Roberto Vargas

Spanish 131

March 25, 2004

“The Dominican Republic, and its owner, Rafael Leonidas Trujillo”

All throughout the 20^th century we can observe the marked presence of totalitarian regimes and governments in Latin America. Countries like Cuba, Chile, Brazil, Argentina, Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic all suffered under the merciless rule of dictators and military leaders. Yet the latter country, the Dominican Republic, experienced a unique variation of these popular dictatorships, one that in the eyes of the world of those times was great, but in the eyes of the Dominicans, was nothing short of deadly.

Rafael Leonidas Trujillo, or “El Chivo”, controlled the people of the Dominican Republic in a manner that set him apart from the other leaders of that time. By controlling every aspect of the country’s economy, he controlled the people, by controlling each individual’s income and their jobs, he controlled their lives. (Sagas, 173) It is true that from the outside it may appear that the economy was getting better in the Dominican Republic, but the problem was that all of the enterprises and businesses were directly or indirectly owned and controlled by Trujillo himself, not the government. Building bridges, making better roads, and establishing monuments were Trujillo’s ideas as to how to make the Dominican Republic a better place. (de Besault, N/A) True that these things made the Republic more appealing and made transportation better, but the inhumane methods Trujillo employed to maintain his complete and utter control of the people completely overshadowed any positive things that he may have done.

This previously inexistent economy is what allowed Trujillo to attain and strengthen his power in the Dominican Republic. Oddly enough, the same people who put Trujillo in a governmental position are the same people that are still today trying to instill control on foreign governmental decisions, the United States of America. The United States occupied the Dominican Republic in 1916, and when they vacated the country, they named Rafael Leonidas Trujillo second chief of a military branch. (Bosch, 173) The weakened ruling party allowed Trujillo to ascend through the ranks and gain popularity from 1924 to 1930, when he was elected President. Promises and ideas of economic stability filled the eyes and ears of the Dominican people, and allowed El Chivo to come into power. The Great Depression and World War II also allowed Trujillo to do as he pleased; due to the fact that the great powers had to shift their focus elsewhere.

Slowly but surely Rafael Trujillo started making the Dominican Republic his own little piggybank. As he saw that the country had been stripped of many industries, he started to buy back everything that was in foreign control. (Sagas, 172) If he could not buy the business or gain control of the economic sector through lawful competition, he would gain control unlawfully. These other means often consisted of giving unfair interest rates to the businesses he competed against, using the banks that he owned. Ultimately, if he didn’t own the leading business, through his banks, he slowly ate away his competitors.

The main target in his quest to regain economic control of the Republic was buying back the sugar cane plantations and sugar factories, almost all of which were owned and run by the United States.(Sagas, 173) In addition, Trujillo also substituted imported goods for other goods produced in the country. By doing this he made sure that whatever was purchased in the country was produced in the country. If anything needed to be exported, it went through Trujillo’s exporting companies. Trujillo basically either partially owned or completely owned every sector of the Dominican Republic’s economy. The only things that he did leave to the Nation were there National Banks, only to serve him the purpose of making sure that his businesses succeeded. If one of his businesses did not fare well, he would sell it to the Nation for an outrageous amount, and then buy it back from bundles less. (Sagas, 172) Trujillo was out to make sure that his businesses would succeed one way or another.

Yet this abusive and exploitative behavior did not go unnoticed inside the Dominican Republic. Obviously the games Trujillo played with the Nation’s money angered some of the citizens, and his control over there lives created discomfort. Any person that is denied their freedom or their hard earned money will speak out against the oppressor. These outspoken citizens would then become a threat to the stability of Trujillo’s government, consequently, he eliminated them. This inhumane behavior angered more and more people, thus creating more and more rebels, which were later also eliminated. This behavior could not be revealed to the outside world because Trujillo’s perfect image could not be attacked.

Inevitably, some people who knew or found out about the secret doings of Rafael Leonidas Trujillo did escape the island, but most never lived to tell their stories. One example of this is a exile by the name of Jesús de Galíndez who proceeded to write a dissertation on the secrets of the Trujillo dictatorship, but was kidnapped from New York, and killed in the Dominican Republic by henchmen. (Sagas, 185) There are thousands of other murders that occurred under the rule of El Chivo, and all of this in order to preserve the peace in his country. How far could a leader like this be allowed to go on ruling? The United States, the ones who initially allowed him to rise to power, knew about his doings, and yet did nothing.

As seen in a letter to the War Department of the United States from an intelligence officer who visited the Dominican Republic, Trujillo ordered the killing of thousands of Haitians in his country. He viewed them as a threat to order, and as any other threat, they needed to disappear. (Sagas, 157) Through word of mouth, avoiding any solid evidence against him, Trujillo ordered the killings using machetes and clubs in order to avoid any trails that might point to him. The letter to the United States war department written in 1937 clearly outlines the massacres that were taking place in the Dominican Republic, but with the depression and the Second World War, focus shifted elsewhere. Trujillo was allowed to wreak havoc until 1961, when he was murdered by ex-supporters.

As we have learned Trujillo’s dictatorship was one that was extremely different to the military dictatorships seen at the time all around Latin America. Although El Chivo did use his military to maintain control, his main weapon of fear was his power over the economy. He controlled the majority of every branch the economy, and under this command, the citizens’ lives were under his control. Without any food or money nobody could survive, and his complete dominance over these, made him a very powerful man. In addition to being powerful, his ruthless murders made him a dangerous man too. This specific case in Latin American history comes to show how economic “stability” does not always mean happiness and wealth. The Dominican Republic’s economy was stable, but all the wealth belonged to one man, Trujillo. A Nation’s wealth in the hands of one man only means that the Nation’s safety and life-force also rest in his hands.

Works Cited

Bosch, Juan. Trujillo: Causas de una tirania sin ejemplo. Caracas: n.p., 1961.

de Besault, Lawrence. President Trujillo: His work and the Dominican Republic. Santiago: Editorial El Diario, 1941.

Ferreras, Ramon. Trujillo : 20 años despues. N.p.: n.p., 1981.

Roorda, Eric. The Dicator Next Door. London: Duke UP, 1998.

Sagas, Ernesto. The Dominican People: A Documentary History. Princeton: Markus Weiner, 2003.