DominicanScotty said:
What you are writing is true. But this is where we get off topic and distort the thread about what we are communicating about. "TRUJILLO", "EL JEFE", "EL CHIVO". We have people attempting to make their points by bringing up such people as a "cherry tree chopper from Virginia" to a mugger on a street in Santo Domingo. We can go on and on and on about this and the only thing we will do to other readers is confuse the heck out of them.
Being that I do have blood on my mother's side of the family from this country (MOCA, IMBERT and JAMAO del NORTE) I can speak my peace. This man was brutal beyond anyone's stretch of the imagination. I speak with native Dominicans who are now in their 80s and 90s who are still too afraid to speak too loudly for fear that someone else might be listening. The stories of firsthand "eyewitnesses" and NOT from people that "heard someone that said something to somebody that someone said that someone else said" are horrific.
We are talking about TRUJILLO and only TRUJILLO. Let's try to keep on this subject about this man, his regime and his impact whether it is perceived to be good or bad!
You do know that I am not a foreigner, right?!
However, I have had stories told to me by people who lived under the regime (some close friends of mine were very close to the Jefe and others were not), but I get both stories, the romanticized ones and the devilized ones.
One thing I find common is that both tend to exaggerate to either end of the spectrum, because both paint to me a picture that is extremely contradicting to each other's perception of his regime.
For example: It is true that Trujillo was clear about what he wanted in this country and anybody who was against him was gone.
Then again, those who survived the Dictatorship were the one's who did the very simple act of keeping their mouths shut.
Those who spoke out, were annihilated instantly.
I'm not debating whether it was a good or bad policy, I'm just pointing out that keeping yourself alive was a rather simple act, though for some it appeared to be harder than perceived.
Take modern Cuba for example, the difference between going to jail and not in many cases is whether you say the word Fidel (and get misunderstood) or you make the sign of beard below your chin to denote the lunatic. Those who could not hold themselves and criticized the regime went to jail and those who didn't are still free (free under the Castro sense).
How hard is it to keep one's mouth shut?
In addition to all of this, one has to recognize that everything has a good side as well as a bad side. Recognizing one while ignoring the other is not recognizing reality.
Let's see Trujillo for his evilness, but let's also give him credit for the good he did to the country. Like I said, he could have easily deprived all Dominicans of food, water, and shelter and yet, the opposite is what he did. Most Dominicans were able to buy most things and not go bankrupt, they were able to feed themselves, and they had a home. In fact, most of the wooden "casitas" you see in the countryside were built under Trujillo, by Trujillo, for the people.
Much of our infrastructure was built by Trujillo, for the people. You name any province, a substancial amount of development occured under his regime, development that helped the communities. Development that is still there for everybody to see. You can't go anywhere without seeing something that was built by Trujillo.
The Monumento in Santiago, The Malecon in Santo Domingo, in fact, all the neighborhoods sorrounding the colonial zone except Ciudad Nueva were built under Trujillo. The often considered most beautiful section of SDQ (Gazcue) was built by Trujillo and most of the concrete modern structures in the Colonial zone next to the old stone buildings were built by Trujillo.
The autopista Las Americas, Estadio Quisqueya, Puente Duarte, Palacio Nacional, Teleferico in Puerto Plata.
Dominican television industry started under Trujillo, Dominican radio flourished under Trujillo, electricity reach many areas for the first time under Trujillo, new highways, bridges were built under Trujillo. Many poor families received free housing, free reliable electricity under Trujillo. He introduced the Peso as the national currency and maintain the exchange rate pegged at 1:1. Living standards grew under Trujillo, etc etc etc.
Dominican Merengue was revived under Trujillo, he supported Fine Arts to the point of building the massive Palacio de Bellas Artes, the first Fine Arts school in the country. He developed certain industries such as the manufacturing of those double decker buses that were so common during his regime. The country was clean of trash, order was back in style under his regime, no more guerrilla fighting or invasions or destruction. Hospitals and schools were built. There was construction everywhere for some useful utility. He encourage tourism to Santo Domingo and Boca Chica, he welcomed Japanese to turn the previously inhospitable Constanza Valley into a fruitful place, which the Japanese have done a marvelous job!
Those were some of his good points that many people are completely ignoring.
These are things that can't be denied if we want to see the man for what he was rather than assuming he was evil in everything. He was bad, but not that bad.
He could had been as bad as Santana or Buenaventura Baez, but he chose not to be. Heck, Hipolito was worst than Trujillo leaving 1 million people back into poverty.
Trujillo believed that the Dominican man was the best human being on the planet. His plan was to turn the DR into the showplace of human development and might. That's why he ambitiously developed the country with monuments and grand structures, that's why he built schools and hospitals, that's why he encourage families to have more baby to "populate this depopulated country", that's why he encouraged the survival and rivatilization of quitecential Dominicanism such as Merengue music, Dominican art, etc.
He had a dream of a Dominican Republic that would gain respect, admiration, and inspiration by people from around the world. Who ever threatened this dream of his was seen as a traitor to the republic, because according to Trujillo's ideology, the Dominican Republic's well being was first and foremost.
Again, he was bad, but not that bad. Check some African countries that today are still under dictatorship and you will see that Trujillo did more for the DR than many of these other dictatorship did for their own countries.
I'm not pro-Trujillo, but I'm not anti-Trujillo either. I'll see him for what he truly was. I'll see him for the evil and good that he was.
Nals, I can't believe you are trying to equate common street crime with systematic repression as practiced by the Trujillo regime! This is a new low for you.
