Should Dominican Republic Independence Day Include Celebrations of Freedom from the United States Government?
Last week (February 27), the Dominican Republic celebrated its one-hundred eightieth day of independence (from Haiti), and having gone to the country back in October, it seemed appropriate to do a historical piece involving the United States government’s meddling in that country’s affairs. In fact, activities there were not about simply interfering in elections or having intelligence or special forces units train rebels’ campaigns. No, there were full-scale invasions and military occupations.
Following in the footsteps of its neighbor Haiti when it freed itself from France in 1804 (France annexed Haiti from Spain in 1697), the Dominican Republic (known then as the Captaincy General of Santo Domingo, and then Spanish Haiti) declared its own independence from Spain in 1821, but because of underdevelopment, lack of population, and extreme poverty, the new nation was weak and became invaded and occupied by Haiti the following year (the entire island of Hispaniola became unified under one government). Juan Pablo Duarte’s society of revolutionaries, known as La Trinitaria, covertly planned an independence movement against their Haitian occupiers starting in 1838, and by 1844, the group had enough support for Dominican leaders, such as Matías Ramón Mella and Francisco del Rosario Sánchez (in addition to Duarte himself), to engage in a successful insurrection that expelled the Haitian army out of Santo Domingo, and eventually the countryside. Yes, even though the concept of insurrection has become a dirty word in the American vocabulary due to conditioning of the public into believing that Donald Trump and January 6th protesters engaged in one (of course, insurrections would be considered good when they involve events against our enemies or stories in far off lands, but the thought of having one affect our current “democracy” is inconceivable to most), just remember that today’s insurrections can become tomorrow’s celebrated revolutions.
Even after attaining freedom, the Dominican Republic faced additional invasion attempts from Haiti and a brief return to Spanish colonial rule (1861 until 1865) under the direction of royalist President Pedro Santana (who had assisted in the secessionist movement from Haiti), and another rebellion led to the Dominican Restoration War and the Second Dominican Republic. But, by 1904, the United States government was eyeing the country, and under President Theodore Roosevelt, it began seizing customs houses to ensure that American investments on the island were protected and that European nations lost influence in the country’s affairs (“Big Stick” diplomacy under the absurd Roosevelt Corollary of the Monroe Doctrine). Then, much like the American Empire does today, economic sanctions were implemented against both Haiti and the Dominican Republic to bully them into controlling their internal disorder, and when that did not work (Dominican President Ramón Cáceres was even assassinated), President William Howard Taft (Roosevelt’s handpicked successor) dispatched roughly 750 Marines to the Dominican Republic and forced Archbishop of Santo Domingo Adolfo Nouel into the presidency in 1912 (a couple years later, Jose Bordas Valdez became president but was forced by the United States to resign).
By 1915, the debt situation in the Dominican Republic deteriorated to the point where the United States began running the country’s finances and converting its military into a constabulary force (the leader of the Guardia Nacional had to be appointed by the American government), and after Dominicans overthrew the regime of Juan Isidro Jimenez, who was the preferred choice of the United States, President Woodrow Wilson believed that it was time for an invasion. American Minister to the Dominican Republic William Russell had refused to negotiate with Dominicans (orders against diplomacy came from Washington, D.C.), and since it appeared that an American-friendly candidate was not going to be able to win in a free election, Wilson’s 1916 attack on the country commenced, resulting in direct military rule under United States Naval Captain Harry Knappn.
American occupation of the Dominican Republic was not popular, and groups within the country were able to convince the United States Senate that such imperialism violated international law and Wilson’s Fourteen Points and that political prisoners and insurgents were being mistreated. The Wilson administration was forced to accept a plan for the gradual withdrawal of American troops (the Peynado-Hughes Agreement, which was named after Dominican negotiator Francisco Peynado and United States Secretary of State Charles Evans Hughes, was set into motion by American diplomat Sumner Welles under the Harding administration), but President Warren G. Harding kept the Guardia Nacional and some of the country’s finances under American control for some time. Juan Bautista Vicini Burgos was elected as the provisional leader in 1922, and the Third Dominican Republic formed under democratically-elected President Horacio Vazquez when the United States finally withdrew in 1924.
However, peace did not last too long, because in 1930, General Rafael Leonidas Trujillo Molina took control of the country for a thirty-one-year period and established himself as a dictator. Trujillo was the United States’ preferred ruler of the Dominican Republic, despite his cruelty, because he was staunchly anti-communist, and when the Dominican Revolutionary Party under Juan Bosch was elected to the presidency in 1962 (Trujillo had been assassinated the year prior), this was seen as another country potentially falling to the domino theory and becoming another “Cuba” (it was also seen as unfriendly to American business interests).
Then, the following year, the Bosch government was overthrown (in part due to unfavorable rumors spread by the American embassy and a possible Central Intelligence Agency plot) by a military junta, consisting of Elias Wessin y Wessin and General Antonio Imbert Barreras, and by 1965, there were attempts across the country to reinstall Bosch and take down the military-run government (ruled by Donald Reid Cabral). The United States government encouraged the military to crush the rebellion, but such efforts failed, and after concocting an unsubstantiated list of potential communists in the Dominican Republic, President Lyndon Johnson decided on a full-scale invasion (“Operation Power Pack”) of more than 22,000 Marines, 82nd Airborne troops, Special Forces units, and psychological operators, as well as forty-one ships to blockade the country.
During the war, the United States military bombed bridges, destroyed infrastructure and homes, and conducted terrifying raids against civilians (it is estimated that anywhere from 3,000 to 10,000 Dominicans perished in the conflict); but after a few months of stalemate, the American forces and its Dominican military allies (as well as some troops from the Organization of American States) were able to quell the rebellion and capture Santo Domingo. The United States government gradually withdrew from the country, but it was not until 1966, when an American-friendly regime under Joaquin Balaguer won in a not-so-free election (controlled by the United States), that the last of American troops left the island (in that period, the United States continued to bomb parts of the Dominican Republic and squash public protests, and even after the United States’ withdrawal, the American-backed Balaguer continued to wreak havoc on the nation and punish political dissidents).
After learning all of this, is it still possible to think that the Dominican Republic actually gained its independence in 1844? The country has made strides to become more democratic and economically sound over the last several years, but it has been plagued by American intervention and political instability and may take time to fully recover. In any event, it is still worth honoring revolutions and power to the people to decide their form of government. We could certainly use more of that sentiment today. However, perhaps this holiday should really be a celebration of freedom from Spain, Haiti, and the United States (not just Haiti), but nonetheless, Happy Dominican Independence Day!
Thank you for reading, and please check out my book, The Global Bully, and website.