Impact of Trujillo's Regime

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Latin American Studies Dominican Republic: The Enduring Impact of Trujillo’s Regime On April 24th 1965, Constitutionalists and members of the PRD (Dominican Revolutionary Party) went on a rampage throughout the streets of Santo Domingo seizing the National Palace. This domestic revolt turned into a civil war when members of the Loyalist Party decided to fight back. Four days later, United States President Lyndon B. Johnson ordered armed American soldiers to occupy the city so that directive could be re-established. In order to understand the conflict, we first must examine the history of the country’s political structure. “The nation's almost inevitable entanglement in international conflicts afforded it little opportunity to develop autonomously.” Located in the midst of the Atlantic Ocean, Caribbean Sea, and Panama Canal, the country was left exposed to the potential and eventual occupation of some of the worlds’ most influential political powers. Ideals of Democracy had not been favored within the country, or within the island of Hispaniola. The Dominican Republic resides on two thirds of the island of Hispaniola, the other portion being occupied by Haiti. Both are poor, rural countries that are heavily dependent on its exports. Turmoil between the two can be traced back to the conquest of Christopher Columbus during Spain’s early colonial years, through the mid-nineteenth century when Haiti ruled the entire island from 1822 until the Dominican Republic separated and gained their independence in 1844. It was after its separation from Haiti that the Dominican established its first constitution. This document was modeled after that of the United States of America, with hopes that its newly liberal and democratic structure would protect its citizens from the authoritarian type rulers that had disfigured the country’s early history. Under the

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