In the Time of the Butterflies: Trujillo

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Trujillo was born on October 24, 1891 in San Cristóbal, Dominican Republic. He and his 10 siblings were raised in a small rural town by parents of Spanish, Haitian and Dominican descent. As a child, Trujillo attended informal schools held in various villagers’ homes. After joining the army he quickly became second-in-command of the guard and within five or six year of him joining the army he became commander-in-chief. General Rafael Leonidas Trujillo was a dictator who ran his country quite oppressively during times of political instability and revolutions. . He became rose through his military status into a president by ordering the killing of the people above him and other corrupt political tricks.In the book ‘’In the Time of the Butterflies” it shows his oppressive styles such as killing and jailing revolutionaries. He also keeps an even stronger radar on people he believes are trying to undermine his power and authority. When the revolution was going to its peak Trujillo's regime started to imprison people who were part of the revolution along with jailing revolutionaries were killed and suffered forms of torture. In the book it shows how he got to power and stayed in power. He did it by having a radar on nearly every person in his country. People would be scared to talk bad about him anywhere they went beyond their home. Even then Trujillos secret police could send his men to spy on a specific family or neighborhood. Although he was a married man he kept multiple mistresses and kept them in houses across the country to avoid problems. Although he was a brutal dictator during his first years in office he rebuilt small villages, schools and hospitals to win the hearts of his people. But as his reign kept on lugging on it was clear that he was a corrupt leader who only cared about himself. He died in may of 1961 and new leader would be set to come
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