Dictatorship In The Dominican Republic

First, the dictatorship in the Dominican Republic developed because of both foreign and civil conflicts. Much like the events with the Panama Canal and Cuba, the U.S. also kept a foothold in the Dominican Republic. The U.S. intervened in the Caribbean because they believed it to be a part of the gateway to the Panama Canal. It is also necessary to mention that there was much instability in the area. Considering that the Dominican Republican was over $30 million in debt and civil war continued, U.S. commercial interests involving the Panama Canal were at stake (“Rafael Trujillo”). In 1904, Teddy Roosevelt issued the Roosevelt Corollary as an addition to the Monroe Doctrine. While Europeans could not intervene in the Western Hemisphere, the
As a result, he wiped the bank accounts of his opponents, instituted taxes to increase revenue that were never repealed after the hurricane, and used his new absolute authority as a way to impose tight controls over necessities, medicines, and building materials (“Rafael Trujillo”). After reinstating stability post-hurricane, he continued to secure his absolute authority by wiping out members in Congress who disagreed with him. Congress did not pass any law without the approval of
According to “Remembering To Never Forget: Dominican Republic's 'Parsley Massacre’”, a National Public Radio article, by Mark Memmott, “As many as 20,000 people are thought to have been killed on orders given by Rafael Trujillo.” He ordered the military to kill any Haitian living on the border. While the genocide occurred because of politics, it also happened because of reasons based on race. The genocide rid anyone dark enough to appear Haitian. The racial makeup in the Dominican Republic differed from the one in Haiti because prior to the twentieth century, Haiti saw more black slaves in its population whereas the population of the Dominican Republic encountered more diversity between Europeans and slaves. Not only did thousands of Haitians living on the border die, but even many dark skinned Dominicans, who may have passed as Haitians to the Dominican military at the time, were murdered. The quest for Trujillo to whiten the Dominican race also grew by bringing in Jewish refugees from the Holocaust. Even so, only a few hundred Jews came over. The reception of Jewish refugees helped the U.S. government overlook the Parsley Massacre, giving Trujillo approval as