Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
1930
After six years of relatively stable government, Rafael Trujillo, the chief of the Dominican
National Police, declares himself president after an election in which he was the sole can-
didate.
1934
Trujillo uses his government to amass a personal fortune by establishing monopolies that
he and his wife control. By 1934 he is the richest man on the island.
1937
In the culmination of his xenophobia, paranoia, racism and tyranny, dictator Rafael Trujillo
orders the extermination of Haitians along the border; tens of thousands are killed in a
matter of days.
1956
Ozzie Virgil (Ozvaldo Virgil) becomes the first Dominican to play in the baseball major
leagues as an infielder for the New York Giants.
1961
Despite the support he has received over the years from the US as a staunch anticommun-
ist ally, Rafael Trujillo is assassinated by a group of CIA-trained Dominican dissidents.
1962-63
In the first democratic election in nearly 40 years, Juan Bosch, leader of the left-leaning
Dominican Revolutionary Party, is elected president and later removed in a coup orches-
trated by a three-person junta.
1965
Lyndon Johnson ultimately sends 42,000 US Army personnel and Marines to invade the
DR, ostensibly to prevent a civil war. The troops remain until October 1966.
1966
Trujillo's former vice-president, Dr JoaquĆ­n Balaguer, is elected president.
February 1973
A state of emergency is declared by Balaguer after a small guerilla invasion fails; Bosch
goes into hiding after Balaguer implicates him in insurgency.
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