Joy in Santo Domingo

A new President, with a little help from Carter

The popular mood in Santo Domingo was unmistakably jubilant. Thousands of cheering citizens waved white flags in honor of the victorious Dominican Revolutionary Party (P.R.D.). They thronged the streets, tooting auto horns and shouting political slogans: "Ya ya Balaguer se va. ?Que felicidad!" (Balaguer is going. What happiness!). After twelve years in office, the defeated Joaquin Balaguer, now 70 and nearly blind, was departing in favor of Politician-Farmer Antonio Guzman, 67, a Social Democrat. It was the first time in this century that a freely elected President of the Dominican Republic had succeeded another such freely elected President--and it had almost not happened at all.

Until last week, no one had been certain that Strongman Balaguer and his loyal generals would actually leave. In May, when it became clear that Balaguer's right-wing Reformist Party was losing the election badly, the generals had ordered a halt to the vote counting. Immediately there was heavy pressure, both from within the country and from Washington. Jimmy Carter sent word that if Balaguer attempted a coup d'etat, the U.S. would order sanctions against the illegal regime. Balaguer's supporters resented the interference, but they got the message.

Last week the U.S. President made sure that they remembered it. He sent a 27-member delegation to Guzman's inauguration. Heading the group were Secretary of State Cyrus Vance and U.N. Ambassador Andrew Young. But the most important symbolic presence was that of Lieut. General Dennis McAuliffe, Commander in Chief of the U.S. Southern Command based in the Panama Canal Zone. He was dispatched to Santo Domingo as a reminder to the Dominican generals, who have little love for Guzman, that the U.S. supported his election and expected them to do the same.

U.S. policy has changed considerably since 1965, when Lyndon Johnson sent 21,000 troops to prevent the island nation from becoming "another Cuba." At that time the U.S. feared a Communist takeover and thought a victory by the P.R.D. and its leader, Juan Bosch, might lead to that end. Vance, then Deputy Secretary of Defense, was one of several U.S. officials who suggested in vain that Antonio Guzman be installed as interim President in an effort to bring an end to the civil war that was then raging. When elections were finally held in 1966, Balaguer defeated Bosch and the P.R.D.

A longtime protege of late Dictator Rafael Trujillo, Balaguer was both a brilliant and ruthless politician. He kept his country at peace for twelve years. He launched a huge building program and virtually invented Dominican tourism, now a $90 million industry. But he permitted blatant corruption, and in recent years he allowed the economy, already suffering from a sharp drop in sugar prices, to falter. Of the country's 1.4 million workers, 20% are unemployed.

At last week's ceremonies, President Guzman briefly paid tribute to his predecessor for agreeing, in the end, to allow a peaceful transition. But he attacked the outgoing regime for its "moral decay." He promised to bring new blood into the government--and proceeded to do it on the spot. Sworn in immediately were three able and fairly young technocrats who will direct the country's battered economy: Harvard-educated Economist Manuel Jose Cabral, 41, as Finance Minister; Eduardo Fernandez Pichardo, 41, former president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Santo Domingo, as head of the Central Bank; and Ramon Baez Romano, 49, a onetime Gulf & Western executive, as Industry and Commerce Secretary. Those appointments indicated that Guzman is determined to improve his nation's economy. He was intent on improving the military as well. After the inauguration, the new President kept Vance and Young waiting while he purged the top level of the armed forces. Ousting most of the Balaguer partisans, Guzman swore in a new set of military chiefs, none of whom had been advised in advance of the change.

The country seemed relieved that the inauguration had taken place without violence. "Now back to work," remarked Banco Popular Dominicano President Alejandro Grullon. "The country has been paralyzed for the past three months." But Balaguer did not exactly retire without managing a few flicks of petty malice. His electoral commission arbitrarily awarded four Senate seats that had been won by Guzman's party to the opposition, thereby giving Balaguer's Reformists a majority in the Senate. In perhaps the meanest stroke, Balaguer's sanitation workers suspended trash pickups during inauguration week, forcing Guzman supporters to work overtime to clean up the city in time for the ceremonies.

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