Rafael Trujillo y Molina (1891-1961)

Dictator. Born Rafael Leonidas Trujillo Molina, he was the strongman of the Dominican Republic from 1930 to 1961. Born in San Cristobal, he rose to power through the Dominican National Guard during occupation of the Dominican Republic by the United States from 1916 to 1924 and became its commander in chief in 1927. In March 1930 Trujillo seized control of the government in a military coup d'etat and for the next three decades ruled the Dominican Republic as his own crazy kingdom, using widespread terror and corruption to maintain his authority. He acted as President from 1930 to 1938 and from 1942 to 1952; even when he wasn't President he continued to pull the strings of the puppet administrations he installed in his place. In 1937 Trujillo ordered an ethnic cleansing of all Haitian immigrants in his country, and the ensuing genocide claimed over 17,000 lives. To quell international outcry over the massacre he offered the Dominican Republic as a safe haven for Jewish refugees fleeing Nazi-threatened Europe, but in the end he gave sanctuary to only a token handful. After World War II Trujillo was the target of several assassination attempts, many of them instigated by exiles, and he was finally ambushed and shot on May 30, 1961. Six months later his family was forced into exile in Paris, where the former dictator was interred at Pere Lachaise. In 1970 he was reburied with his son Ramfis at the Cementerio de El Pardo in Madrid. The day of his death is celebrated as a national holiday in the Dominican Republic.

Bio by: Bobb Edwards