NEW: TRUJILLO GOOD or BAD 4 DR?

[estrelladeoro]

What do you think about Trujillo's impact on DR's past, present and future?

[estrelladeoro]

What do you think about Trujillo's economic impact on DR's past, present and future?

[Dolores]

Reprinted from dr1 daily news, 16 February 2005:

Trujillo myths
Economist, historian and businessman Bernardo Vega writes in El Caribe about the "good" that former dictator Rafael Leonidas Trujillo Molina did for the Dominican Republic. For a generation, a massive public relations campaign molded public opinion about the dictator and much of that propaganda still persists in Dominican thought. One by one, Vega disassembles the myths.
The most promoted achievement of Trujillo's era is the fact that he cancelled the foreign debt in 1947. Vega writes that it so happened that Haiti did the same thing at the time because of the same fortuitous trade abundance that resulted from World War II. Both countries had acquired the same type of debt for the same reasons and for similar amounts, but nobody in Haiti considers that the government of Dumarsais Estime did anything special. Moreover, Trujillo could have cancelled the debt in 1934 when the DR bonds were priced at 15? of a dollar in the New York Exchange, but, instead, he ended up paying the debt at US$1.00 without any discount.
Another achievement attributed to Trujillo is the industrialization of the country. However, a closer look will show that the industries that were established in the 40s and 50s were part of the same import substitution program that was happening all over Latin America and the Caribbean at the same time. The only difference in the Dominican Republic was that all of the industries belonged to the dictator.
Trujillo certainly helped the rural farmers when he distributed lands during the 30s, but all of this was voided when the dictator became the owner of a dozen sugar mills, becoming the largest landowner in the country and moving thousands of rural farmers off "his' lands.
While Havana, Port-au-Prince and Montego Bay were full of tourists, nobody came to the DR because of the awful image the country projected at the time. How many investors, both local and foreign, decided not to put their capital in the country because of a lack of confidence?
Vega says that during the "Trujillo Era" the economy was said to have grown a lot. As an economist, Vega points out that GDP figures for that time do not exist, but consumption of re-bar, cement and other building supplies reflect a growth rate far below the average for Latin America.
While it is true that Trujillo created the Central Bank in 1947, it is also true that a lot of Latin American countries were creating their own Central Banks. The technical crew from the United States that assisted the Dominican Republic, did the same thing in Guatemala. Nonetheless, in 1960, Trujillo put up all of the gold in the Central Bank's vaults as a guarantee on an international loan borrowed for his own sugar mills. His failure to repay the loan left the country without hard currency reserves. At the hour of his death, the Central Bank had less than a million dollars on hand.
Ultra-nationalists cite the Trujillo massacre of Haitians in 1937 as an example of how the dictator got rid of Haitians living in the Dominican Republic. However, while that might be true, Haitians continued working in all of the sugar mills. He certainly did not do what the government of Cuba did in 1933 when it deported all of the Haitians and Jamaicans working in the sugar industry and required Cubans of all colors to harvest the sugar cane crop. In fact, Trujillo, as the owner of almost all of the sugar mills, became the largest employer of Haitians.
The former ambassador finishes his piece by reminding readers that in 1930 the country exported sugar, tobacco, coffee and cacao. In 1960, it was exporting the same things plus a little bauxite. So, he says, let's feel nostalgic about something else.

[Hillbilly]

By the way, that 15? should be 15¢ on the dollar....

HB

[DominicanScotty]

I am sure they will give you their point of view about him!

[estrelladeoro]

you have to remember the Mirabal story, popularized by Julia Alverez, is a fictionalized account of their story. Julia Alvarez was "compelled" to write the story when her parents fled DR for engaging in illegal underground activity.

i've heard that Trujillo heard about their deaths after the fact. his guards acted without a direct order. yet, because he was president at the time, the propoganda of history singles him out as the one who did it.

why don't we blame george washington for the massacre of the native-american indians during the french-indian war? why don't we talk about g. washington's use of slavery for his tobacco crops and his unwarranted claims over unsettled territories that became the foundation for his real estate empire and ultimately his road to political success? instead we put his carve his face on mountains, put his picture on today's currency and tell tall stories about him to our children.

i think we should look at Trujillo within the context of history and then make a judgment. did george washington chop down that cherry tree? maybe we should start looking beyond the propoganda for the betterment of DR's historical perception around the globe.

[NALs]

I suppose Hipolito's wrath was never because of Hipolito!

Afterall, every other economy in the world went through rough moments during the timeperiod Hipolito was around. US economy was down, European Economies not performing well, Japan still in the doldrums, etc.

Then again, Hipolito's choices did spell out the economic events that took place in the DR, just how Trujillo's choices spell out for his times.

Trujillo could had easily decided to not invest into the country's infrastructure, and/or economy and simply let the country sink. Take a look at what happened to Cuba under Castro. Cuba has been doing miserably economically in the time period when much of the world is progressing. I'm sure that if Castro would have been more caring of the Cuban economy, Cuba would be flying high right now.

What happens in the rest of the world does impact every country, but it's the leader's decision that gives the ultimate say on whether the economy booms or busts. Trujillo decided to keep the economy going, that had nothing to do with what the rest of the world did in his times.

Just my 2 cents.

[estrelladeoro]

That is an interesting reference to Bernardo Vega's article on Trujillo.

I agree the Trujillo Era was one of the most prosperous times for our country. He pulled us out of debt, brought industrialization, and spread cultural and economic opportunity throughout DR. Despite claims propogandized by US history books, I also think we should look at that time period within the context of history.

The movement of DR towards a US-like democracy was justified by the eradication of Trujillo. And the eradication of Trujillo was justified by painting him in a particular light to gain popular support for the new form of government. The fear was that communism was too close to US shores and that the US needed a democratic ally.

I think it depends on what you choose to focus on. Let's look at George Washington, the first president of the United States for example. Didn't he use slaves to cultivate and harvest crops for his tobacco crops? Didn't he amass a large real estate empire by settling territories that weren't sanctioned by the British? Was he not a significant part of the massacre of the Native-American Indians during the French-Indian War and throughout the colonization of the Americas? Didn't he use his military command to gain political power?

We choose to popularize historical figures through our stories and memorials. One such story is the Mirabal story. We have to remember that this is a "fictionalized" story that Julia Alvarez was "compelled" to write. Alvarez and her family fled DR during Trujillo's presidency because they were engaging in an illegal underground resistance movement. She popularized Trujillo from her perspective.

In fact, Alvarez states that she was in the US when the Mirabal sisters passed away in DR. Her fictional account of the Mirabal story is of someone on the outside, looking in.

We need to demystify the history of DR to improve our country's global historical perception.

I am only stating facts... Trujillo was not an angel... nor was George Washington a saint.. we Dominicans have to sift through the history books and decipher for ourselves what is propoganda and what is the truth.

We have to dig deeper into ourselves as a community and share with rest of the world what DR's history is all about.

We have so much potential to clarify the past in order to bring us a brighter future.

[estrelladeoro]

Trujillo's fortune is being passed down in the US. Does anyone know anything about it?

[doriaflowerz]

There are hundreds of millions of dollars being dispersed to an heir(s)/heiress(es) of the Trujillo familly located on the East Coast of the USA.

This will represent the start of a NEW generation of Trujillo's in the USA who will continue to positively support the community in the US and abroad.