Juan Bosch dies in Dominican Republic
A popular president toppled by U.S.
By Oscar Ovalles
On Nov. 1, after a long period of medical complications and
at the age of 92, Juan Bosch died in Santo Domingo, capital of
the Dominican Republic. Bosch was a Dominican political leader
who during the 1940s and 1950s, with a group of men and women
in exile, organized an armed and ideological struggle against
the dictatorship of Rafael L. Trujillo.
Trujillo directed a bloody regime that oppressed the
Dominican people for over 30 years, from 1930 to 1961. He had
taken power with the approval of the U.S. Army, which had first
occupied the Dominican Republic from 1916 to 1924 after an
armed invasion.
Trujillo was killed in May 1961. A political convulsion
shook the country almost immediately. U.S. advisors were
omnipresent, trying hard to keep in power the remains of
Trujillism, while the people were demanding deep political
changes.
After endless internal conflict, the Dominican people
finally got what they wanted: the return from exile of
Professor Juan Bosch and the celebration of democratic
elections for the first time in almost half a century.
On Dec. 20, 1962, Bosch was elected president of the
republic by an overwhelming majority. He soon let the people
know that the struggle for freedom, democracy and all other
social conquests must be directed against the oligarchy, which
was emerging as a substitute for Trujillism.
Bosch defined the social classes in the Dominican Republic
according to their role in the relations of production. In very
simple language understood by the people, he called the
bourgeoisie "tutum potes," an irreverent word meaning big and
powerful. He called the workers "hijos de Machepa," sons of
Machepa, a popular term for "nobody."
During the next seven months, the new president initiated
strong social reforms in agriculture and industry. In the eyes
of U.S. President John F. Kennedy, it looked like a repeat of
the socialist government of Fidel Castro in Cuba. However, the
bourgeoisie had not been defeated in the Dominican Republic as
it was in Cuba.
U.S. behind overthrow of Bosch
By late September 1963, a series of anti-communist protests,
led by important business groups and with the support of high
Dominican military officers, began in the capital, Santo
Domingo. Finally, on the morning of Sept. 25, 1963, the Bosch
government was overthrown with the support and assistance of
the Pentagon and the U.S. government. The excuse was "the
danger of communism and corruption."
Fidel Castro said from Havana on Sept. 29 that "Professor
Juan Bosch was overthrown because he refused to be an
instrument for imperialism." Castro also suggested that "the
U.S. government was behind the deposing of Bosch" (El Caribe,
Sept. 29, 1963).
Adm. William E. Ferral, U.S. naval district commander, had
arrived in the Dominican Republic on Sept. 23, 1963, and
remained in the country until noon of Sept. 25. "Adm. Ferral
was with President Bosch at an official reception just six
hours before the coup," wrote Victor Grimaldi in the book "El
Misterio del Golpe de 1963" ("The Mystery of the 1963 Coup").
Bosch was then deported to Puerto Rico.
Two years later, on April 24, 1965, a civil war began,
headed by two progressive military leaders--Cols. Francisco
Alberto Caamaño and Rafael Fernandez Dominguez. With the
full support of the people, who they armed after occupying the
barracks, they demanded Bosch's return to power and a
constitutional government.
On April 28, as the rebels were winning, Washington sent
over 42,000 U.S. Mar ines to frustrate this new revolution.
After the military intervention, the Organization of
American States set up elections for a year later. On May 16,
1966, after a year of U.S. occupation, the president for whose
return all the people had fought was defeated by the U.S.
candidate, Joaquin Balaguer. It was later proven that there had
been massive election fraud.
After that, Bosch said he no longer believed in "democracy
American-style."
Juan Bosch spent his later years trying to regain the
presidency, proposing a national liberation government and
independence from U.S. policy. In the 1970s, he proclaimed
himself a Marxist. Until his final days, Professor Bosch was a
friend of the revolutionary process around the world.
In the middle 1980s, during a conference in Cuba about
democracy in Latin America, Bosch, the author of "From
Christopher Columbus to Fidel Castro: the Caribbean, Imperial
Frontier," said he had learned that the struggle in Latin
America and the Caribbean is not between democracy and
dictatorship, it's between socialism and capitalism.
Reprinted from the Nov. 15, 2001, issue of
Workers World newspaper
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011
Email: ww@workers.org
Subscribe wwnews-subscribe@workersworld.net
Support independent news http://www.workers.org/orders/donate.php)
HOME
:: U.S. NEWS ::
WORLD NEWS ::
EDITORIALS ::
SUBSCRIBE ::
DONATE
Email
this article
Printable
page