Like many Latin American countries, the United States has had a history of meddling in the Dominican Republic since the early 20th century. The relationship between the two countries came to a head in the 1960s, during a turbulent period of the Cold War. Lyndon Johnson was President of the United States, and the relationship between the US and the Soviet Union was more tense than ever. He spoke publicly of friendship with Latin American countries, but he knew that a top priority of his presidency would be the aggressive containment of communism. A big part of his containment strategy would be the Dominican Republic.
The Dominican Republic was ruled by dictator Rafael Trujillo from 1930 until his assassination in 1961. Juan Bosch, a popular reformist candidate who vowed to weed out corruption and make the DR a better place for all its citizens, was elected President in the first democratic election in many years. But, the suspicion that he had left-leaning tendencies and the uneasiness he stirred up in business sectors started a military coup a few months later that installed Donald Reid Cabral as the President.
Bosch was still very popular, and many citizens were understandably angry that their elected President had been forced out of office. The situation erupted into violence in 1965 when a civil war between Bosch supporters and anti-Bosch forces broke out. The United States became very concerned that Juan Bosch, communist sympathizer could be placed back into power.
No comments:
Post a Comment