Quote:
Originally Posted by Theforceinme
Do you mean only the DR, or every Latin-American country?
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No, just the DR to keep it DR1 focussed. Once we get to some of the other LA countries we get into 'one person's dictator is another person's freedom fighter'
That said, I don't know that we would all agree on the definition of a military dictator.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr. Lu
Pedro Santana(1844-1848, 1853-1856, and 1858-1861), Ulises Heureaux(1883-1899), and Rafael Trujillo (1830-1961) were three of the DR's military dictators.
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I'd certainly accept Trujillo was. Not so sure about Santana & Heureaux. Is there a difference between for example a career miltary person who becomes a dictator and someone who gets given a military title by act of law? Titles such as
Admiral Christopher Columbus,
General Juan Pablo Duarte,
General Pedro Santana,
General José Leger &
General Imbert Barreras. And in terms of how these guys 'ruled' were there some qualitative differences between them & Trujillo?
Quote:
Originally Posted by catcherintherye
However, I'd like to offer a somewhat different take on what has been going on in the DR. I'd like to suggest that for significant periods of time between 1961 and present there has been de facto military rule in the DR, and that the facade of a democratically elected government has simply been the contrived window dressing used to placate public opinion.
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Maybe one could argue that the 'de facto' part wasn't purely since 1961? Maybe it wasn't even a big brother to the north invention either. Maybe the years following the Spanish Conquest had something to do with it? Maybe the Spaniards got miffed by Dominican tribal society when trying to rule it?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr. Lu
The region was still influenced by military dictatorships so why didn't this trend continue in the DR? Why weren't there any domestic military coups attempts? Why haven't we seen a stronger voice from military now, as we see in other nations?
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Maybe tribal society again? It makes not only 'democratic' governing difficult, but also military dictatorship? Maybe something about the Dominican psyche? The ambivalence displayed between reckless disregard for the law (or free-spirit nature
) alongside the placing of 'experts' (including military dictators) on a pedestal. It seems to be an ongoing tension in the DR.
Or could it be something to do with a sentence written in the original article? Written, I might say, with withering dismissiveness
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lambada
'The problem was that all of them were heavily influenced by the local culture, and usually not for the better.'
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Thought I might address the arrogance of that statement with Strategy Page if anyone thought it was a good idea to?