Intimate Violations: Women and the Ajusticiamiento of Dictator Rafael Trujillo, 1944-1961

Abstract

<jats:p><jats:disp-quote><jats:p>The foundation of social order, the primary essence and basic nucleus of every political organization, rests in the family, without whose stable and healthy development, the prosperity of the nation is impossible.</jats:p></jats:disp-quote></jats:p><jats:p>On the afternoon of August 10, 1959, several dozen Dominican and Cuban women gathered in the streets of Havana. Dressed in black as though headed to a funeral, they mourned the political situation in the neighboring Dominican Republic. Specifically, they targeted the dictator Rafael Trujillo, calling him the “Jackal of the Caribbean.” As they paraded through the streets carrying placards and visiting newspaper offices, tliey were focusing attention on their specific struggles as women and motliers. Their posters read, “Dominican Women Support the Revolutionary Government”; “We Ask for the Expulsion of Trujillo from the OAS”; and “We Represent the Mourning of the Assassinations Committed by Trujillo.”</jats:p>

Identity Crisis Through Intergenerational Trauma in The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao

“…(VanWormer, 2020) We only need to look at some of the real-life political characters mentioned in both the narrative and the footnotes to find examples of this stereotype. While it is unsurprising for dictators to have mistresses, Trujillo's carnivorous appetite for women is ridiculous, considering the fact that a record number of female employees were hired in his regime, even if at the time it was seen as a progressive move by the prolific dictator (Manley, 2012). Diaz also mentioned Porfirio Rubirosa, (described by Diaz as the original Dominican Player), who was a well-known Dominican playboy and an avid supporter of Rafael Trujillo in the 1940s.…”

“…Trujillo, (made infamous through the 1930s el-corte or the Parsley Massacre) was notorious for the imprisonment and assassinations of high-profile dissenters, resistance members and activists, most notably the Mirabal sisters. Lastly, his deceptive recruitment of women in his ranks to disillusion Dominicans with signs of progressive movements, led to even more violence in his years in power (Manley, 2012). The author uses an interesting line that was brought up in the novel by one of the characters which is Lola, Oscar's sister, who said in the novel, "Ten million Trujillos is all we are," (Diaz, 2007).…”