He’s 93 years old today, he’s blind and hunched, but he’s incredibly but truly still calling the shots in Dominican politics. Born Saturday, 1 September 1906 at 8:30 pm in the province of Santiago, doctor of law Joaquín Amparo Balaguer Ricardo has plans to run for President of the Republic in the 2000 presidential election if his health permits. This would be the seventh time he runs in a presidential election. He has been President seven times, including a les than two year term as puppet president during the regime of Dictator Rafael Trujillo (1960-62). Balaguer was democratically elected in the 1966-70, 1970-74, 1974-78, 1986-90, 1990-94, and 1994-1996. In 1996 he gave his personal support to today President Leonel Fernández so the later could defeat PRD contender, José Francisco Peña Gómez in the second round of that year’s election. Balaguer is a mythical figure, he has a fine sense of when to wait and when to act, depending on the circumstances. He was said to be finished in 1978, when he lost to PRD’s Antonio Guzmán. He was democratically voted in again in 1986. He was "finished" in 1996, only to again bounce back by offering his endorsement to Leonel Fernández. He was said to be finished in 1998, when his party did poorly in the municipal and congressional elections. Two years later, the PRD offered his party the presidency of the Chamber of Deputies on a silver platter. Two years later, the PRD dares not oppose the election of former Senator Amable Aristy Castro at the helm of the Dominican Municipal League. He is loved and hated by contending Dominican politicians and Dominicans in general. He has been described as a hybrid between a dictator and a democrat; his charm envelopes whomever sits with him, such as the head of Medusa. The PRD described the "Pacto Patriótico" he signed with the PLD that resulted in the win of today President Leonel Fernández as a "Satanic alliance," but today that party would like a similar alliance, and seeks to not antagonize him to secure his endorsement in the presidential election of 2000. While he is decrepit, Balaguer maintains a prodigious and lucid mind. Press stories on occasion of his birthday have revealed that he regularly eats chicken consomme, toast and fruits.On occasions he will have white rice with lentils, chick peas, or stewed guandules. His austere diet is one of the reasons he has survived his contenders in politics, principally Juan Bosch who is senile and José Francisco Peña Gómez, who died of cancer. He never married. Known for his cynicism and distrust of humans, his best friends are said to be his dogs, two collies that live in an air-conditioned room in his Máximo Gómez home. Biographers say that he has had three offspring – Joaquín Antonio Balaguer, Alexis Joaquín Castillo and Mercedita Solís. His close collaborators continue to be Aníbal Páez, Rafael Bello Andino and General Luis María Pérez Bello. Lawyer Belarminio Ramirez Morillo is releasing today a book on Balaguer. The 10-chapter 240-page book was published in installments earlier in the year in the Hoy newspaper and provides interesting insights into the personality of Balaguer.
