U.S. Role in Dominican Democracy

Following the assassination of Rafael Trujillo and the collapse of his regime, the Dominican Republic encountered numerous obstacles towards achieving democracy. The U.S. largely played a destructive role in the process.

After the assassination, towards the end of 1961, Trujillo's brothers attempted to gain control of the country, but U.S. warships docked just off the coast of the Dominican, deterred them. In the first post-Trujillo election, Juan Bosch of the PRD became president in 1963. He was soon overthrown. Bosch, a leftist, was overthrown by a military coup inspired by rightists. Donald Reid Carbral became the leader of the military junta that assumed power.

Dissent grew between both sides. Civil war broke out in 1965 between the Constitutionalists and the Loyalists. The Constitutionalists favored reinstating the democratically-elected Bosch. The Loyalists did not want Reid in power, instead backing the reinstatement of the previous president, Joaquin Balaguer. Balaguer had been the nominal president during the Trujillo regime, beginning in 1960.

The U.S. felt the violent division within the Dominican was to the super power's detriment. So, the U.S. intervened militarily to stop the war. The result was the contentious election of Balaguer in 1966. Balaguer ruled the Dominican for 22 of the next 30 years in a borderline autocratic manner. The intervention led to widespread condemnation of the U.S. in Latin America. Both sides of the Dominican war resented U.S. presence on their shores. They considered the war to be a domestic concern and the U.S. presence infringed on Dominican sovereignty.

One of the prevalent motives for the U.S. intervention was the pervasive fear that a communist regime would surface in areas engaged in conflict. Stability, even if at the hands of a non-democratic leader, was favorable to the potential of communism.

In part because of U.S. invention, the Dominican remains a semi-democratic nation, as scholars have deemed it. Political parties often rely on personalities as opposed to policies. Balaguer is a prime example of this point. More recently, Leonel Fernandez, the current president of the Dominican Republic, is serving his third term at the helm (1996-2000, 2004-present). (International edition)