Juan Bosch

Juan Bosch

During Trujillo's campaign, he organized a secret police force to torture and murder supporters opposing candidate.Trujillo used the disaster as an excuse to impose martial law on all citizens. He also imposed emergency taxes and even seized the bank accounts of his opposition.  Juan Bosch was an anti-Communist reformer, as was common among Social Democrats. He began a land redistribution program and encouraged strengthening the labor movement. Fidel Castro seized power in Cuba six years earlier. Bosch was elected President in February 1963, after the assassination of the dictator Rafael Leonidas Trujillo, who ruled the Dominican Republic with an iron fist for more than 30 years.  He was the first politician to directly address the peasantry, a heretofore ignored group that gave him an overwhelming majority in the election. Bosch not only appealed to the poor but also cut across class lines to win the favour of the middle class and intellectuals. Bosch faced serious problems at the outset of his term. The military considered that its powers were curtailed. On September 25, 1963, the military deposed Bosch. Two years later his followers staged a rebellion in hopes of returning Bosch to power. The United States, fearful of a communist revolution, sent troops to end the revolt.  Bosch was allowed to return, and he reluctantly agreed to take part in the new elections.His term in office was too short for a judgment of his effectiveness as president, but Bosch’s contribution to his country’s political development was a very big importance. Bosch created a genuine political party, forcing the opposition to do the same and enabling his country to have legitimate representative elections.