Rafael Trujillo

1
Rafael Trujillo

• The Dominican Dictator and His Era of Tyranny

2
The Beginning of the End

• In 1916 the United States occupied the Dominican
  Republic in an attempt to establish a stable
  democracy.
• In the process, the U.S set up a Dominican
  National Guard and trained Dominican soldiers.
• In 1924, the United States pulled out after a
  somewhat successful election. Leaving behind
  Rafael Trujillo as the head of the Dominican
  National Guard.

3
The election of El Jefe(chief or boss)

• Rafael Trujillo or El Jefe as he came to be
  called, was the head of the National Guard
  through the 1920s under president Vasquez.
• In 1930, a rebellion led by Rafael Estrella broke
  out against President Vasquez. The rebels headed
  from Santiago to the capital of Santo Domingo.
• As head of the National Guard Trujillo was in
  charge of stopping any rebellions. In this
  situation however, Trujillo declared his
  neutrality and allowed the rebels to overtake the
  capital.
• President Vasquez fled leaving rebel leader
  Estrella(one of Trujillos acquaintances) as
  active president until the elections later that
  year.
• In the elections of 1930, Trujillo became
  president with a suspicious 95 of the votes.
• The election of Trujillo in 1930 was the
  beginning of the long and oppressive Era of
  Trujillo

4
The Era of Trujillo

• Trujillo was the dictator of the Dominican
  Republic from 1930 until his assassination in
  1961.
• During his thirty one years of control, the
  people of the island of Hispaniola faced
  oppression and fear at the hands of Trujillo, his
  secret police, and his fellow cabinet members.
  
• Trujillo would not allow any opposition to his
  government and he went to any means necessary to
  keep his power. These means included
  assassinating any political opponent and
  imprisoning and torturing any citizen who spoke
  out against his government. The number of people
  who died in accidents or who just plain
  disappeared off the face of the earth was
  unnaturally high during the Tyranny of Trujillo.

5
Monumento a la Paz de Trujillo

• If you were going to build a statue to represent
  peace, what would you put on top of it?

6
This was Trujillos idea of peace.
7
The Era of Trujillo (cont.)

• Trujillo instilled fear in the citizens of his
  country and forced them to surrender to his wants
  and needs.
• Throughout his dictatorship he amassed a large
  personal fortune by stealing peoples land and
  taking control of a large portion of the
  businesses and factories in his country.
• Trujillo, whos mother was supposedly 50
  Haitian, ordered the massacre of thousands of
  Haitians. This was a result of his racist views
  against the mostly black Haitians.

8
The SIM and La Cuarenta

• Under the rule of Trujillo, the citizens of the
  Dominican Republic learned to watch what they
  said about politics because they knew that
  someone was always listening.
• If the SIM suspected a person of not agreeing
  with Trujillo, that person would be taken to a
  secret location such as La Cuarenta for
  questioning.
• These interrogations often included harsh
  tortures and threats to the persons family.
• Many people never returned home after being
  kidnapped by the SIM.

9
(No Transcript)
10
Las hermanas Mirabal

• The Mirabal sisters are one example of the
  tragedies that occurred in the era of Trujillo.
• Minerva, Patria, Maria Teresa, and Dede Mirabal
  were a group of sisters who stood up against
  Trujillo and did not allow him to control their
  beliefs and actions.
• The Mirabal sisters along with their husbands set
  up an underground movement to overthrow the evil
  tyrant.
• The sisters and their husbands were imprisoned
  and tortured for conspiring against Trujillo.
  The sisters were eventually released, while their
  husbands remained imprisoned.

11
Las hermanas Mirabal (cont.)

• On November 25, 1960 Maria Teresa, Minerva, and
  Patria Mirabal along with their driver were
  returning from visiting their imprisoned husbands
  when they were stopped on the road by some of
  Trujillos men. The sisters and the driver were
  murdered in a field off the road and it was
  presented to the public as a car accident.
• Everybody knew the sisters as Las Mariposas and
  saw through the so called accident. Las
  Mariposas were heroes to the Dominican people and
  this assassination by Trujillo enraged the
  people.
• The movement against Trujillo that the Mirabal
  sisters helped to establish only grew stronger in
  their death.
• Their courage proved to the Dominican people that
  they needed to fight the tyrant and his goons.

12
In memory of the murder of the Mirabal sisters,
November 25 is now the official international day
for the elimination of violence against women.
13
The end of a tyranny

• On May 30, 1961 Rafael Trujillo was murdered in
  his car by a group of assassins.
• This assassination was the culmination of the
  efforts of the Mirabal sisters, the Catorce de
  Junio Movement, and all the Dominican people who
  did not allow Trujillo to keep them from standing
  up for their beliefs and opinions.