Juan Bosch

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Juan Bosch y Gaviño
Juan Bosch y Gaviño

Juan Emilio Bosch y Gaviño (30 June 1909, La Vega1 November 2001, Santo Domingo) was the first democratically elected president of the Dominican Republic after the assassination of dictator Rafael Leónidas Trujillo in 1961. He founded the Dominican Revolutionary Party (PRD) in Cuba in 1939 and the Dominican Liberation Party (PLD) in 1973. He was also a well-known writer, mostly producing short stories and tales.

Due to his opposition to Trujillo, he was exiled from the country in 1937. Bosch returned following Trujillo's assassination in 1961 and was elected as the 41st president in December 20, 1962 running as the Dominican Revolutionary Party (PRD) candidate. He took office in February 27, 1963.

Conservative military officers --along with the Policía Nacional (Police)-- still loyal to the wealthy oligarchy left by Trujillo and opposed to his socialist policies, launched a successful coup d'état seven months later (September 25, 1963). The military-imposed goverment was a Triumvirate conformed by Emilio de los Santos, Ramón Tapia Espinal and Manuel Tavares Espaillat.

In 1965, perredeistas (pro-Bosch PRD members) who referred to themselves as Constitutionalists overthrew the Donald Reid Cabral government and installed Rafael Molina Ureña as provisional president. Both civilians and junior military officers took part in the revolt. However, their actions provoked a counter-response from the dominant conservative wing of the military, who called themselves Loyalists, and a civil war broke out. On April 25, 1965, the Loyalists launched tank assaults and bombing runs against the new government, but the Constitutionalists remained in power.

On April 28th, the United States intervened in the civil war and dispatched 20,000 troops to the island. U.S. president Lyndon B. Johnson justified the invasion based on his belief that the PRD was filled with communists. An interim government was imposed, and elections were held on July 1, 1966 that saw Bosch defeated by Joaquín Balaguer of the Reformist Party (now PRSC), who garnered 57% of the vote. Balaguer's candidacy was bolstered by fear of resurgent violence should Bosch win, as well as support from the powerful remains of the dictatorship of Rafael Trujillo (of which Balaguer was a lifelong supporter), conservative sectors including peasants, religious women, and businessmen.

As a rival of Joaquín Balaguer, Bosch remained an important figure in Dominican politics, later forming his own party Dominican Liberation Party (PLD) in 1973. He ran unsuccessfully for president as the PLD candidate in 1978, 1982, 1986, 1990, and 1994. The stigma left by Johnson and his U.S. intervention forces, on the grounds that he was a "commie" endured for the rest of his political life.


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