President Rafael Trujillo is the man who led the military coup that took over the Domincan Republic in the 1960s. He was the man who led a revolution that did want to be restrained by president Juan Bosch, and he led the country until he lost his life in an assassination that was carefully planned by a resistance against his rule.
Before Becoming President
The presidency for Rafael Trujillo was not in the cards because he was a military man. The military man in Trujillo was able to become a strong leader who was able to lead men into battle. He was able to create a strong military that almost exclusively followed him. His leadership skills were so great that men went into battle proud to die on his order, and he used that skill as a leader to create a revolution that would take over the country.
As President
Rafael Trujillo became president after the coup when he was elected president by a leadership council. He became a ruler who ran the country with an iron fist, and he installed all the communist principles that were currently in practice in Cuba. The idea behind his rule was to copy what had been done in Cuba, and he attempted to make sure that the island would be a mainstay of the communist rule of the time. Many other countries were turning over the communist rule, and Trujillo believed that he would be yet another great ruler in that tradition.
Trujillo was assassinated in 1961 while he was still president, but his rule did not change much because the military was able to hold on to the country. He had created such a strong military dictatorship that it was able to withstand his own assassination, but the man who took over was able to become president again later. Trujillo wanted to overthrow Juan Bosch, but Bosch was rule twice more after Trujillo was killed.
After Being President
Rafael Trujillo is seen as someone who wanted to be the new Fidel Castro, but he was not able to live out his dream as he was cut down so soon. This is the tragedy of a life lived in the pursuit of power. The people who are able to survive a life like that are eaten away in their soul by the guilt over what they have done, and the people who do not survive are tragic victims of the situation that they created under their own rule.
Rafael Trujillo is a cautionary tale about what it means to chase power. He started a communist regime that would rule the DR half of the island of Hispanola for over 25 years, and his rule would become a hallmark of the reforms that needed to be done when Juan Bosch took back over. A man corrupted by power is a man who is not remembered well, and the lesson learned from his leadership is that there is a life to loved even when one is not in power.