In May 1961, various enemies of the Dominican dictator, Rafael Trujillo, succeeded in assassinating him. With two miraculous exceptions, all of the conspirators were exterminated. There were other spectacular, if shadowy, related aspects: the peripheral involvement of the CIA, and motivations deriving in some cases from the famous Galíndez kidnapping case five years earlier. In describing these confusing and bloody events and their interrelationships, the Diederich volume succeeds on one level and disappoints on another.
The author has done well with the conspiracy and assassination; his extensive account, certainly the best available, appears to be accurate and complete. But the larger background elements, including the Galíndez case and the history of the era of Trujillo, have been inadequately researched and presented. Like other recitals of the Galíndez melodrama, this one contains numerous errors. I am reliably informed that there is no basis in the extensive official investigative reports for the lurid stories Diederich repeats concerning the killing of Galíndez. Trujillo receives here a sensationalized and one-dimensional portrayal that falls little short of caricature. The United States did not help him to power in 1930 or forge his political support system as alleged; Juan Bosch in 1963 was not the first freely elected Dominican president in this century.
The book is journalistic in tone, and deficient in grammar, bearing evidence of hasty composition and inadequate editing. The story line, curiously, has often been composed in reverse.
Finally, it is not a thoughtful study, despite the many fascinating questions and ironies that arise. How did so much bravery happen to coexist with elementary incompetence and absurd folly? Should the death of Trujillo have sufficed without any attempt at a simultaneous coup? Did the conspirators consider such a course? What led these experienced Dominicans to the fatal delusion that the country would rise as one man once the dictator was known to be dead? Why would men with their lives at stake trust the entire venture to so frail a reed as the indecisive Román Fernández, the husband of Trujillo’s niece, whose military rank and influence were more facade than reality? The text occasionally hints at such issues, but fails to pursue them. Their consideration would have added depth and resonance to the tale.
