Dominican Republic help. Sorry my mistake.

Sorry I have made a mistake. I have gotten the wrong assignment from my English teacher. My paper was supposed to be on the involvement of United States with the Dominican Republic circa 1940, during the reign of Trujillo (Rafael Leónidas) and the Mirabal sisters' struggle against him. We are reading the novel "In the Time of the Butterflies" by Julia Alvarez.

If anyone has any opinions on the reign of Trujillo or is familiar with the Mirabal sisters and their story, please send me some of your thoughts at " stevenyuen@mail.usa.com "

Or... if anyone knows of United States' involvement with the Dominican Republic or Trujillo during his reign, please share you inforamtion with me.

Okay, now the part about the present, I meant Dede Mirabal's son, the Vice President of today's Dominican Republic. If you have any information I would be extremely grateful.

The reason I am asking this is because I need the people of Dominican Republic's point of view on the situation as well as American's. So I thank everyone for reading this post and who will help me.

If you have information I would prefer it to be in English.

Thanks in advance

akhran

e-mail me at " stevenyuen@mail.usa.com "

I appreciate that you are making an effort to get more than one view of this subject. You should be able to get them here. Not everyone agrees or has the same opinion and that is even more commendable that you try to see it from all sides. I will not put in a view myself, but hope that all the Dominicans who participate in this board do. Know that you may receive the whole gamut of kinds of posts, and that you have to then sort them out for yourself. Good luck.

To give you a brief summary; In that period the US had an established foreign policy that maintained a stringent anti-communism position. Across the whole of Latin America they supported "Right Wing" political Juntas to counter act these ideologies. This was the case in the DR. After the Second World War this policy became much more enforced. In the 1940's Trujillo had complete an absolute control of the country and had the audacity to change the name of Santo Domingo to is own name, Cuidad Trujillo. He often referred to the island as his own. He was a total tyrant who clamped severely on his opponents. He even made his son Ramfus a general at the age of four. The slaying of the Mirabel sisters was the straw that broke the camels back, as the saying goes. Many Dominican were outraged to find out that even women were being murdered by "El Jefe". So a conspiracy plot was formed that led to the eventual assassination of Trujillo in 1962. I would conclude that it was the US that put and maintained Trujillo as a dicatator for 32 years in the DR, to counter act the threat of Communism.

I hope this has been some help to you.

To give you a brief summary; In that period the US had an established foreign policy that maintained a stringent anti-communism position. Across the whole of Latin America they supported "Right Wing" political Juntas to counter act these ideologies. This was the case in the DR. After the Second World War this policy became much more enforced. In the 1940's Trujillo had complete an absolute control of the country and had the audacity to change the name of Santo Domingo to is own name, Cuidad Trujillo. He often referred to the island as his own. He was a total tyrant who clamped severely on his opponents. He even made his son Ramfus a general at the age of four. The slaying of the Mirabel sisters was the straw that broke the camels back, as the saying goes. Many Dominican were outraged to find out that even women were being murdered by "El Jefe". So a conspiracy plot was formed that led to the eventual assassination of Trujillo in 1962. I would conclude that it was the US that put and maintained Trujillo as a dicatator for 32 years in the DR, to counter act the threat of Communism.

I hope this has been some help to you. Sorry about the double post..

Akhran--

YOu are doing a very good thing because you are trying to see both sides...Franklin Roosevelt called RLT a "son of a BItch but he's OUR son of a bitch." He was assassinated on 5/31/61.

Dede's son, Jaime David Fernandez Mirabal is the Vice-President of the DR[they are NO relation to Leonel Fernandez Reyna, the President].

If you are looking for any specifics about the DR History, you might want to contact the Dominican Studies Institute at the City University of New York; they have an extensive library of materials in their library and in BOTH spanish and english.They can be reached at: [212]650-7476 or by fax at [212]650-7489; via e-mail at: "dsi@phantom.cct.ccny.cuny.edu"...the major contact person is Ms. Sarah Aponte. There are writings by Frank Moya Pons, the DR's best historian[he is not biased and inaccurate.]

Hope this helps.

Dee

So far, we have given historical info from texts, but the man said he wants to hear from Dominican people who lived it what their perspectives are as well. He has textbooks to look at and wants to fill that out with personal testimony.

DEE DEE

I have read two books by Pons, the history that he wrote ended in 1966 and was excellent. Can you recommend a book (In english) that deals specifically with Trujillo and the ensuing US occupation?

I'm probably starting a firestorm here, but I have heard suggestions from old ABC agency people that Trujillo's death was actually a US funded and planned operation as he was starting to lose power and wavering in pro US policy?

Thanks

Tom

Tom,

There are now many books available in English about Trujillo and the civil war. I have these in English in my personal collection and tons of others in Spanish.

A great, albeit old biagraphy of Trujillo is "Trujillo: The Life and Times of a Caribbean Dictator" by Robert D. Crassweller.

Also, Bruces Calder's "The Impact of Intervention: The Dominican Republic During the U.S. Occupation 1916-1924" is exellent.

There's also Lowenthal's "The Dominican Intervantion".

Two of my favorite are Piero Gleijeses' "The Dominican crisis: The 1965 Constitutionalist Revolt and the American Intervention" (excellent book), and Jerome Slater's "Intervention and Negotiation: The United States and the Dominican Revolution".

Also, "Overtaken by Events: The Dominican Crisis - From the Fall of Trujillo to the Civil War" by John Bartlow Martin.

Lastly, I also have a copy of the documentary, "April 24: La Trinchera del Honor" (in Spanish, and some French). Everytime I see this I cry. I was born way after the revolution, but my father still bears a bullet scar on his leg. He was one of the "rebels". Hope this helps.

Natasha