Introduction
At a time in which the majority of Latin Americans are questioning, if not dismissing, the possibility of meaningful political change through elections, at a time in which the Chilean experience...
...This has prompted a massive migration to the cities which will contain an estimated 80 percent of the population by 1980...
...present, though, all forces are again faced with Balaguer's third attempt to retain power by "legal" means...
...At times domination was best assured by deepening the contradictions among the bourgeoisie, and at other times-especially when such a course could lead to an awakening of the masses-by Vol...
...in 1966...
...These workers are plagued by cronic unemployment during the idle season, starvation wages while they work, undernourishment, illiteracy and the general absence of health care at all times...
...His memoirs describe the very subtle manipulation of this group through thebestowing of favors and AID contracts...
...Marines...
...3. Ibid., 253-4...
...and NACLA, The U.S...
...7 Nine years of the U.S.-supported Balaguer regime have solidified the dependency of the Dominican Republic on the United States...
...At * The "Comandos de la Resistencia" were armed urban guerrilla units whose members were accused of assaulting the Royal Bank of Canada in January 1971...
...and its valuable Central Romana mill, Trujillo created the Central Rio Haina as a competitor...
...And third, the emergence of the working class, peasantry and the poor as a major independent political force would upset all previous alliances.4 Juan Bosch Control of the government shifted from a BoschTrujillista alliance for the 1962 elections to a SantiagoTrujillista coalition during the September 1963 coup which overthrew Bosch...
...Between 1950-1968, the Dominican Republic received the massive sum of U.S...
...This 1916 invasion, though, had a greater goal: the economic unification of the country which was fragmented into many small regional fiefdoms.1 The "unification" drive also sought to break the country's traditional commercial ties with Europe (mainly England, France and Spain), replacing them with new links to the United States...
...Nickel exploitation is now in the hands of Falconbridge...
...invading forces oversaw the one-year government of Garcia Godoy (member of the Santiago oligarchy), supervised the election of Joaquin Balaguer (Trujillista) in 1966 and set the stage for the next nine years of terror and repression...
...2 (April 1971), 19.28...
...invaders...
...In the first place, it became evident that the popular of- fensive could not be contained without some degree of cohesion within the bourgeoisie...
...But as this traditional oligarchy began to decline, it was challenged by a new sector, closely allied to the interests of the U.S...
...Resistance to the Trujillo dictatorship began with its imposition in 1930...
...imperialism has been able to dominate the country for most of the 20th century...
...Early in the 1900's the United States sent its customs agents into the Dominican Republic in order to insure repayment of earlier loans...
...policy makers was domination and exploitation, not development...
...By playing on the basic contradictions present within the Dominican oligarchy, U.S...
...Mario Emilio Sanchez Cordova, "El movimiento obrero dominicano: su larga y dificil marcha," AHORAI (Santo Domingo), No...
...The traditional oligarchy was further isolated from its European markets, while the nearby United States tightened its commercial controls on the country...
...4, April 1974 SNACLA'S LATIN AMERICA & EMPIRE REPORT Published monthly, except May-June and July-August when it is published bi-monthly, at 160 Claremont Ave., New York, NY 10027...
...It would be unthinkable during the past decade to overlook what David Fairchild, an AID official who worked in the country until 1970, has called the 'parallel government...
...corporations...
...7. Goff and Locker, op...
...The trend toward state control of industry and limits on foreign investments-the main points of Trujillo's economic policy which angered Washington-has been reversed, and a massive denationalization of Dominican industry has followed...
...plane and advisors...
...The Trujillista oligarchy, on the other hand, has a much stronger tie to industry, especially sugar, and the U.S.-oriented export market, as well as having large landed interests...
...Immediately following the dictator's assassination, three factors conditioned the nature of the governments which would emerge...
...domination and capitalist oppression goes back to the start of the century...
...AlD Shapes the Dominican Police...
...Since the Santiago oligarchy would be greatly undercut by this strategy, it opposed the 1916 invasion...
...At this point it was the third factor, the masses, who moved to the political forefront...
...Embassy, Trujillo took control of the country...
...Relations between the two countries worsened and finally reached a critical point in January 1961 when the United States brok relations with Cuba and thereby lost its major supplier of sugar...
...VIII, No...
...An extensive infrastructure has been developed to aid the foreign (U.S...
...In the political arena, Rafael Trujillo began his rapid climb to power through the ranks of the newly-created National Guard...
...4 The struggle for control of the state, and its wealth, continued to divide the Dominican oligarchy and produce a high degree of political instability in the 1960's even though the structural economic differences between the sectors of the bourgeoisie gradually lessened...
...NYforcing them to come into harmony with each other...
...This goal was not easily accomplished, and, between 1961 and 1965, Dominican politics were dominated by a continual shift in alliances among three major groups: the Santiago bourgeoisie (organized in the Union Civica Nacional), the Trujillista bourgeoisie (represented by Balaguer's Partido Reformista) and a smaller group represented politically by Juan Bosch and the Partido Revolucionarlo Dominicano...
...interests...
...Military Apparatus (New York, Berkeley, 1972...
...9 The People's Response The struggle against U.S...
...Four months later Trujillo was assassinated with the backing of the Santiago oligarchy...
...A slim 9 percent of the land owners occupy over two-thirds of the irrigated land...
...Pata" Blanca, their leader, died in the 1965 Revolution after organizing two commando groups to fight the reactionary forces.10 And students, women, and peasants also have distinguished themselves in the long and bitter struggle...
...The Trujillista bourgeoisie continued to represent the more industrialized sector, the sugar interests and the majority of national financial interests in the country...
...By 1924, almost 70 percent of total Dominican imports came from the United States and 30 percent of the country's exports went there...
...The United States has relaxed its immigration policies in order to soften the impact of unemployment in the Republic...
...V, No...
...9. See Fred Goff and Michael Klare...
...For instance, when the Rockefellers refused to part with the South Puerto Rico Sugar Co...
...imports, it is forced to develop an export industry which can balance off these massive imports...
...There is also a third group composed of the smaller bourgeoisie allied with a significant sector of the petit bourgeoisie (professionals, intellectuals, small shopowners, small landowners, etc...
...How U.S...
...6 The Balaguer Years "To all but most North Americans it was obvious the Dominicans had their independence stolen in order to benefit U.S...
...Following a successful landing, he and nine other men established a guerrilla foco to fight for the overthrow of the Balaguer dictatorship...
...AID in the Dominican Republic-An Inside View," NACLA Newsletter, Vol...
...The Fight for State Control While Trujillo's family had managed to salt away a huge fortune in Swiss banks, it clearly could not flee with all the lands, factories and banks which the dictator had amassed over the years...
...25 per year for profit-making and government organizations ($48 for two years...
...U.S...
...The clearest example of this policy is in the mineral extraction and the sugar industry...
...imperialism...
...Second, to the extent that the Trujillistas saw themselves becoming isolated from state power, they would ally with any other sector in order to protect their interests...
...On the other hand, 80 percent of the rural labor force is employed in the sugar industry...
...At a time in which the majority of Latin Americans are questioning, if not dismissing, the possibility of meaningful political change through elections, at a time in which the Chilean experience is still painfully fresh in our minds as are the events of Guatemala, Brazil, Bolivia and Uruguay, the Dominican Republic is preparing for its fourth election since the 1961 assassination of Rafael Trujillo...
...By actively supporting the progressive military forces calling for the return of Bosch, the masses demonstrated that political alliances could no longer be made behind their backs...
...Throughout the twentieth century Dominican workers have played a leading role in the liberation movement...
...This was to become the Trujillista oligarchy...
...Second-class postage paid at New York...
...As he climbed the promotional ladder, with the aid of favorable American recommendations, he mastered the one essential rule for gaining and sustaining political power in the Republic-an understanding that the base of domestic power is rooted primarily in the United States...
...Sugar workers, organized in the large La Romana confederation, paralized the eastern half of the Republic in a general strike of 1946...
...Control of the state apparatus is vital in a neo-colonial country such as the Dominican Republic...
...The Santiago group, on the other hand, still had a large interest in agricultural production which was competitive rather than complementary with the interests of U.S...
...Furthermore, at least onethird of all sugar production, the country's primary product, is owned by Gulf & Western who purchased it from the South Puerto Rico Sugar Co...
...As a consequence of this, Dominican political life has been dominated by chaos and turmoil as all sectors make their grab for state power...
...They became the bridge for this new alliance of the bourgeoisie...
...Secondly, U.S...
...Lacking common agreement within the bourgeoisie, that sector which achieves state power will use that power to its own benefit and to the detriment of the other sectors and, of course, the working class and the poor...
...After the military isolation of the rebels, the U.S...
...Francisco Caamano Deno, the struggle to return Bosch to the presidency soon turned ito a popular fight for the national liberation of the Dominican Republic...
...Port workers, too, have played an active role...
...By the late 1950's5 numerous groups, including the well-known "June 14th Movement," were leading the opposition to the dictator...
...invasion of 1916...
...The struggle has given rise to many tactical differences among the left, from the creation of a democratic opposition, to the "Comandos de la Resistencia,"* to the creation of guerrilla "focos",* * to the nearly successful anti-reelectionist front of 1970...
...Balaguer has created four so-called "free zones" where U.S...
...This dependency is based on the creation of a Dominican economy which serves U.S., not Dominican, interests...
...The Santiago bourgeoisie) hated Trujillo," wrote U.S...
...510 million in financial aid, the highest per capita aid in Latin America...
...goods in the Caribbean...
...firms would not sell out...
...Joaquin Balaguer, president since 1966, is the most powerful candidate...
...The United States has attempted to defuse the explosive nature of this situation in many ways...
...There, they can enjoy the benefits of a 25 cent hourly wage, no unions and a "hardworking and peaceful labor force...
...2 In 1930, with the blessings of the U.S...
...companies are exempt from taxes and other obligations for 10 to 20 years...
...policy makers understood the instability inherent in such a situation and defined their task as aiding the gradual merger of the Santiago bourgeoisie into the Trujillistas in order to form a front against the common enemy, the proletariat, peasantry and poor people of the Dominican Republic...
...The war also enhanced the position of Trujillo as he became the recipient of the large surplus of capital generated by favorable export prices...
...While Bosch received the economic backing of certain sectors of industrialists who had been expropriated under Trujillo, and the smaller merchants and businessmen, the strength of his movement was in the popular masses...
...needs have also forced the re-structuring of the Dominican countryside, source of four-fifths of all exports...
...Address all correspondence to Box 57, Cathedral Station, New York, NY 10025 or Box 226, Berkeley, CA 94701...
...8. Wall Street Journal, January 25, 1974...
...economic, political and military interests...
...The Republic's major export, sugar, was denied access to the U.S...
...market when the quota system was established on imports...
...The country's U.S...
...domestic production and exports...
...The long absent unity of the bourgeoisie became a real possibility...
...See also Stanley Ross, "The Dominican Republic: World's Fastest Growing GNP Rate," New York Times, April 3, 1973, in which Ross brags: "Hourly wages in the Dominican Republic average about onethird to one fourth of those in nearby Puerto Rico...
...495 (May 7, 1973), 34-38...
...Whoever runs the state administration and exercises political power, controls the economy in the post-Trujillo Dominican Republic...
...And, if these measures should prove unsuccessful, the United States has pumped millions of dollars into the country to train Dominican military and police forces in the latest counter-insurgency methods...
...investor avoid taxes and increasing labor costs...
...Yet, as in other Dominican elections, the result is hardly in doubt, for Balaguer represents the two most important sectors of the Dominican bourgeoisie: the traditional Santiago-based oligarchy and the "Trujillista" bourgeoisie...
...He bought what U.S...
...eyes focused on Europe, Trujillo was able to use this surplus in the creation of an industrial sector, particularly in sugar...
...Ambassador John Bartlow Martin,"--an uncouth butcher...
...While trying to defend one of his comrades, he was surrounded, captured and immediately executed by the army who feared his popularity with the masses...
...5 U.S...
...Much of this wealth therefore passed into state control, and the state became the largest single owner of Dominican resources...
...The primary characteristic of the Dominican bourgeoisie has been its inability to elaborate a political or economic strategy acceptable to all of its sectors...
...Dominican labor is well-known for its willingness, cooperation, and the innate capacity of its people quickly to learn intrincate manufacturing processes...
...6. Ambassador Martin clearly saw the importance of this young Santiago bourgeoisie...
...First, the "parallel government" saw to it that no class would arise which could challenge U.S...
...sugar quota (850,000 tons) is now the largest for any country in the world...
...Only 14 percent of Dominican land is arable, and most of this is devoted to sugarcane, coffee and tobacco...
...diplomats and agents in the Republic strongly pushed for a unification of the two sectors and backed their recommendations with aid, bribes and threats...
...Since the country relies so heavily on U.S...
...Each of these groups has a well-defined historical relationship to specific sectors of the Dominican economy...
...This unity must be the first step in the formation of a revolutionary party which will lead the Dominican people to full national liberation and socialism...
...But, whatever the tactics, history has shown us that only the unity of the leftist forces is capable of defeating the repressive alliance between the native oligarchy and U.S...
...In particular, see ibid, 136ff...
...With U.S...
...Subscriptions: $10 per year for individuals ($18 for two years...
...If the United States at one time reluctantly tolerated the independent nature of Trujillo's economic establishment, it could no longer do so...
...Therefore, they played an important role as a swing factor between the Santiago oligarchy and the forces behind Bosch...
...The Santiago oligarchy is primarily linked to agriculture, industrial agri-business and the Europeanoriented export market...
...producers...
...3 U.S...
...The threat of popular insurrection terrified both major wings of the bourgeoisie-Santiago and Trujillista-leading them to call for a full-scaled invasion by the U.S...
...But this is true "only to the degree that he coordinates his efforts with the second largest investor, the U.S...
...support for Trujillo dropped off rapidly as he gathered the economy into his own hands and used his asets to compete with U.S...
...monoplies, and allows the extreme degree of economic, political and military control which is exercised from Washington...
...Therefore, rather than developing an agricultural sector which serves Dominican needs, the primary consideration is complementing, not competing with, U.S...
...But the major factor dividing the two groups was a political heritage of rancor, ill-will and bloodshed which was hard to overcome...
...The "gavilleros," a guerrilla group, fought against the U.S...
...Indeed, due to the oligarchy's historic dependence on the international market to sell its raw materials and obtain financing, and its consequent inability to accumulate capital domestically, no important sector of the bourgeoisie can prosper without being bound hand and foot to imperialism...
...Francisco Caamano Deno, hero of the 1965 Revolution, returned to the Dominican Republic in February 1973 after many years in exile...
...FOOTNOTES 1. Arismendi Diaz Santana, Desarrollo y descomposicion de Ia economia dominicana (Santo Domingo: Impresiones M.D., 1969), 2. 2. Fred Goff and Michael Locker, "The Violence of Domination: U.S...
...cit., 249...
...World War II strengthened the commercial trends begun with the 1916 invasion...
...The Republic is second only to Puerto Rico as a market for U.S...
...They fought from a cave for more than eight hours, injuring and killing an estimated ten soldiers before they were killed...
...IV, No...
...This unity grew out of a variety of new factors...
...who had sworn to break their power, though he never could...
...When customs agents alone could not accomplish this, the Marines were sent in...
...5. John Bartlow Martin, Overtaken by Events: The Dominican Crisis-from the Fall of Trujillo to the Civil War (Garden City, New York...
...No sector of the bourgeoisie is characterized by an antiimperialist outlook, although all readily adopt strong nationalist positions when tactically to their advantage...
...The CIA gladly provided support, equipment and coordination for the coup...
...U.S...
...On January 12, four of its members, Virgilio Perdomo, Amaury German, Bienvenido Leal and Ulises Arquimedes Ceron, were surrounded by a force of 2,000 soldiers, tanks, a U.S...
...4. Carlos Maria Gutierrez, The Dominican Republic and Repression (New York: Monthly Review Press, 1972...
...gold is controlled by the Rosario Resources Corp., ALCOA dominates the bauxite industry...
...16 per year for non-profit institutions ($30 for two years...
...Further competition between the Santiago oligarchy and the Trujillistas isolated the latter, and, by 1965, resulted in the return of the Bosch-Trujillista alliance...
...NACLA Newsletter, Vol...
...Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1966), 134...
...Led by truly popular leaders like Co...
...Historical Roots of Instability With its bourgeoisie divided and its working class unorganized, the Dominican Republic was a ripe fruit for the United States to pluck...
...And, finally, a new generation of the Santiago bourgeoisie saw the need for such a policy and was not as close to the bloodshed of the Trujillo years as their parents...
...Despite Balaguer's repression, the liberation movement is growing, and it will continue to grow until liberation is finally won...
...Put in another way, the Dominican bourgeoisie has been historically unable to develop a strong consciousness of itself as a class with common interests and common enemies...
...7 (November 1970), 1-10...
...Copyright 0 1974 by the North American Congress on Latin America, Inc...
...His investments in banking, air and marine transport, cane sugar, utilities and insurance soon gave him control of no less than 65 to 85 percent of the entire economy...
...8 The government brags of the fastest growing GNP in the world but, even if this were true (and the UN's Economic Commission on Latin America has serious doubts), it is clear that the economic rewards of this "growth" are not benefitting the Dominican people who continue to immigrate to the United States in increasing numbers...
...Power and the Dominican Republic," Latin American Radicalism (New York: Vintage Books, 1969), 250...
...At all times, though, the major concern of U.S...
...corporations (especially the National City Bank group) would sell-West Indies Sugar Co., Dominican Electrical Corp., local branches of the National City Bank, etc.-and established competing industries in those areas where the U.S...
Vol. 8 • April 1974 • No. 4
