Concerning a Recent Visit to the Dominican Republic
Lippincott, Procter
The U.S. press, by its lack of coverage, would have us believe that the Dominican epublic is no longer in a state of crisis. The rightness of the April, 1965 Marine invasion and subsequent...
...The leader, Fernando de la Rosa, returning from an internatiorILworkers meeting in Caracas, was, I discovered, charged with bringing $10,000 of Castro money into the Dominican Republic...
...According to the Dominican Human Rights Association's report, the following violations of human rights have occurred for political reasons between July and December, 1966 (Balaguer assumed power in July, 1966): 36 assassinations, 16 disappearances, 31 wounded, 277 imprisonments, 27 beatings, 70 search raids...
...advisors in the Dominican Republic provide a major support for the armed forces and government...
...One unconfirmed report says that Angel iioln, one of the three men sent by Bosch to the Dominican Republic immediately after Trujillo's assassination to lay the groundwork for Bosch's return, is now working for Balaguer as minister without portfolio and Director of Tourism...
...For example, The Washington Post reported on February 6, 1967, that Balaguer had uncovered a communist plot to foment revolution in the Dominican Republic and Haiti, which was reportedly exposed upon the arrest of a Dominican union leader by Venezuelan police, and which allegedly had the financial support of Fidel Castro...
...then I visited the Dominican Republic in June, 1966, I heard kind words for Peace Corpsmen, largely because many of them had worked side by side with Dominicans during the "revolution" when U.S...
...Juan Bosch, who lost to Balaguer in the '66 elections, resigned as head of the Partido Revolucionario Dominicano (PRD) and left the country in the fall of 1966, declaring he could not lead the major opposition party under the existing oppressive conditions...
...Pressures against political parties are apparently also being exerted from the outside...
...The police apparently found no such money...
...According to some reports, while traveling within the country, he is working to destroy the opposition parties, particularly the small but effective PRSC...
...by the exit of foreign troops, and by the "return of constitutional rule" under Balaguer (one of the pillars of the Trujillo regime...
...People are convinced of CIA involvement in other areas, particularly certain foundation operations, like the International Development Foundation, but specific data is difficult to obtain...
...However, the present situation is anything but stable...
...Dominican police have been shipped to Washington, D.C...
...The rightness of the April, 1965 Marine invasion and subsequent violations of international justice seems to be borne out, in the eyes of the U.S...
...These repressive acts reportedly occur more openly than they did under Trujillo...
...by the June, 1966 "free" elections...
...Political assassinations of "Constitutionalists" and "communists" have continued under the Balaguer regime...
...This charge was the basis for the series of arrests throughout the country...
...troops were killing their people...
...The PRD, now under the presumably more militant leadership of Jose Francisco Pena Gomez, is having to confine its efforts to seeking guarantees of political freedom and modifications of a reactionary constitution...
...Reports in the Dominican press and conversations I had provided many leads that are simply not available in this country and which I had no time to fllow up...
...Balaguer then used this statement from a Communist party as "proof" of Castro'sHtACLA Newsletter, March '67 - 4 intervention in Dominican affairs and sent the newspaper clippings about this to the Organization of American States...
...The interesting thing is that, a few days later, the 14th of June Movement publicly accused the IIPD of stealing $13,000 that de la Rosa brought from Cuba...
...Political opposition parties border on fictional entities...
...Now, there is considerable suspicion that P.C;.membbrs (there are now more than 150) may collaborate with the CIA...
...The Partido Revolucionario Social Cristiano (PRSC), the ovimiento Popular Dominicano (IIPD), and the 14th of June Ilovement (1J4) have at times been acting in ways which appear contrary to their stated purposes and which, in the end, seem to support Balaguer's aims...
...There are widespread rumors of infiltration of opposition parties...
...for special training (a little known fact until one of them was killed by an automobile last fall...
...Government and its spokesmen in the press, by the formation of the Garcia Gody provisional government (Garcia Godoy is currently Joaquin Balaguer's ambassador in Washington and was formerly Vice-President of his Partido Reformista...
...As one would expect, under such circumstances, fear and suspicion of both Dominicans and North Americans are rampant...
...There is a tremendous need for a full-time correspondent in the weary, troubled land of the Dominican Republic...
Vol. 1 • March 1967 • No. 2
