NewsWhore
05-30-2012, 02:30 PM
Today, Wednesday May 30 is the 51st anniversary of the death of former Dominican dictator Rafael Leonidas Trujillo.
According to El Caribe, the man who subjected the country to one of the fiercest dictatorships in Latin America reappeared during the recent electoral campaign when Hipolito Mejia compared his rule to what he described as "the current government's constitutional dictatorship".
Social anthropologist Tahira Vargas says that society itself still has the authoritarian vision of Trujillo as reflected in the family, the way parents raise their children, at school itself, and in the way that teachers discipline their students.
In her opinion, during the recent campaign we could see the way repression was being used as in Trujillo's times, in the same way as every government has used it since May 30 1961, but, she said, that this government had made it worse due to their determination to stay in power
According to Manuel Maria Mercedes, president of the National Human Rights Commission, one can still see Trujillo's influence in institutions like the armed forces and the police, which he described as dictatorial. For example there are photos of the President in every office.
In Dominican literature Trujillo is evoked even more, with novels such as "Rites of Cabaret" by Marcio Veloz Maggiolo; "The Spokesman", by Efrain Castillo; "The Feast of the Goat", by Mario Vargas Llosa; "In the Time of the Butterflies" by Julia Alvarez, and more recently "The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao", by Junot Diaz.
In the same way the documentary "The Power of the Boss," by Rene Fortunato, and films like "The Feast of the Goat" and "In the Time of the Butterflies" have made Trujillism a central theme of Dominican political culture, writes El Caribe.
Dictator Rafael Leonidas Trujillo was in power from 1930 to 1961 and his rule was characterized by use of force, torture and murder. His most notorious crimes included the murders of sisters Patria, Minerva and Maria Teresa Mirabal, who were opponents of his regime.
He was assassinated on the night of 30 May 1961 by a group of patriots while on his way to his home in San Cristobal.
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#5)
According to El Caribe, the man who subjected the country to one of the fiercest dictatorships in Latin America reappeared during the recent electoral campaign when Hipolito Mejia compared his rule to what he described as "the current government's constitutional dictatorship".
Social anthropologist Tahira Vargas says that society itself still has the authoritarian vision of Trujillo as reflected in the family, the way parents raise their children, at school itself, and in the way that teachers discipline their students.
In her opinion, during the recent campaign we could see the way repression was being used as in Trujillo's times, in the same way as every government has used it since May 30 1961, but, she said, that this government had made it worse due to their determination to stay in power
According to Manuel Maria Mercedes, president of the National Human Rights Commission, one can still see Trujillo's influence in institutions like the armed forces and the police, which he described as dictatorial. For example there are photos of the President in every office.
In Dominican literature Trujillo is evoked even more, with novels such as "Rites of Cabaret" by Marcio Veloz Maggiolo; "The Spokesman", by Efrain Castillo; "The Feast of the Goat", by Mario Vargas Llosa; "In the Time of the Butterflies" by Julia Alvarez, and more recently "The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao", by Junot Diaz.
In the same way the documentary "The Power of the Boss," by Rene Fortunato, and films like "The Feast of the Goat" and "In the Time of the Butterflies" have made Trujillism a central theme of Dominican political culture, writes El Caribe.
Dictator Rafael Leonidas Trujillo was in power from 1930 to 1961 and his rule was characterized by use of force, torture and murder. His most notorious crimes included the murders of sisters Patria, Minerva and Maria Teresa Mirabal, who were opponents of his regime.
He was assassinated on the night of 30 May 1961 by a group of patriots while on his way to his home in San Cristobal.
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#5)