NEW: TRUJILLO GOOD or BAD 4 DR?

[Chirimoya]

Thanks Joel. We'll be there - in THE car.

 

[Creativethouhts]

Estoy contigo con lo que dices. ademas el dominicano no le gusto leer y esta pendiente de cosas que no son importantes y se le olvida su historia el gozar es importante y tengamos un cultura muy alegre pero tambien tengamos un hostoria que contar y no es con quien estomos pegando cuernos.

>>"I am also a true believer that, "I was told he did this" or "I was told he did that" stories, they lose their "definitions" in "translation"."<<

Miguel, that is exactly the point of this thread. I read on here many rumors and stories. It's like that game "telephone." By the time the rumor or story gets to the 100th person, the original story becomes an entirely different story all together. Many times the orator puts his/her own flavor into the mix to make the story more interesting.. like Julia Alvarez and the Mirabal sisters.

We all have family members like that. I'm sure you have one or two in your family who like to talk and spread gossip.

At the beginning of this thread, DR1 member, Dolores, reiterates a story about "Trujillo Myths." That is the whole point of this thread and I would like to see or hear more documented proof to learn more about how we can dispell myths about Trujillo and about our Domnican history.
http://www.dr1.com/forums/showthread.php?t=39490&page=1&pp=15

Some people state on this forum they left their history books and "notes" at home. Let's talk abut what we can support through documentation. In this way, the younger generation has a point of reference to do their own research. Let's not continue to tell our stories of truth mixed with fiction.

Julia Alvarez admits on her own website that her story about the Mirabal sisters was told through the "lens of fiction" after her family fled DR.
http://www.juliaalvarez.com/books/
Was this good or bad for DR?

We popularize stories from our own point of view. It is up to us Dominicans and the rest of the world to dig for the truth to uncover the truth about our history and people.

My father said that my grandfather's cousin on my uncle side said... stories are just that.. they are truths blended with fiction, created to hold the interest of prospective audiences.

We must look at the context Trujillo was living in. He did not live in a time filled with instant messaging and cell phones. It was a different time then and we have to keep our minds open to that fact.

Was it right for the USA to support segregation or to deny women the right to vote less than a century ago? In 2005, we would say "No, that was not right." However, if you lived in the year 1930 then what would you have said?

The younger generation must look back into history through our own "lens." Just like Julia Alavarez did with her book, we have the right to tell our own stories. But this time around let's make sure that our stories are not constructed to profit off of someone else's loss.

And let's put Dominican actors and actresses in our own movies.

Here's another question: Why are most films on Trujillo represented by people of other cultures?

 

[Ogre of the Caribbean]

Would someone please translate that?

One last thing. Amy mentioned how her Dominican friends were marvelling at the control Trujillo had over the Dominican Republic. Yes, I agree, quite astonishing. The book, "The Dictator Next Door", the historian writes that Trujillo exercised a greater degree of control over the Dominican people than even Joseph Stalin had over the citizens of the Soviet Union. :surprised


The combination of fear and the cult of personality El Jefe created was without rival in Latin America. Trujillo's security forces, SIM, and informers keep the nation paralzed with fear for over 30 years.

 

[Pana]

First of all who ever thinks that Trujillo was good is out there mind , I studied about this man in college and wrote paper about him and when I read up on his backround and learned about what he did to Dominicans and Haitians I was so disgusted. He was one of the most evil men in the world during the 20th century up there with Hitler.

 

[Ogre of the Caribbean]

Did the film "Feast Of The Goat" ever premier in the DR in September 2005?

The internet movie database still lists that date for the premier.

The database offers no reviews on the film yet. Just wondering.

 

[Texas Bill]

Don't recall the date, but I saw it on local TV last year.

It was on again on local TV lastweek. When it came on, I became like Trujillo and made viewing it MANDATORY by my household! Everyone very sulkily did so, and thanked me afterward, much to my surprise, 'cause it pre-empted the "Novelas" usually watched.

I live in Santiago.

Does that shed any light on your question??

Texas bill

 

[Chirimoya]

It hasn't been released yet. There was some sort of preview at a film festival in Santo Domingo recently, but the film is now due for release in December, the last I heard.

 

[johnny C]

I think the only reason Trujillo built roads and public buildings etc.. was because he had a monoploy on the construction industry. He provided milk in the public schools because he controled the Cattle Industry. In other words he had the government pay his companys for all the work. Nothing he did was out of "public service, " but done only for the benefit of himself and his family. Any bone thrown to anyone outside of his inner circle came with a price tag associated with it - A price tag that could often be lethal.

 

[NALs]

I think the only reason Trujillo built roads and public buildings etc.. was because he had a monoploy on the construction industry. He provided milk in the public schools because he controled the Cattle Industry. In other words he had the government pay his companys for all the work. Nothing he did was out of "public service, " but done only for the benefit of himself and his family. Any bone thrown to anyone outside of his inner circle came with a price tag associated with it - A price tag that could often be lethal.

That and also the personal cult he was creating.

Remember, during the era of Trujillo, the Dominican Republic was the embodiment of Trujillo as he saw fit.

This explains lots of things, including his intense fascination with himself, evindent in everything from renaming the half thousand year of capital and the many self centered statues and monuments, which to this day are icons of specific regions of the country, though they are renamed.

-NAL

 

[Guatiao]

Nal,

Trujillo was just a master psychologist he truly understood the human mind. To this day people want a Trujillo like regime "por lo meno no habia hambre, etc". I don't care what people say but DR was better managed under Trujillo than our "Democratic" *cough* governement because now we have 100s of Trujillos yet no one cares about the DR.

The only thing that bothers me is the whole Trujillo god thing, he's no God and should have never done that but he was just borrowing ideas from past Dictators and from the first and truly greatest Dictator of ALL history Gaius Julius Caesar. I am a big admirer of Gaius Julius Caesar but thats another story.

I cannot wait to see the movie, it should be great.

Hasta Luego,
Capo

That and also the personal cult he was creating.

Remember, during the era of Trujillo, the Dominican Republic was the embodiment of Trujillo as he saw fit.

This explains lots of things, including his intense fascination with himself, evindent in everything from renaming the half thousand year of capital and the many self centered statues and monuments, which to this day are icons of specific regions of the country, though they are renamed.

-NAL

 

[Pana]

It also helped Trujillo during his dictatorship that he was the USA's son of a bithch like most of the puppet governments in Caribbean and Latin America still to this day.