Squat,
I don’t mean to be aggressive about this, but I really want to understand why he is seen as a great leader. You have mentioned twice that Dominicans weren’t ready for Democracy:
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Originally Posted by Squat
Balaguer was a fantastic transition between hardcore dictatorship and nowadays regular "democracy". That can't be done without a certain curve when starting from such a regime as Trujillo's.
[…]how do you want to have a nation that is just out of 30+ years of dictatorship, metamorphoses itself in a democratic paradise overnight ???
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Why not? Was it necessary to go through moderate dictatorship (“a curve” as you call it) before reaching democracy?
Trujillo’s dictatorship was very concentrated on Trujillo ONLY, not any movement. The symbolism in the regime was his around Trujillo’s character. As one of the richest men in the world, Trujillo had uncontested power. He sealed control over the country without having to share, unlike Balaguer. Balaguer’s “curve”/moderate dictatorship was made possible by anchoring his power in the military and the ruling elite classes, effectively dispersing the cancer. It was a corrupt free-for-all, especially when it came to dealing with the state run companies Trujillo left over. What if we would've avoided the diffussion of the trujillismo-balaguerismo ways?
All the signs show that Dominicans were ready for Democracy by the time Bosch came into power. Why did they have to experience a coup d’etat, political repression and then low turnouts at the polls?
Is this what you need before really experiencing democracy?
Didn’t we have enough sour (with Trujillo) to taste the sweet?