Joaquín Balaguer 1906-2002

Dr. Joaquín Balaguer, the greatest Dominican political figure of the last half of the 20th century, died Sunday morning July 14, 2002 at Clinica Abreu in Santo Domingo after being interned for bleeding stomach ulcers. He was 95. Balaguer pictured at right.

Balaguer was born in Navarette (near Santiago) in the North-Central part of the country on September 1, 1906. He was an intellectual and a poet.

In the 1930's, he gained the favor of dictator Rafael Trujillo (Trujillo pictured at left), and at the time of Trujillo's assassination was the acting (puppet) president. Nonetheless, he managed to disassociate himself from the dictator's brutal regime and was elected president in 1966. He has been blind for the last 20 years, and was never married. He was a career politician who appears to never have accumulated wealth, but instead has thrived on accumulating political clout and the adulations of the Dominican people.

After Trujillo's assassination in 1961, a 3 member junta ruled the country until elections were held in 1962.

Juan Bosch (pictured at right), founder of the PRD (Dominican Revolutionary Party) was elected president. But his presidency only lasted 7 months, as he was deposed in a coup-de-stat. This coup-de-stat was backed by the U.S. who were afraid that the Dominican Republic might turn in to "another Cuba". The U.S. invaded the Dominican Republic in 1965 at a point when the path was being made for Bosch to return to power to finish out his presidency. "Democratic" elections were held in 1966 and Balaguer was elected president.

Balaguer (pictured at left) served 3 consecutive terms (from 1966-1978). This period in Dominican politics is referred to as the "12 years of Balaguer". This period was marked as being a particularly brutal presidency with many opposition party members killed, and no freedom of the press.

Balaguer's re-election each term was assured by electoral fraud and with support by the U.S. Nonetheless in 1978, the opposing PRD party was elected to office and again in 1982. In 1986, Balaguer was once again elected, and then again in 1990 and 1994. Although the 1994 election was particularly fraudulent.

Balaguer narrowly won over José Francisco Peña Gomez (pictured at right) by claiming that Peña Gomez was really a Haitian and if elected, would join the D.R. to Haiti. But given the fraudulent nature of the election, there was extreme international pressure, and a deal was made that Balaguer would serve only 18 months and then would again hold elections. The Dominican congress extended that period to 2 years, so elections were held again in 1996.

In the 1996 election, neither of the 3 major political parties achieved the necessary 50% of the vote in order to elect a president on the first round of voting, so the voting went to a second round. In this round, Balaguer threw his support to Leonel Fernandez of the PLD (Democratic Liberation Party - also founded by Juan Bosch after a split from the PRD), allowing Fernandez to be elected to the presidency, in the place of Peña Gomez.

Peña Gomez died of cancer in 1998, never having served as president, but still considered one of the 3 major political figures of the post-Trujillo era (besides Balaguer and Bosch). Bosch died in November of 2001.

Again in the 2000 elections, Balaguer was the PRSC candidate (Social Christian Reform Party). He received nearly 25% of the vote, the PLD candidate received 25% of the vote and the PRD candidate (Hipólito Mejia) received 49.6% of the vote, not enough to elect him president on the first round. But Balaguer again decided the election, by supporting the PRD and saying, "why bother with another round of voting, lets let Hipólito be president". It is as if Balaguer took great pride in knowing that in spite of not being president, he still had enough power in the country to decide who was. And every president and every major political figure would stop by his house to receive his blessing and support over any number of issues. The motto for political candidates running for other offices under the PRSC has always been "lo que diga Balaguer" (whatever Balaguer says). His house on Máximo Gomez was the hub of incredible activity, with Balaguer in recent years sitting in a lazy boy chair in the back room as the political figures would line up pay him homage. And every so often when you drove by, you might be lucky enough to see one of his two midget housekeepers who he considered good luck charms.

In service towns like Rio Limpio and Polo, Balaguer is still king. Balaguer built most of the houses in Rio Limpio, and last week in Polo, a couple kids answered "Balaguer" to the question "Who is the president?". At Christmas time, a large crowd of people was gathered outside Balaguer's house (pictured at left) on the eve of "Three Kings Day" (January 6th). This is the day when Dominican kids get their Christmas presents. After inquiry, we found out that the fathers were lining up (all night) to receive a Christmas gift the next morning. The kids would be brought by in the morning to receive the gift from one of Balaguer's handlers no matter which political party they belonged to. And we are talking about big gifts such as bicycles and such. In the old days, Balaguer would show up at a "pueblo" and people would line up for a 100 peso hand-out. He bought favor from many, and allowed many high officials to become very rich, but appears to not have accumulated any significant wealth himself. He was incredibly bright and sharp even in his old age. Many did not believe he was blind because his handlers would feed him information such as "my, you look lovely in that red dress". And he is also said to know the people he sees on a regular basis by the smell of the Cologne or perfume they wear.

The similarities to the Dictator Trujillo are striking. Both were eloquent speakers. Both rose from poverty and obscurity to received the adulation of the masses. Both had long and brutal regimes. Both built up the infrastructure of the Dominican Republic. Both considered themselves great Dominican patriots.