U N Secretariat Item Scan - Barcode - Record Title 1 1 Date 10/05/2006 Time 2:36:33 PM S-0867-0001-11-00001 Expanded Number S-0867-0001-11 -00001 Title items-in-Peace-keeping operations - Dominican Republic - press clippings and excerpts Date Created 30/04/1965 Record Type Archival Item Container S-0867-0001: Peace-Keeping Operations Files of the Secretary-General: U Thant: Dominican Republic Print Name of Person Submit Image Signature of Person Submit .. ,. ;.. •-• . , NEW-YORK TIMES,• FRIDAY, APRIL 30, 1965. of Revolution EtiasWessiwyWessJti WO things stand out about T Brig.!Gen. Elias Wessin y Wessin, leader of the'counter- ' revolutionary forces in the current civil war in the Do-. ! minican Republic. He is well i known for being incorruptible ; and' for being a fierce, anti- i Communist- . : . ! It - .was his .violent ariti-' ' Communism that Man led him to see 5 fh "• something sinister 10 lne in the moderate po- News sition Juan Bosch had -assumed' to- ! ward the Communists and other left-wingers when he was President... '."•• . ' The general' was'/instru- mental-in ousting the Presi- dent in 1963. Now,: he leads the fight, to prevent pr'o- Bpsch rebels from restoring, the deposed leader to power in the Dominican Republic. Short, plunipy swarthy and bushy-browed, the general is, at the' age of 41, one of the jhiost powerful men in his re-, .Associated, Press volt-torn country. As a deep- Public-spiri ted general ly. religious'/Roman Catholic',' he instituted-the teaching of Catholic doctrine lo Domini- General Wessin y Wessin can troops.'He also has lec- first came to prominence in tured officers on .Communist 1962, when he helped, put theory;_and on methods of de- 'down an 'attempted, coup by fecting subversion. the chief of the armed forces, ? Gen. Pedro Rafael Rodriguez * A polonel's Fight Echevarria. i In 'July,, 1963; while Mr: After Mr. Bosch eaffie'Ttp, .Bpsch wasigtill President, the power, in'the first legal'.'.e|eci-/ then Colonel Wessin y Wessin. tion in the Dominican Repub-- tried, with the backing of lie in 38 years, some members other officers, to force /him of his Government privately! to outlaw Communism.. The . expressed >the fear that Gen- colonel was the commander eral Wessin y Wessin had of a tank . battalion: at^iS.an: : : Been "infected by a touch of ' Isidrb Air Force: 'Base;'' • -..i '• •''',.-Bohapartism and might de- The Preside.nt-ityied ,-tp jdisr-. :cide.. some day to do away miss him. T^o^mc)nths..'iater:i''';' 'the colonel fpyerthresv' ;/thie: <.with 'the ...civilian authorities. President; and ,beca.m'e:';£ /ig^nr- Dropped ei-al.: . .•':<••••': : : •'-. .-" .: '•"•"-:.'';-; ,•• , jjuring'. the .current crisis in the Dominican :Republic,. the • of.'. Lebanese t .descent. His, general has.'remained with his : father .was a ^^storekeeper who tanks at San Isidro. emigr£tte.d: from ,Lebahpn in In : the air, attacks of the • '- • ' : last few dajrs he assigned at .; !w,as -bprn in-: least one p.laine to drop anti- • BayAguana', a tsmall town 30 Comniuriist;': pamphlets on miles east ;of: San to 'JD'omiagq; : • Santo Domingo. The pam- He jpmed::the; air f6rce.i a's a .phle'ts bore • a caricature of,, pnvafe ."•,in"194'4 '.at ithe-'age- of,. Fidel ; Castro on the cover. 20. 'He is .'now in the infantry. , ' The general is reported to : fii i947i he was'; graduated have hired an anti-Castro from .the Dpinimcan Military •. Cuban as his public relations Academy as a first lieutenant. .man. .'- :'•'...••••, .'. - He rose to ^captain in 1955.,- ,He has sent medical per- Also in .1955,; -he went to. sonnel to the slums to give -';i.'' . •-dental Sid '.to. the poor. Under. years- later,-; he. attended a his guidance, the air 'force; : •has established a housing militaiy:;schdpt ;m ^Venezueia. service under which service- i. In .1961) he became a "'colonel' men can' build their own and.: tookV'commartd;' of . the; homes : and pay for them over A.rmy Training Center at. San . a long period. ''' '' ' '", ' The general is not much of ; his- military' career given to social life. ;'- was... spent under the dictator- ', Donald Reid Cabral, the rishipvbf Generalissimo Rafael former President, who is sup- Leomdas Trujillo Molina, who ported by him, once said of was assassinated in 1961 him, that he was one of the General Wessin y Wessin has country's few generals who .- lnSBy"J^nilitary decorations, "was--tfot a millionaire;' ''"' , \ bjt yh% refuses to wear them. General Wessin y> Wessin, is r ground that they were married to the former 'Livia of the difitator , „ Ch>vez_TJiey haveyth^ee spns.^ Section NEWS BACKGROUND EDUCATION—SCIENCE © 1965, by The New York Times Company. SUNDAY, MAY 2; 1965. THE NEWS OF THE WE DOMINICAN REVOLT—THE U.S. STEPS IN Dominican Crisis FACTORS IN \nd U.S. Role CARIBBEAN UNREST United States repeatedly in re- ent years has been caught in a ileinma in Latin-American coun- ties.. It arises from U.S. efforts D encourage stability without in- arvening and becoming identified rith the far right,' on the one and, or opening the door to Com- mnist takeover, on the other. The se of Castroism—and the efforts > "export" the Cuban revolution -have greatly complicated the roblem. Last week the U.S. was em- roiled in new difficulties in Latin merica as a result of an up- javal and turmoil in the Domini- m Republic. The U.S. sent more lan 4,000 troops there in a mis- on whose purpose initially was :scribed as the protection of merican lives—and it was widely mceded that the danger was real. Jt by the end of the week the ere presence of American troops id become a factor—perhaps the :y factor—in the Dominican niggle and some Administration ficials were speaking of the continuing instability in the coun- order could be restored "prompt- awaiting evacuation. Estimates of ed to prevent Communists from try. ly." the number of Dominicans killed Icing over the government. Pres- The Dominican situation thus WEDNESDAY in the week of fighting ranged ait Johnson cited "signs that between 1,000 and 2,000. ople trained outside the Domini- presents, in classic form, the key Large sections of Santo Do- n Republic are seeking to gain problem facing American foreign mingo were still in the hands of The international aspects of the ntrol." policy in Latin America—the prob- what were described as pro-Bosch crisis widened as the Soviet Union lem that has become bitterly acute rebels (in One section they manned called for an emergency meeting Moscow yesterday called for an since the triumph of Castro Com- of the U.N. Security Council to lergency meeting of the. U.N. barricades of stones, tree trunks munism in Cuba. and garbage cans) despite bomb- examine the question of "armed cufity Council on the U.S. ac- intervention" by the United States. n. But in some respects there In the effort to insure political ing and strafing raids by air '.s-more concern in Washington stablity -in Latin America while force jets under the command of Moscow .said .the U.S. had com- er the protests from a number avoiding..the. onus of the old inter- General Wessiii y Wessin. A three- mitted "aggression ... to suppress Latin governments which saw in. ventionist policy, that approach man military junta loyal to him the strivings of the people for : intervention overtones of the had been ' renounced in favor was "sworn in," but with the capi- freedom and independence." tmboat diplomacy" that. is one , of. collective responsibility, em- tal in a state of chaos and the .the traditional sore- points in bodied in the Organization of country virtually' in a state of full- 3. relations with the hemisphere, American States. But there have scale civil war, the junta's author- The Repercussions been, questions whether this ma- ity was largely theoretical. ere was controversy—with A New York Times corre- ong adherents on both sides—• chinery may be too cumbersome In Washington, President John- to deal with the threats presented spondent reported from Santo ;r whether the U.S., in light of son met with Cabinet officials and Domingo last week: i Cuban experience, should com- by- Communist penetration. In the aides, then summoned Congres- t itself to'a1 policy of interven- 1962 Cuban missile crisis, Wash- sional leaders to the White House. "Two 'conclusions on completely ri' iii the 'hemisphere if it .be- ington took forceful action with- They were said to have discussed separate levels seem to emerge red that a real threat of Co'm- out waiting for the support of the the possibility that Communists, from the events here this week. nist takeover existed. other American states. with, ties to Premier Castro, had . "The first conclusion — a prag- Che controversy arose at a time infiltrated and possibly captured matic one — is that it was en-.:the Administration, was. a.l- the pro-Bosch rebellion. mandatory for the Johnson Art- Section:: EDITORIALS LETTERS TO THE EDITOR SUNDAY,. MAY 2; 1965. E THE WEEK IN REVIEW f.S. STEPS IN \ \ FACTORS !N CARIBBEAN UNREST icfdfprship 30MINICAN •REPUBLIC MARINES: A .helicopter crew evacuates a group of American citizens from the Dominican Republic. pt- awaiting1 evacuation. Estimates of the number of Dominicans killed in the week of fighting ranged between 1,000 and 2,000. 30- of The international aspects of the ich crisis widened as the Soviet Union led called for an emergency meeting iks of the U.N. Security Council to rib- examine the question of "armed air intervention" by the United States. of Moscow said .the U.S. had com- ee- mitted "aggression ..