The Latest Excuse

The last time the Dominican Republic's right-wing army and leftist rebels tried to exterminate each other, President Hector Garcia-Godoy managed to stop them only by ordering the leaders of both sides to accept diplomatic assignments abroad. That was only a month ago, but last week they were at it again. The latest excuse was that Armed Forces Chief Francisco Rivera Caminero, who was to have been shipped off to Washington, simply refused to go. His transfer, the nation's top officers warned Godoy, would impair national security.

That brought a mob of students to the presidential palace. Police panicked, fired into the mob, killing three and wounding 32. Next, angry knots of leftists stormed through the streets, looking for cops. They found three, one of whom was gunned down, another stripped naked and brained with a boulder. The third was soaked in gasoline and burned alive. When Caminero still refused to leave, the left called a general strike.

The walkout was supported by ex-President Juan Bosch and proved highly effective. Factories and sugar mills shut down, dock workers stomped off their jobs, and even Santo Domingo's airport had to be closed. With the nation headed toward full paralysis, Rivera Caminero finally took the hint. Turning control of the armed forces over to Colonel Enrique Perez y Perez, he sailed off to the U.S. aboard a Dominican Navy frigate.

That didn't satisfy the leftists, who this time were apparently determined to try to break the army's power completely. At week's end, the general strike was still on, and gunfire rattled through the streets of Santo Domingo.

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