Dominican Civil War

The Dominican Civil War, better known as Guerra de Abril, took place between April 24, 1965, and September 3, 1965, in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. It was the bloodiest armed conflict in the Dominican Republic in the twentieth century.

Political instability preceded the civil war. Following was the United States occupation of the Dominican Republic (1965-66).

Background
Juan Bosch was the first democratically elected president of the Dominican Republic. Sworn into office in February 1963, he lead a liberal, democratic government that expressed concern for the welfare of all Dominicans, particularly those of modest circumstances. He was known as a voice for those whose voices had never been heard before in the National Palace. A new constitution in April of that year guaranteed civil and individual rights and endorsed civilian control of the military. The new document granted the people freedoms they had never known; it declared specific labor rights, and mentioned unions, pregnant women, homeless people, the family, rights for the child and the young, for the farmers, and for illegitimate children. These and other changes, such as land reform, struck conservative landholders and military officers as radical and threatening, particularly when juxtaposed against three decades of somnolent authoritarianism under the Trujillo Regime. The hierarchy of the Catholic Church also resented the secular nature of the new constitution, in particular its provisions for legalized divorce and homosexuals. The hierarchy, along with the military leadership and the economic elite, also feared communist influence in the republic, and they warned of the potential for "another Cuba". The result of this concern and opposition was a military coup on September 25, 1963.

The coup effectively negated the 1962 elections by installing a civilian junta, known as the "Triunvirato", dominated by the remaining Trujullistas. The initial head of the Triunvirato was Donald Reid Cabral. The Triumvirate never succeeded in establishing its authority over competing conservative factions both inside and outside the military; it also never convinced the majority of the population of its legitimacy. The widespread dissatisfaction with Reid and his government, coupled with lingering loyalties to Bosch, produced a revolution on May

La Guerra de Abril
In 1965 a revolution began, led by the perredeistas (members of the PRD) and other supporters of Bosch, who called themselves Constitutionalists (a reference to their support for the 1963 constitution). The movement counted some junior military officers among its ranks. A combination of reformist military and aroused civilian combatants took to the streets on April 24, seized the National Palace, and installed Rafael Molina Ureña as provisional president. The revolution took on the dimensions of a civil war when conservative military forces, led by army general Elías Wessin y Wessin, struck back against the Constitutionalists on April 25. These conservative forces called themselves Loyalists. Despite tank assaults and bombing runs by Loyalist forces, the Constitutionalists held their positions in the capital; they appeared poised to branch out and to secure control of the entire country.

Main article: Operation Power Pack

On April 28, the United States intervened in the civil war. President Lyndon B. Johnson ordered in forces that eventually totaled 42,000, to secure Santo Domingo and to restore order. Johnson acted in the stated belief that the Constitutionalists were dominated by communists and that they therefore could not be allowed to come to power. The intervention was subsequently granted some measure of hemispheric approval by the creation of an OAS-sponsored peace force, which supplemented the United States military presence in the republic. An initial interim government was headed by one of the assassins of Trujillo, Antonio Imbert Barrera; later on, Héctor García Godoy assumed a provisional presidency on September 3, 1965. Violent skirmishes between Loyalists and Constitutionalists continued sporadically as further elections were organized.