These were the events of April 1965. Ultimately, 15,000 US troops would occupy the country. I pose the question for anyone familiar with the history ? preferably people who were there or have second hand knowledge: Was the US invasion of Santo Domingo justified? Can anybody provide useful facts?
That the US lied in its public explanation for the invasion ? ostensibly to protect American lives from an anarchistic bloodbath ? is a historical fact. Americans were never in particular danger, except from, perhaps, the strafing of the Capital by the P-51s of the Trujilloista forces). The invasion was actually precipitated when Trujilloista General Wessin y Wessin?s final efforts to push out of San Isidro were crushed, and occurred when the civil war was essentially over.
It was really all about the Cold War. But, in my mind, questions remain. Was the overthrown President Bosch a communist who would have allied with Castro? Was the Constitutionalist leader Camaano at the time a Castroista? (Yes, I know that he was backed by Castro later on.) Would the Constitutionalists have lost control to communist elements within? Would the US have forced the Constitutionalists to align with the Soviets, as many say it did to Cuba? Or was it just another example of the US overreacting to events in its backyard pool? Is it relevant that Bosch went on to found the centrist PLD? Many Dominicans fall on both sides of these questions.
That the US lied in its public explanation for the invasion ? ostensibly to protect American lives from an anarchistic bloodbath ? is a historical fact. Americans were never in particular danger, except from, perhaps, the strafing of the Capital by the P-51s of the Trujilloista forces). The invasion was actually precipitated when Trujilloista General Wessin y Wessin?s final efforts to push out of San Isidro were crushed, and occurred when the civil war was essentially over.
It was really all about the Cold War. But, in my mind, questions remain. Was the overthrown President Bosch a communist who would have allied with Castro? Was the Constitutionalist leader Camaano at the time a Castroista? (Yes, I know that he was backed by Castro later on.) Would the Constitutionalists have lost control to communist elements within? Would the US have forced the Constitutionalists to align with the Soviets, as many say it did to Cuba? Or was it just another example of the US overreacting to events in its backyard pool? Is it relevant that Bosch went on to found the centrist PLD? Many Dominicans fall on both sides of these questions.
Last edited: