Writer and politician Juan Bosch (born 1909) is terminally ill, and news reports indicate he is near the end. Medics at the intensive care unit of the Clinica Abel Gonzlaez say he is being kept alive artificially and is heavily sedated. “Now, at the end of the road, as a friend you get closer, even if he is beyond touch, was sedated, and is resting, his face is at peace,” Father Avelino Fernandez told the press after he was called in to offer spiritual aid. The priest described Bosch’s state as one without return. News reports say that Bosch asked to be buried in La Vega, where he was born and the town that inspired his most successful novel, “La Mañosa.” Bosch also requested that earth be brought from Puerto Rico, Cuba and Costa Rica to be laid in his tomb. Bosch’s three offspring were born these countries. Bosch was the first democratically elected president of the Dominican Republic after the fall of the Trujillo regime in 1961. His government lasted only seven months, from December 1962 to September 1963, as he was overthrown by a military and civic coup by those who rejected his innovative ideas for government. He is recognized for founding both the PRD, the party now in power, as well as the PLD, the party previously in power. El Siglo published a report on his life today.
