Rafael Leonidas Trujillo Molina

Rafael Leonidas Trujillo Molina (1891-1961) presided for 31 years over what was probably the most absolute and ruthless dictatorship in Latin America at that time. Coming to power in 1930, he controlled the government of the Dominican Republic until he was assassinated.

Rafael Trujillo was born on Oct. 24, 1891, the son of lower-middle-class parents. He received a rudimentary education and then held various jobs. His first step toward his future career was taken on Dec. 9, 1918, when he was accepted for training as an officer in the Constabulary Guard, then being organized by the U.S. Marines, who were occupying the Dominican Republic. Emerging from training, he rose rapidly in the new military organization. Soon after Horacio Vázquez was inaugurated as president in 1924, Trujillo was named second-in-command of the Guard. On June 22, 1925, he became its commander in chief.

Gen. Trujillo came to the presidency as the result of a crisis during the early months of 1930. During a revolt against President Vázquez, Gen. Trujillo remained "neutral." As a result, Vázquez resigned, a provisional government was established, and elections were called. However, real power was in the hands of Trujillo, who proclaimed his candidacy for president. Supporters of his opponent were jailed, beaten up, and killed, thus assuring Trujillo's victory.

Soon after taking office, Trujillo was faced with a major natural disaster, a hurricane that virtually wrecked the capital city, Santo Domingo. He used this incident to place the country under martial law and took energetic steps to clear up the damage, take care of refugees, and start to rebuild the capital. Six years later the city council of Santo Domingo renamed the city Ciudad Trujillo in honor of this event. This was the first of many honors Trujillo in effect granted to himself. These included renaming half the provinces after him and members of his family, creating numerous decorations of which he was the first and sometimes the only recipient, renaming streets after him throughout the republic, and building numerous monuments in his honor.

Trujillo was in unchallenged control of the government. He served as president from 1930 to 1938, chose a puppet to succeed him then, but returned as president in 1942, remaining until 1954. He then chose his youngest brother, Hector, to occupy the post. In 1960, when the Trujillo regime was under strong international pressure, Hector Trujillo gave way to Vice President Joaquín Balaguer, who served until February 1962, nine months after Rafael Trujillo's death.

Even when out of office, Rafael Trujillo dominated the government. He remained commander in chief of the armed forces. All secret police services reported directly to him. As head of the only legal political party, he sent to Congress the name of a successor to anyone who resigned from that body, according to provisions of one of the several constitutions he had written. He also held the undated resignations of all public officeholders and submitted these when it suited his fancy. As a result, in one 4-year period, there was more than a 200 percent turnover among the members of the Chamber of Deputies.

Trujillo also completely dominated the economy of the country. He allotted various sectors to members of his family. His wife controlled imports and exports; his various brothers dominated radio and television, prostitution, and some manufacturing industries. Trujillo himself concentrated on agriculture, grazing, and industry, forcing all but one of the nation's sugar-producing firms to sell out to him, seizing vast estates from Dominican owners, and including himself as partner in virtually every industrial enterprise in the country. His fortune was estimated in the late 1950s at about $500 million.

Trujillo frequently interfered in the affairs of neighboring countries. When men who had attempted to assassinate Venezuelan president Rómulo Betancourt early in 1960 admitted that they had been sent by Trujillo, a special conference of the Organization of American States proclaimed a partial economic boycott of the Dominican Republic.

On May 30, 1961, Trujillo was assassinated on the outskirts of the Dominican capital. Within 6 months his whole family was in exile, and what he himself had called the Trujillo Era was at an end.

Further Reading

The two best works on Trujillo are Germán E. Ornes, Trujillo: Little Caesar of the Caribbean (1958), and Robert D. Crassweller, Trujillo: The Life and Times of a Caribbean Dictator (1966), both of which are critical but factual. A very hostile study of his regime is Albert C. Hicks, Blood in the Streets: The Life and Rule of Trujillo (1946). Sander Ariza, Trujillo: The Man and His Country (1939), and Abelardo René Manita, Trujillo (5th rev. ed. 1954), are adulatory. □

Trujillo y Molina, Rafael Leonidas (b. 24 Oct 1891, d. 30 May 1961). President of the Dominican Republic 1931–61 The creator of the most comprehensive and ruthless dictatorship in Latin America, he had already made a fortune as a local commander of the armed forces through monopolizing the supply of his soldiers with food, clothes and other provisions. As Comander-in-Chief from 1927, he took part in the coup to overthrow President Vásquez and eliminated all other opposition to become President himself. He immediately began to establish legal monopolies, involving his own firms, on essential supplies such as meat, salt, and rice. He came to control virtually every aspect of the economy, diverse businesses involving e.g. tobacco, insurances, banks, fruit exports, and even prostitution. In addition, every public employee was forced to pay a levy of 10 per cent of their earnings to his party, whose finances he controlled. He thus established complete and direct control over the lives of virtually every individual in the Republic, which he complemented by the ruthless quashing of all opposition. In contrast to most other Latin American dictators, therefore, he managed to stay in power despite the Great Depression of the 1930s and the general democratizing tendencies after World War II. As he amassed an ever-greater fortune, his collaborators became jealous and disgruntled. His erstwhile protégés organized his assassination, whereupon his businesses were nationalized.

Rafael Leonidas Trujillo Molina , 1891-1961, president of the Dominican Republic (1930-38, 1942-52). Trained by U.S. marines during U.S. occupation of the country, he was army chief in the presidency of Horacio Vásquez , whom he ousted in 1930. He became dictator and retained power until his death even when not in the presidency. His autocratic, efficient, and ruthless regime accomplished considerable material progress. Terroristic methods were used, however, not only to repress Dominican opposition, but also against neighboring Haiti; in 1937, to stop Haitian infiltration, Dominican troops crossed the border and massacred between 10,000 and 15,000 Haitians. Generalissimo Trujillo was constantly embroiled in difficulties with other Caribbean countries, charging that plots were being hatched against him abroad. In 1956 rumor blamed the Trujillo regime for the disappearance from New York City of Jesús de Galíndez, a Columbia Univ. instructor who had sharply criticized Trujillo. Trujillo was assassinated in 1961.

Bibliography: See R. D. Crassweller, Trujillo: The Life and Times of a Caribbean Dictator (1966); J. de Galíndez, The Era of Trujillo (pub. after his disappearance, 1973).

Trujillo, Rafael (born Rafael Leónidas Trujillo Molina; known as ‘ Generalissimo’) (1891–1961) Dominican statesman, President of the Dominican Republic (1930–38; 1942–52). Although he was formally President for only two periods, he wielded dictatorial powers from 1930 until his death. His dictatorship was marked by some improvement in social services and material benefits for the people, but also by the deployment of a strong and ruthless police force to crush all opposition. He was assassinated in 1961.