Dominican Republic: Trouble for Bosch

Loftily declaiming that “my party calls me,” exiled President Juan Bosch returned to Santo Domingo from Puerto Rico two months ago to start what looked like a presidential campaign—though he insisted that he would not be a candidate. He claimed he would “channel the capacity of the people,” and huddled with old political cronies. At one huge rally organized by his Dominican Revolutionary Party (P.R.D.) he demanded the withdrawal of OAS peace-keeping troops, even said the U.S. should pay $1 billion “indemnity” for its part in the OAS intervention.* For all the nationalistic talk, many Dominicans regard Bosch’s belated reappearance—after more than 3,000 had died following the April coup in his name—as something less than a hero’s return. Now, with presidential elections set for next June 1, Noncandidate Bosch is fighting a battle within his own party.

At a closed-door session in Santo Domingo last week, Bosch’s P.R.D. hierarchy expelled its No. 2 man, Angel Miolán, 50, party co-founder and the grass-roots organizer who helped make it the country’s most important political organization. Trouble between Bosch and Miolán dates back to 1962. Shortly after he was inaugurated President, Bosch began ignoring Miolán and started undercutting the party organization in favor of playing messiah to everyone, including the extreme left. When Bosch was ousted by the Dominican army in 1963 and both men took asylum in Puerto Rico, the split grew wider. After the April civil war erupted, Miolán publicly called for intervention to “prevent the genocide of the defenseless population of our capital,” and later he launched an anti-Bosch whisper campaign throughout the country.

At their Santo Domingo meeting, the P.R.D. faithful charged that Miolán had falsely accused Bosch of collaborating with Communists to trigger the revolt. Though Miolán was not present to defend himself, they summarily read him out of the ranks. Having him go quietly may not be that simple. Said Miolán: “The P.R.D. is my home. I will go on defending its right to fight, through the vote, to establish a state of law in our country.”

*Conveniently ignoring the fact that the U.S. has pumped in $64 million to keep the country’s economy alive since the rebellion eight months ago, and last week was planning to contribute up to $50 million more to help it through next year.