Chirimoya,
I also found it interesting the comparison with JCI. First of all, though they were in the same side, the monarchists and the fascists were separate groups. Unlike Balaguer, who was part of the Trujillo intellect, and who CHOSE to be his apprentice (JCI was born into it). JCI helped the transition to democracy, was Balaguer democracy?
Squat,
A “fantastic” transition into democracy you say?
You’re not the only one that says this. After his death Hipolito did several ceremonies in the parks Balaguer created. He called for the inscriptions on all the parks to say “Joaquin Balaguer, Padre de la Democracia”.
“Father of Democracy” would imply he was elected freely. Everybody knows he was a puppet President. Everybody knows that at most, he only won one of his seven times in office, the rest were fixed.
“Father of Democracy” would imply he would allow Democracy to flourish. Instead, he assassinated journalists, students and the political opposition. On many of the elections, the opposition abstained from participating in elections. The deterioration of the concept of Democracy is evident when Bosch released “Dictadura con respaldo popular”.
“Father of Democracy” would uphold an incorruptibility of Democracy. Balaguer was the first to give out money, buying votes. The propane gas subsidies that you mention were part of this buying of votes. Now that government funds are drained with these subsidies, it is a headache to get rid of them. How are subsidies any help?
Ah… his environmental policies. Passing laws to prevent trees from being cut down justifies everything he did?
My question to you is: what did Balaguer do that anybody else couldn’t?
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