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THE HEROIC DEFIANCE OF THE DOMINIGANS
By Joseph Hansen
MAY 19 -~ The revolutionary fighters of Santo Domingo ere rae writing one of the most heroic chapters in the long blood-stained history of Latin-American resistance to U.S. imperialism. .
For five days the humbie people in the poorest sectors of Santo Domingo have fought with matchless courage as the professional killers under General Antonio Imbert Barreras and General Elias Wessin y Wessin have carried out a “mopping up" operation under the protection of American tanks and with the active assistance of American General Palmer.
The revolutionists, who call themselves "Constitutionalists," are suffering from hunger, from lack of medical care for their wounded, from shortage of weapons and ammunition. They lack an adequate leadership and are saddlied-with one that is only too willing to, compromise, to procrastinate, to dampen the struggle and to ekose iis eyes to-the- sinister moves of the Washington butehers. They face merciless counterrevolutionaries who do not hesitate to strafe their own people indiscriminately from the air. They face 30,000 foreign troops occupying their country and the colossal military power of the United States itself, armed to the teéth with the mest Stendish-instruments of mass murder, And yet they have fought on without respite for the past five days against an attempt to drown their resistance in blood.
Through their heroism, their stubborn refusal to be intimidated by the arrogant foreign-aggressor, these humble people, who only want food and a little democracy, have nailed Johnson to the pillory before the eyes of the entire world,
Even if they are crushed by the overwhelming odds assembled against them by the imperialist invader, they have set an example that will inspire all of Latin America and perhaps spark a renewal on a continental scale of the revolutionary upsurge that led to the first great socialist victory in Cuba,
By holding out as long as they have, the revolutionary fighters of Santo Domingo have thrown the Johnson administration into an acute crisis over Latin-American policy. The master-piotter—in the White House thought he could settle the business in Santo Domingo merely by ordering out the Marines. He knew he could not simply repeat what Theodore Roosevelt did with his "Big Stick." In the world of 1965 it would require a "Great Stick" in fitting proportion to the "Great Society." Johnson ordered out 30,000 troops for the invasion and occupation -- surely more than ten times enough to "pacify" the turbulence in a day or two. The success of the opera-
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tion would be justification enough, no matter what its criminality. The cries of outrage would die down quickly, the world would soon forget as attention was diverted elsewhere, and if consciences remained uneasy in sensitive areas the soothing salve of the American dollar would fix this,
It didn't work out as plotted in the White House. The reasen is clear. What had occurred in the Dominican Republic was not a coup dt état involving a few military adventurers. A genuine revolution had begun and masses of people, inspired by great aims, were in motion, prepared to die to end the intolerable dictatorship of the Trujillo clique. An-aroused people in-arms is a potent forcey,,.as the..example of this. tiny speck-in- the Caribbean is proving once. agein. Let- American imperialism Look at:Santo Domingo and tremblet
At the moment the American game seems shot through with con tradictions., -Some:of the shrewdest observers are wondering. With the demand for the resignation first of General Wessin y Wessin and then the resignation of General Imbert, has. Johnson suddenly switched his line? Has he decided to support a government headed by Antonio Guzman, a close friend of Juan Bosch? Is that why he sent a top team of advisers -- McGeorge Bundy, Cyrus R. Vance, Thomas C. Mann, and Jack. Hood Vaughn -- to Santo Domingo. May 15 for secret conferences with the State Department and Pentagon representatives on the scene? But if Johnson is suddenly "reversing the gears" as the New York Times puts it, why is General Palmer still placing the troops under his command at the service of the counterrevolutionaries?
The Paris daily Le Monde speculated editorially: today, "Are the White House and the State Department really in command over the military?" Le Monde'ts correspondent Marcel Niedergang, whose eyewitness :aecounts of the-events are of:top quality, notes “unmistakable differences between the civilians of the embassy and the military men in command of the American troops in the intervention." The analogy here is with the "ultras" in the French army command who refused to heed the civilian authorities when a retreat was sounded in Algeria and who even organized open defiance in their frenetic desire to continue the war against the Algerians.
This sounds premature ‘for the American officer - caste. The more likely explanation is simpler.
Because of the incapacity of the counterrevolutionaries to put down the beginning revolution swiftly, ‘the White -House scheme could not be put through on schedule, The puppet forces were altogether too weak and too demoralized by their defeat.
By their resistance, the Dominican people gained invaluable time. They also demonstrated that. an operation. utilizing American troops with massive equipment would have signified a blood bath of fearful proportions.
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Still worse, hundreds of millions of people throughout the world, including the American voters, now had their eyes on the island. It was no longer possible to carry out a swift crime in relative obscurity. The mass murder would have to be carried out in broad daylight, with the biggest audience of all time watching every move,
As protest demonstrations began breaking out over all of -Latin America and elsewhere in the world ge» Johnson had Litthe choice -but to assume the posture of "neutrality." Thus the "cease~fire, the "attempted negotiations," the theatrical moves to find a now government acceptable to both sides,” the going and coming of diplomats connected with the Organization of American States, the United Nations, the Catholic hierarchy, and the final agreement by the State Department, the White House, the Dominican businessmen and beurgeoiste -- and Caamano -= on a government headed by Guzman, an agreement, however, which the counterrevolutionaries rejected.
While these diversionary political and diplomatic moves were being carried out, another sequence on a different level was occurring.
‘The "povernment™ of General ‘Imbert was proclaimed May 7. "The belief in Santo Domingo," says. The Economist [May 15], ig that, before he took over, General Imbert had gone through several days’ of political briefing on the American aircraft carrier Boxer."
The belief seems. to be well founded. Like General Wessin y Wessin, he pays little attention to the lying press releases issued by the State Department, including those about his "resignation." His troops pay just as little attention. One reason is that the State Department gave them $750,000 to play around with, and that's. the language that has real meaning in-these eipeles-,
The American troops under General Palmer set-up an “interna~ tional" lime that in fact split the areas held by the Constitutionalists into two zones. When people cross this line, they are forced through check points. They are questioned in the presence of military representatives of the counterrevolutionary Imbert. Thus they cannot cross carrying their arms. If they are "suspected" they are arrested.. If they have bruises on their shoulders that might come from the recoil of a gun they are arrested.
The counterrevolutionary troops were rearmed and reorganized by the Americans after they were defeated by the armed civilians. Then they were “unleashed” for the present "mopping up" operation.
_ In their current attempt to take the-.sectors held by the armed people, American helicopters havé brought supplies and arms for the counterrevolutionaries as they advanced, The helicopters likewise radio the positions of targets to the count errevolutionaries. \
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All this has been reported by. correspondents on the scene. Photographs have been published showing the counterrevolutionaries fighting shoulder to shoulder with American troops. The universal testimomy is that the State Department is Tying | when it says that the Americans are "neutral,"
The plan is. evidentty to crush ‘the so-called "repels" by . armed force, to accomplish this through the services of the counterrevolutionary generals and their troops under the shield of - ‘the American occupation forces while claiming:' ‘neutrality.'
In the process some diplomatic formula will be reached to cover up the operation and perhaps even the most compromised counterrevolutionary generals will be sacrificed. ‘perhaps some concessions in the shape of figureheads in a "eoalition" government will be granted to the Bosch forces. But the real aim ~-- to suppress the Dominican people by military force -- this Johnson intends to carry through. os -
Describing the "magnificent resistance of the popular militia of Colonel: Caamano," Marcel Niedergang kes reported some dramatic scenes. The troops following "prudently behind the tanks" as they advance into the very poor and very heavily populated areas of the © city “are constantly caught in the violent fire of the civilian com-« mandos, Boys fifteen years old are firing away at the side of the | workers." The casualties are very heavy on both sides, moun ting into the hundreds,
A truce requested by the Red Gross May 17 in order to take away the dead and wounded was refused by General Imbert because of the “satisfactory progress of his troops.' ,
In the "smoking ruins" of the areas under attack, “the energy of despair” has been displayed by the people and they have managed to drive back the counterrevolutionaries several times. It is a "pitiless and bloody struggle, proceeding street by street, house by House," As the tanks proceed, they push over the houses in their... path, thus driving out the defendants. "The counterrevolutionary forces, with considerable material superiority, are able to get reinforcements and in addition have logistic support from the Americans, The popular militia display great courage and complete disdain of death.
“And everywhere, likewise louder and louder, a single cry. stands out over all the others, It is the cry, shouted by men, women and children. '‘Hambre, Hambre! No-.somos comunistas! Tenemos ~ hambre | [Hunger , hunger! We are not.Communists. We are hungry} ]"
In his Latest dispatch, Niedergang quotes the appeal made by Gaamano over the radio May 18: an “appeal for help" to “all the nations in the world." poe
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"JOHNSON ASSASSIN!" SHOUT 20,000 IN MEXICO crry
Mexico City~saw- its biggest.demonstration in years whem 20,000 demonstrators, mostly students accompanied by faculties and secondary=school teachers, poured through the center of the city in a bitter protest against the U.S. occupation of Santo Domingo and U.S. aggression in Vietnam, 1.
They ended their march with a rally in front of the Juarez monument in Alameda Park where they burned a ten-foot effigy of Uncle: Sam and a large American flag.
The American embassy was protected by hundreds of police throughout the demonstration and during the night. As an extra-precaution, in view of the recent bombing of -the American consulate in~ Montreal, the building was emptied at 5:50 p.m., an early hour in... Mexico City. i — .
The government granted a permit for the march on condition that the demonstrators stay away from the area of the American embassy. The condition was observed by the leaders and they headed off several surges among parts of the huge throng toward the forbidden area where steel-helmeted police stood four deep on the embassy lawn, backed by two fire trucks and busloads of reinforcements ‘armed with rifles and tear-gas guns. :
"Tf we were to take our people to the embassy, we would be taking them to suicide," one student leader said.
The march was very well organized. Along a 35-block route into the heart of the downtown area, contingents poured in at preselected points, massing in Avertds-duarez at the climax.
At the head of the parade a single man marched carrying a Dominican flag. Sampke slogans among the sea of placards and ban= ners following him read: "Johnson: History Will Call You Assassint" “Today, Vietnam and Santo Domingo, Tomorrow Mexico!" "Yankees, Remember the Alamot" "Let Us Be Active Today, Not Radioactive Tomorrow!" The slogan, "Yankee, Go Home!" could be seen. everywhere. A huge banner carried but two eloquent words, "Yankee Murderers}"
The chief theme~-of-the march was: "Mexico, Get Out of the. O.A.S.i" But stress was also put on Vietnam..
It was.a boistereys, shouting march that began at six p.m. and lasted all evening to the light of burning torches. One of the~« chants called the Organization of American States, "The Ministry of Colonies.
A verse, well known in Latin America, brought- in the Cuban note: "Fidel, Fidel, Qué Tiene Fidel, Que Los Americanos No Pueden
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Con El?" (["Fidel, Fidel, What Has He Got, that the Ariericans Can't Cope with Him?"] The. students varied this by changing the sybjectts name from Fidel to "Caamano," the. leader of the Dominican Consbitu— tionalists who- are seeking. to and. the Trujillo dynasty once and-for all. ‘
Occasionally there was a massed shout of "parodént"” ‘this. e's | . the ery of the Cuban people when they caught the butchers of. the ~~ Batista regime and demanded that they be stood up to the wall before -a firing squad,
A contingent of Mexico's Communist Youth organization carried a tall banner with the face of Lincoln painted on it and draped in black crepe. The legend read: “Lincoln Is Dead, Johnson Killed Him in the Dominican Republic." . —
\ “The crowd was so huge and noisy that the voices of the. speakers could scarcely be heard beyond the front ranks even with the © ,help of bullhorns. Every phrase of their savage denunciations of American imperialism nevertheless drew immense applause, The students improvised by hooking up the battery of an automobile. The speakers were still drowned out. The crowd was more interested in voicing its own disapproval of the U.S. invasion of the Dominican Republic and bombing of Vietnam than in listening to speakers who they knew -. would only echo their own sentiments. Finally a battery of loudspeakers was wheeled in and the main speakers roasted U.S. imperial- ' ist policy.
The last speaker was José Natividad Rosales, one of the lead-~ - ing writers of the left-wing magazine Siempre. He called the U. S. ~- "a second Rome" and the Mexican people “its vassals,
It was his job to bring the demonstration to a close, He had some trouble in this, for although the crowd declined in size as night drew on, the enthusiasm rose if anything. Twice the speaker called for the singing of the Mexican National Anthem and. twice the crowd drowned him out with bellowing "Noes." Rosales went on speaking rather frantically for a time and then tried again. Bo At- last the crowd acquiesced and the chorus of the song swelled UR over the flickering torches carried by the demonstrators.
. “American tourists who witnessed the demonstration were deeply. impressed, .
A Mr.R.H.Sawyer from San Francisco told an American reporter, "But this whole Dominican affair looks more serious than we thought it was."
A Miss Caroline Stacy from New York said, “Wetve never seen anything like this before."
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The march was also something for the White House to consider. In recent years,