There are few optimists in the Dominican Republic; many Dominicans have resigned themselves to the grim prospect of never seeing real peace in their lifetime. Last week, despite all the diplomatic maneuvering and the best intentions of Interim President Héctor Garcia-Godoy, the visceral hatred between rebel left and loyalist right exploded in yet another ugly little fire fight and a series of riots and demonstrations that left 34 dead, scores wounded. Once again, only the forceful intervention of OAS troops kept the tiny war-scarred country from renewed civil war.
The fuse that detonated the fight was a memorial service for Colonel Rafael Tomás Fernández Domínguez, a rebel killed last May during an abortive raid on the National Palace. Attending the service in the inland city of Santiago, 120 miles northwest of Santo Domingo, were Rebel Commander Francisco Caamaño Deño and 90 members of the rebel elite, all armed to the teeth. Caamaño had been warned about going by President García-Godoy, had been told that the loyalists would consider the trip a provocation. He insisted, took off in a convoy of 31 cars. In Santiago, the group swaggered around town, waving their guns, disarming cops and bullying civilians. After the memorial service, they went on to breakfast at Santiago’s Hotel Matum, a small two-story hilltop hideaway three miles from the loyalist-occupied Santiago air base.
Call for Paratroopers. What happened next? The rebels claim that 350 air force and army troops surrounded the hotel and began blasting away. The military insists that the rebels opened up first at a Jeep patrol. Either way, the soldiers were soon spraying the building with .50-cal. machine guns, then pounding it with 75-mm. shells from three tanks that rumbled over from the base. In the hotel, civilian bystanders cowered in hallways and closets, while rebel snipers in the top stories methodically cut down advancing air force troops.
Caamaño himself grabbed a telephone and called for help from President García-Godoy in Santo Domingo. Within minutes, 133 U.S. paratroopers from the 82nd Airborne were on their way by helicopter and plane to Santiago. By the time they snuffed out the battle, the hotel was a shambles, and 23 loyalist Dominican troops and five rebels were dead, including Colonel Juan Maria Lora Fernández, 40, a U.S.-trained officer who was Caamaño’s chief of staff during the April revolt.
Winners: the Extremists. In Santo Domingo, rumors flew that the entire rebel leadership had been ambushed and massacred. Pro-rebel mobs took to the streets, slinging rocks, throwing up street barricades, and setting cars and trucks ablaze. On his return to the capital, Caamaño called for calm “so that no one may justify acts of aggression.” Sporadic violence continued throughout the week.
The only ones to benefit from the episode were the extremists on both sides. A resurgence of violence makes it more difficult for loyalist military leaders to contain their bitter hatreds, and last week some officers were talking angrily about deposing President García-Godoy in the interests of restoring “order.”
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