Okay-I just can't let statements as wrong as this go unchallenged.
The Reyna murders, while shocking, did not put a stop to Dominicans working against Trujillo.
Catcher's done a nice job teaching people how to get a point across using straw man arguments. When did I say the Reyna's murder put a stop to rebellions against Trujillo?, show me one single dictator in history who suppressed revolts against him using just terror.
What do you mean by "few" dared to challenge him? Thousands of Dominicans worked to overthrow or assassinate Trujillo during his 31 year rule. Thousands.
The meaning of few is open to your imagination but I can give some hints, bet. May 1930 and November 1931 more than a thousands Dominicans were killed by the regime. You can not expect in a country of 1.5 million people to completely shut down the opposition, it's not possible. Bet. Christians and Jews Hitler killed around 20 millions but still several attempts were made to overthrow/kill him.
The murder of Reyna Martinez and his wife got a lot of attention because of the way it was carried out, he was a guy who simply opposed Trujillo in the elections of 1930 and because of that was shot several times with his pregnant wife at home, but this was hardly the only crime Trujillo ordered at the beginning of his regime.
In his early days also, Trujillo took care of people considered national heroes like Desiderio Arias (famous for fighting the Americans in 1916), Enrique Blanco and Cipriano Bencosme. The last one was personally hunted down by Trujillo (he was in the operation theater) and for the first time planes were used by the Dominican army.
Two guys; Jose Paredes and the General Alberto Larancuent resisted Trujillo in his early days and both were executed in daylight in public parks in San Francisco and Santo Domingo respectively, Trujillo wanted to send a message.
When I said that few dared to challenge him I meant that Trujillo didn't need wide spread terror untill 1957 and later, that's when a bunch of of sargents were found plotting to kill Ramfis, when the Movimiento 14 de Junio were found trying to overthrow Trujillo, when the invasion of Playa Caracoles took place, u get the idea now Ogre?, after the events of 1956 (La Feria) it was anger all over the nation.
You and me agreed that Trujillo (unlike what the two
Haitian vigilantes suggest) did indeed accomplished a lot of positive things during his 31 years tenure, and that he didn't need the use of wide spread terror to keep people at bay for the first 26 years of his government, my disagreement with you is about the main reason he got to stay in power for such a long period.
To me it is utterly ridiculous to even suggest that Trujillo was "so popular" (and got to stay in power) due to his educational, social and land redistribution policies. Trujillo and his family/cronies owned 60% of the country so it is factually and morally wrong to attribute any development program to any "social concern" of Trujillo, what is next?, that the murder of thousands of Dominicans was his "birth control policy"?, or that the massacre of thousands of Haitians was his "immigration policy"? DR was his backyard and he treated it like so.
In education he did good by Dominican standard but by any other standard he was a miserable failure, in 1930 illiteracy rate was 70%, 31 years later still was 35%, compare that to what Fidel did in Cuba in just two short years.
You could see how socially concerned Trujillo was by the fact that in 31 years he only built two building projects in the nation capitol (maybe a bit more but not too much, I can only mention Barrio Mejoramiento Social and Ensanche Ozama), at the same time he built a number of office buildings, brigdes, highways and streets, all things that he needed in order to accumulate more money and power. So much for his social concern.
Factor in too that in 1930 DR was hit by the San Zenon Hurricane which devastated Santo Domingo, instead of being socially concerned and rushing to help the residents Trujillo and his cronies engaged in lies and deception, to make the tragedy look worse and get more help from others countries, then they proceeded to steal the food, medicine, money, water, and construction materials destined for others and let people to fend for themselves. So much for his social concern.
Virtually all of these plots came from the middle and upper classes. Many of the most dangerous plots came from Trujillo's own officer corps. If the Reyna murders were carried out so "masterly", why did so many people keep trying to overthrow Trujillo? Vacara, your analysis is just plain wrong.
It seems to me you contradict yourself, on one hand you say Trujillo was so popular that was the main reason he stayed in power for 31 years, on the other hand you keep saying thousands of Dominicans were fighting to overthrow him, which one is it?, they are mutually exclusive so it has to be one or the other.
The reason the plots to kill him came from the middle and upper classes was not due to his "popularity" among the poor but because Trujillo designed it that way. Trujillo got rid of all groups through which poor people could vent their frustration and get organized, he prohibited organized labor movements and political parties, he forced all the intellectual to either work for him, leave the country or keep a very low profile, he gave the church everything they needed so they would not complain for the first 30 years of his government (he was even received by the Pope), he would not allow people to travel outside without his permission, that way few (the rich and middle class) could see how different the political environment was abroad.
The land re-distribution was central to Trujillo's support among the rural poor. The rural poor were, for the most part, loyal to Trujillo. The land was orginally re-distributed to the poor. The sugar empire cranked up in the 1950's, and it was a economic and political disaster for Trujillo.
This is silly to put it mildly. in 1930 out of 1.5 million people only 50,000 (3.3%) lived in the capitol, that leave a rural population of almost 1,450,000 (with the exception of Santiago and San Pedro the rest could be considered rural), so you are telling me that almost 96.7% of the population was loyal to Trujillo? are you nut? I'm not the only one who need a shrink here.
Trujillo didn't worry about the poor rising up against him; he kept an eye on the upper classes and his own officer corps; that's where the real threats to Trujillo dwelled. Trujillo was murdered by members of the elite-many of those involved were Army officers, not poor rural farmers.
Your anaylsis is just wrong, Vacara. I'll expand on this later.
Trujillo was popular but nowhere near what you are suggesting he was, if one could measure the popularity of Trujillo by the amount of bullets the members of his army were allowed to have at any given time then his popularity was zero, zilch, nada, cuz zero was the number of bullets that "sometimes" they were given. Other times they had just a few, enough to keep order and to defend themselves. This are the people Trujillo was most popular with, this are the people who were submitted to continue propaganda and brainwashing, who were told that Trujillo was their father, their friend, if Trujillo could not trust this people how could he be more popular among the rural poor?.
If you want to learn more on this topic read the book "The militarization of Culture in the Dominican Rep.", by Valentina Peguero.
You seem like a knowledgeable guy Ogre, I like sharing my thoughts with you.
Regards.
