISTERS

Adding to the resentment of him was the murder of the Mirabal Sisters , which he ordered. The Mirabal sisters were political activists and revolutionaries who were trying to overthrow the government. They were driving home unarmed after seeing their imprisoned husbands when they were picked up by their killers. They were led into a sugar cane patch, and beaten and strangled to death.

Another famous scandal was the disappearance of Jesús De Galíndez . Galíndez was a Basque exile who initially served the regime and worked as a CIA agent. Later in America, he wrote his thesis " The Age Of Trujillo " revealing the functioning of the dictatorship. Days before publication, Galíndez was kidnapped in New York , never to be found again. There had been strong suspicions that he was flown to the Republic to be tortured and executed.

HIS DEATH

With the rug pulled from under his regime, Trujillo was shot dead by members of his own armed forces on May 30 , 1961 while traveling in an Automobile . There is suspicion that the CIA provided the weapons to the assassins in hopes of creating the possibility of the formation of a less reactionary government, fearing that Trujillo's repressive tactics could lead to another "revolutionary situation" as had occurred in nearby Cuba .

He is buried in the famous Parisian cemetery, Cimetière Du Père Lachaise at the request of his many relatives who fled into exile to Canada, France, and Spain.

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC AFTER HIS DEATH

His son Ramfis Trujillo took power, brutally repressing any elements believed to be connected with his father's death. Former ''Trujillistas'' maintained much of their power within the country until the early 1990s within the many terms served by the former Trujillo protégé Joaquín Balaguer .

LEGACY

Because of the a general economic downturn since the 1960 s, some rural Dominicans feel nostalgia for the Trujillato and the reign of Balaguer. Among older Dominicans, there is still discussion as to the merits of his rule. He modernized the country, and oversaw the creation of basic services that Dominicans enjoy today, but in doing so, brutally tortured or silenced all opposition.

IN POPULAR CULTURE

Mario Vargas Llosa wrote a historical novel about Trujillo and his hold over the country entitled '' The Feast Of The Goat ''. Luis Llosa directed a movie with the same name based in this novel, to be shown in 2006.

In the 2001 Motion Picture '' In The Time Of The Butterflies '', based on the novel by Julia Álvarez , Trujillo is played by Edward James Olmos . The story is about the Mirabal Sisters .

In the film '' The Day Of The Jackal '', it is portrayed that the Jackal is the same Assassin who killed Patrice Lumumba and Rafael Leónidas Trujillo before attempting to murder Charles De Gaulle .

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Rafael Leonidas Trujillo