Rafael Trujillo of the Dominican Republic

A rebel group in the Dominican Republic planned to overthrow president Horacio Vasquez because he decided that he wanted to ignore the constitution and extend his term. General Rafael Trujillo chose not to fight and held his troops back, instead waiting for the right moment. After Vasquez was forced out of office, Trujillo made himself a new presidential candidate. He even threw together a secret group of police for the people who opposed of him to be tortured and killed which only resulted in him winning the elections by force; he was a brutal dictator before he was even elected president. Trujillo apparently "gave" his presidency over to his brother in 1952, 1957, and to Joaquin Balaguer in 1960, but he still kept ultimate control over the country for about 31 years. He was very harsh to Haitians, because he did not want them darkening the skin color of Dominicans. He placed a massacre on over 20,000 Haitians because they were reported to have been stealing Dominican crops. Trujillo had sent out people to assassinate President Romulo Betancourt of Venezuela when he realized that the Venezuelan president had sponsored a quiet plot to get rid of Trujillo. The attempt was a failure. It offended the people of the Organization of American States, so they decided to put economic sanctions on the Dominican Republic. Trujillo was shot down by seven assassins who were also a part of his military on May 30, 1961 which was the end of the Age of Trujillo.