Joaquín Balaguer

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Joaquín Balaguer

Joaquín Amparo Balaguer Ricardo (September 1, 1906 – July 14, 2002) was the President of the Dominican Republic from 1960 to 1962, from 1966 to 1978, and again from 1986 to 1996. An unlikely strongman, he had been a protégé of Rafael Leonidas Trujillo, and, though frequently accused of election fraud and of intimidating would-be opponents, is also considered one of the craftiest politicians in the history of the country and a foundation for the modern Dominican state.

1 Early Life and Education
2 Assumes Presidency
3 Return to Power
4 Recognized as Environmentalist
5 Bibliography
6 External links

[edit] Early Life and Education

Balaguer was born in Navarrete, a small town in northern Dominican Republic to a Puerto Rican father and a Dominican mother. Balaguer studied law at the Sorbonne, then returned to the Dominican Republic and started working for Trujillo in 1930.

[edit] Assumes Presidency

Balaguer was the puppet president of dictator Trujillo at the time of the Trujillo assassination in 1961, after which he fled to the United States. In 1963, a military coup overthrew the leftist government of Juan Bosch. In 1965 military officers revolted against the junta to restore Bosch, whereupon U.S. President Lyndon Johnson sent 42,000 U.S. troops to defeat the revolt in Operation Powerpack. Balaguer became the President of the Dominican Republic in 1966, with U.S. backing. He governed the country for three consecutive terms until 1978, when he was defeated at elections by Antonio Guzmán Fernández, leader of the Dominican Revolutionary Party. Balaguer left office only after the political intervention of U.S. President Jimmy Carter.

During Balaguer's first three terms as president, known as "The Twelve Years", Balaguer's administration was considered practically a successor to the Trujillo regime, with power maintained by military and police intimidation and violence against opponents and journalists. Hundreds were kidnapped or disappeared as political control was consolidated.<ref name="Miami Herald">{{cite web|url=http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/dominican/balaguer-mourned.htm</ref>

Despite his small stature, pronounced eyeglasses and professiorial appearance, Balaguer achieved the personality cult of typical Dominican caudillo, or strongman. Many supporters at the time approved of these methods as appropriate for dealing with conceived left wing radicals that threatened the Dominican state. In 1973, Balaguer oversaw the military defeat of a guerilla invasion by Dominican expatriates led by former Dominican National Guard Colonel Francisco A. Caamaño Deñó at Playa Caracoles, near Azua.

[edit] Return to Power

He returned to office for a fourth term in 1986. The second period of Balaguer's government was notably different from the first three terms. When Balaguer reassumed the presidency in 1986, it was by legitimate democratic selection and, from that period forward, Balaguer maintained power mainly through a combination of savvy political skill and patronage as a right-of-center populist. During all periods, though, Balaguer continued the oligarchical cronyism and economic protectionist policies of Trujillo, and the legitimacy of Dominican presidential elections were frequently questioned.

He left office for the second time, reluctantly, in 1996, at age 90 and practically blind, after agreeing to hold earlier elections following the controversy over his sixth term reelection in 1994 and subsequent polital pressure by the administration of U.S. President Bill Clinton. But he remained a power in Dominican politics to the very end of his life. He ran for president again in 2000, at age 94, but placed third with 24.6% of the first-round vote.

He died of heart failure in 2002. Balaguer never married and had no children (the latter fact being a frequent subject of controversy); he was survived by a sister. In later life he could hardly walk and went completely blind.

[edit] Recognized as Environmentalist

Jared Diamond's Collapse mentions Balaguer's push for environmental protection as a key difference between the environment of the Dominican Republic and its neighbour, Haiti. It included the enlargement of the national park system, demolishing illegal construction within the limits, substitution as popular fuel of scarce wood by imported Venezuelan gas. This environmental trend led him to some confrontations with powerful people or the Dominican people. However, Balaguer pushed for it as much as he could while retaining power. There are several reasons proposed for this, including that his sisters had a great love for nature.

[edit] Bibliography

Balaguer was a prolific author, having written many important books for contemporary Dominican literature. His most famous work was his only narrative novel, called Los Carpinteros (The Carpenters). He also wrote poetry and several songs, among them one named Lucía. The most controversial of his works is perhaps Memorias de un Cortesano, in which Balaguer, shielded by his political power admitted knowing the truth about the mysterious death of the revolutionary journalist Orlando Martínez. Balaguer left a blank page in the middle of the book: "to be filled in at the time of his death." The mystery was never solved, as Balaguer took it to his grave.

Balaguer explored several branches of literature. As a thorough researcher, he published many biographical books still used as reference, along with compilations and analysis of Dominican folk poets. As a poet, it is hard to categorize him. Mostly of Post-Romantic influence, Balaguer's style of poetry remained strictly unchanged along his long literary career. The main common theme expressed in his work is the struggle with the pain of loss (having survived both his parents and most of his sisters). Other themes, despite the sorrow expressed, are mostly noble: and idyllic view of nature, nostalgia, and memoirs of the past.

His total list of literary works is as follows:

Psalmos paganos (1922)
Claro de luna (1922)
Tebaida lírica (1924)
Nociones de métrica castellana (1930)
Azul en los charcos (1941)
La realidad dominicana (1941)
El Tratado Trujillo‑Hull y la liberación financiera de la República Dominicana (1941)
La política internacional de Trujillo (1941)
Guía emocional de la ciudad romántica (1944)
Letras dominicanas (1944)
Heredia, verbo de la libertad (1945)
Palabras con acentos rítmicos (1946)
Realidad dominicana. Semblanza de un país y un régimen (1947)
Los próceres escritores (1947)
Semblanzas literarias (1948)
En torno de un pretendido vicio prosódico de los poetas hispanoamericanos (1949)
Literatura dominicana (1950)
El Cristo de la libertad (1950)
Federico García Godoy (antología, 1951)
El principio de alternabilidad en la historia dominicana (1952)
Juan Antonio Alix: Décimas (Prólogo y recopilación, 1953)
Consideración acerca de la producción e inversión de nuestros impuestos (1953)
Apuntes para una historia prosódica de la métrica castellana (1954)
El pensamiento vivo de Trujillo (1955)
Historia de la literatura dominicana (1956)
Discursos. Panegíricos, política y educación política internacional (1957)
Colón, precursor literario (1958)
El centinela de la frontera. Vida y hazañas de Antonio Duvergé (1962)
El Reformismo: filosofía política de la revolución sin sangre (1966)
Misión de los intelectuales (Discurso, 1967)
Con Dios, con la patria y con la libertad (Discurso, 1971)
Conjura develada (Discurso, 1971)
Ante la tumba de mi madre (1972)
Temas educativos y actividades diplomáticas (1973)
La marcha hacia el Capitolio (1973)
Discursos. Temas históricos y literarios (1973)
Temas educativos y actividades diplomáticas (1974)
Cruces iluminadas (1974)
La palabra encadenada (1975)
Martí, crítica e interpretación (1975)
La cruz de cristal (1976)
Discursos escogidos (1977)
Discurso en el develamiento de la estatua del poeta Fabio Fiallo (1977)
Juan Antonio Alix, crítica e interpretación (1977)
Pedestales. Discursos históricos (1979)
Huerto sellado. Versos de juventud (1980)
Mensajes al pueblo dominicano (1983)
Entre la sangre del 30 de mayo y la del 24 de abril (1983)
La isla al revés (1983)
Galería heroica (1984)
Los carpinteros (1984)
La venda transparente (1987)
Memorias de un cortesano de la «Era de Trujillo» (1988)
Romance del caminante sin destino (Enrique Blanco) (1990)
Voz silente (1992)
De vuelta al capitolio 1986‑1992 (1993).

Preceded by: Héctor García Godoy (provisional)	1966-1978 1986-1996 Presidents of the Dominican Republic	Succeeded by: Antonio Guzmán Fernández
Preceded by: Salvador Jorge Blanco	1966-1978 1986-1996 Presidents of the Dominican Republic	Succeeded by: Leonel Fernández Reyna