After Trujillo What?:
ALEXANDER, ROBERT J.
Assassination of Dominican Republic's long-time dictator ends unique period of personal rule and leaves Caribbean nation's political future very much in doubt After Trujillo What? By Robert J....
...Any important figure attacked in this manner was expected to reply with demeaning protestations of innocence and proclamations of undying loyalty to the dictator...
...Trujillo's meticulous and ruthless control of the nation decimated the potential opposition...
...There is also the Dominican Communist party, known locally as the Partido Socialista Popular...
...and other American countries in the weeks and months to come...
...Army refused to give him a graduation certificate after he registered for but seldom attended a course at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas...
...After 30 years in power, too, he knew everyone of any importance whatever in his nation...
...Whether his demise also means the end of dictatorship in the Dominican Republic remains to be seen...
...Even if the dictator's present heirs were to allow the exiles to return and permit normal political organization and controversy, it would certainly take some time before elections could be held and a democratic government installed...
...Perhaps some part of the Army and associated civilian elements will try to get rid of the Trujillo clan altogether...
...The underground is reportedly anti-Fidel Castro and pro-United States, although there also exists an important pro-Castro element in the opposition...
...The Government announcement also mentioned that Trujillo had been beaten so brutally his face was virtually unrecognizable...
...Quarrels within the ruling group are bound to weaken the successor regime in coming months...
...He developed elaborate techniques for keeping potential rivals out of the limelight: a system of rapid rotation of office holders both in the military and civilian branches of government, and a deliberate policy of humiliating and stultifying most of the principal figures in public life...
...Young Rafael Trujillo's feelings toward the U.S...
...The second is a newer group, founded half a dozen years ago, with its main strength among exiled professionals in Puerto Rico, Mexico and the U.S...
...and Castro may also prove to be important...
...position in this regard may, in some measure, help to make up for the tremendous damage to democratic prospects in the Dominican Republic caused by our support of the Generalissimo for 30 long years...
...The Government's actions in the days immediately following the announcement of Trujillo's death, however, make it highly unlikely that the dictator is still alive...
...There have been reports of considerable dislike for Rafael Jr...
...His 30-year-long successful tyranny raises serious questions about the possibility of establishing democracy in the Dominican Republic in the near future...
...Refusai to do so meant dire punishment...
...in part, it is contingent on how well they can get along without the master...
...Indeed, some observers have gone so far as to suggest that Trujillo's assassination was in fact a complete hoax, engineered by the Generalissimo himself and designed to smoke out political dissidents and latent oppositionists who might be expected to come into the open once the dictator was gone...
...Some peculiar aspects of Trujillo's sensational death are worth noting before analyzing the prospects for democratic government in the tiny Caribbean nation...
...The Trujillo dictatorship was a very personal one...
...among leading military officers...
...Trujillo's followers probably would work with the Fidelistas and Communists to thwart any attempt to establish political democracy on the ruins of their dead leader's regime...
...The present leaders certainly evince no desire to permit the development of a legal opposition—although internal rivalries may bring this about whether they wish it or not...
...From a democratic point of view, the most hopeful elements are centered in the Partido Revolucionario Domiaicano and the Vanguardia Revolucionaria Dominicana, The first, headed by the nation's foremost literary figure, Juan Bosch, and by former trade-union leader Angel Miolan, has organized groups among Dominican exiles in the United States, Venezuela, Mexico and elsewhere...
...In 1959, the latter group attempted an invasion of the Dominican Republic which was thwarted by Trujillo...
...True, there were few official executions, but "doubtful" persons were likely to perish in mysterious auto "accidents" in remote parts of the county...
...Young Rafael Trujillo seems to be attempting to fill his father's shoes, but his avaricious and influential relatives are not likely to stand by and see him installed with the full powers possessed by the Generalissimo...
...was probably influential in getting his father to end his public enmity for Castro's regime and make unsuccessful overtures to the Soviet Union late in 1960...
...By Robert J. Alexander The assassination on May 30 of Generalissimo Rafael Leonidas Trujillo Molina ended 31 years of rigid personal control over what was probably the most absolute tyranny in the world...
...Rafael Jr...
...If the U.S...
...he maintained several of them, each spying on the others as well as on all important figures in the Government...
...maintains its present stand— voiced in the first few days after Trujillo's death—of favoring democratic evolution in the island republic, it can exert important influence on local military officers, high-ranking bureaucrats and others who hold the immediate future of the country in their hands...
...Trujillo never trusted any single police agency...
...The future of the Dominican Republic will also depend in some measure on the actions of the U.S...
...But it is doubtful that those who have taken over the Dominican Republic can keep the old regime intact...
...After serving a few chastising months, the prisoner would be freed and reappointed to a high post...
...What is more, Trujillo never allowed anyone except himself to achieve any personal popularity or power...
...He has been violently anti-Yankee since 1958, when the U.S...
...A strong U.S...
...Although many Dominicans undoubtedly hated the dictator enough to mistreat his corpse, the stress laid on this curious detail raises some interesting questions—particularly when considered together with the absence of his usual armed guard...
...There is also known to exist a sizable civilian underground, consisting of professional people and others, who attempted a coup in January 1960...
...IF some relaxation of dictatorial rule does take place in the Dominican Republic, many divergent elements among the exiled oppositionists are sure to come forth...
...One of the "Benefactor's" favorite methods of degrading public figures was to write "anonymous" letters to the editor of the country's two major newspapers denouncing ministers, army officers and others for all sorts of vile crimes—always including the accusation that the person in question was "disloyal to the Generalissimo...
...These quaint methods were supplemented by one of the most effective terror apparatuses in the modern world...
...Any person suspected of disloyalty to the regime or who was known to be critical was in real danger...
...The chiefs of the various police services reported directly to him daily...
...Observers familiar with the careful workings of the regime were struck by the fact that the Generalissimo was allegedly traveling without his customary armed escort and was accompanied only by his chauffeur, an Army captain...
...Both parties advocate the confiscation of the Trujillo family holdings (which would bring a large percentage of the country's productive capacity into the hands of the state), the setting up of a strong labor movement, an extensive program of nation-wide economic development and the establishment of political democracy...
...The beneficiaries of the regime moved quickly to perpetuate dictatorial rule...
...He had a special genius for organization and often worked 18 hours a day...
...The official announcement was made on May 31 by President Joaquin Balaguer, who said the dictator's car was ambushed by seven men in three autos while he was traveling from the capital city of Ciudad Trujillo to his ailing mother's bedside 20 miles away...
...The Generalissimo was an extraordinary man and an atypical Dominican...
...There are many who will remain loyal to his memory, and they constitute an anti-democratic force of real importance...
...Some of these political groups are extremely conservative, others are "democratic revolutionaries," still others are sympathetic to Castro...
...At the other end of the Dominican political spectrum is a persistent Trujillista movement with some popular support...
...It is conceivable that he will try to form an alliance with the Fidelistas inside the Dominican Republic and in Cuba, particularly if there is a falling out among the present ruling group...
...Trujillo was certainly capable of arranging such a scheme, and there is much evidence that in recent months he was worried by growing opposition...
...Trujillo's elder son and namesake, Rafael Jr., was named commander-in-chief of all the armed forces, and the announcement of his appointment was made at a press conference attended by several of his uncles and other relatives who were prominent figures in his father's regime...
...In part, this depends on their ability to maintain unity among themselves...
...And some observers believe that Brigadier General Juan Tomas Diaz, the retired officer who engineered Trujillo's assassination and was killed by the police last week, was himself associated with this movement...
...During three decades of absolute control, the late dictator certainly convinced a considerable number of the country's humbler citizens that he was indeed their "Benefactor...
...Another common Trujillo procedure was to have a minister, senator, deputy or general suddenly arrested, tried and sent to jail for a long term on some trumped up charge...
...Putting aside whatever resentment he might have felt against the dictator for his mistreatment, the humbled man had to accept reinstatement...
...It will undoubtedly seek to make its weight felt in the present situation...
Vol. 44 • June 1961 • No. 24
