Amado Garcia Guerrero
Encyclopedia
Amado García Guerrero (June 2, 1931 – June 2, 1961) was one of the conspirators against, and killers of, Dominican Dictator Rafael Leonidas Trujillo Molina
.
He was a soldier in the Dominican Republic
. A member of the Military Aides-de-Camp
of Rafael Leonidas Trujillo, he was the person who informed the other conspirators that Trujillo would later leave that night for San Cristóbal
. He also was one of the assassins in the ambush on the highway. The story of the revolutionaries and their personal motivations for participating in the assassination of Trujillo, serves to writers as Mario Vargas Llosa
, as an excellent example of the experiences with atrocities of the general population suffered during the Trujillo's regime.
The reasons for Amado García's actions against Trujillo were:
As is described by Vargas Llosa in La Fiesta del Chivo
Amado García Guerrero was a soldier who, due to a capricious test of his loyalty, executed a man with the bandaged eyes. Soon, he was told that the man he just executed was the brother of his ex-fiancée. Later, Salvador Sadhalá tried to console him by saying, “It's a lie, Amadito... It could be any other [man]. He deceived you... Forget about what was said to you. Forget about what you did."
According to Bernard Diederich, the reason for Trujillo's refusal of García's marriage request was that his fiancé's brother had looked for asylum
in a foreign embassy in the capital. Later, Amadito received the order to shoot (some say to merely watch the execution of) a victim seated in the jail of the SIM. García followed orders, hoping that it would save himself and the man further torture
. Later, García recounted his troubles to Estrella Sadhalá and swore to assassinate Trujillo (Diederich 74).
Following this oath, Amado, youngest of the conspirators, joined his new comrades in a plan to kill Trujillo.
On May 30, 1961, the men regrouped and awaited Trujillo on the side of a highway, where they knew from inside intelligence that the dictator would be passing by on his way to visit a girl (Trujillo was famous for his extramarital affairs).
The men were:
Modesto Díaz Quezada
Luis Manuel Cáceres Michel
Juan Tomás Diaz
Manuel de Ovín Filpo (Spaniard immigrant and agronomist technician)
Salvador Estrella Sadhalá (a.k.a. "El Turco")
Huáscar Antonio Tejeda Pimentel
Luis Amiama Tió
Antonio Imbert Barrera
Antonio de la Maza
Roberto Pastoriza Neret
Pedro Livio Cedeño Herrera
and of course Amado García Guerrero.
There, on San Cristóbal Highway in Santo Domingo, the men ambushed Trujillo's car and successfully assassinated the dictator of over 30 years.
On June 2, agents of the Military Intelligence Service (SIM; the secret police) entered house #59 of Avenue San Martín, (a residence owned by García's relatives) and found Lieutenant Amado García Guerrero in hiding, where he was discovered by a female supporter from Trujillo. After bravely responding to the attacks of the SIM agents, García finally was mortally wounded and died at the age of 30.
Rafael Leónidas Trujillo
Rafael Leónidas Trujillo Molina , nicknamed El Jefe , ruled the Dominican Republic from 1930 until his assassination in 1961. He officially served as president from 1930 to 1938 and again from 1942 to 1952, otherwise ruling as an unelected military strongman...
.
He was a soldier in the Dominican Republic
Dominican Republic
The Dominican Republic is a nation on the island of La Hispaniola, part of the Greater Antilles archipelago in the Caribbean region. The western third of the island is occupied by the nation of Haiti, making Hispaniola one of two Caribbean islands that are shared by two countries...
. A member of the Military Aides-de-Camp
Aide-de-camp
An aide-de-camp is a personal assistant, secretary, or adjutant to a person of high rank, usually a senior military officer or a head of state...
of Rafael Leonidas Trujillo, he was the person who informed the other conspirators that Trujillo would later leave that night for San Cristóbal
San Cristóbal, Dominican Republic
San Cristóbal is a municipality and the capital of the San Cristóbal province in the Dominican Republic. Within the municipality there is one municipal district : Hato Damas.-Sectors:*5 de abril*Canastica*El Pomier...
. He also was one of the assassins in the ambush on the highway. The story of the revolutionaries and their personal motivations for participating in the assassination of Trujillo, serves to writers as Mario Vargas Llosa
Mario Vargas Llosa
Jorge Mario Pedro Vargas Llosa, 1st Marquis of Vargas Llosa is a Peruvian-Spanish writer, politician, journalist, essayist, and Nobel Prize laureate. Vargas Llosa is one of Latin America's most significant novelists and essayists, and one of the leading authors of his generation...
, as an excellent example of the experiences with atrocities of the general population suffered during the Trujillo's regime.
The reasons for Amado García's actions against Trujillo were:
- Trujillo officially denied García permission to marry the girl he loved, Luisa, because she happened to be sister of René Gil a “ dangerous communist rebel” (who really just happened to search for refuge in a foreign embassy in Santo Domingo).
- Military police forced García to kill a young prisoner, who he later discovered was the brother of his fiancée.
As is described by Vargas Llosa in La Fiesta del Chivo
The Feast of the Goat
The Feast of the Goat is a novel by the Peruvian Nobel Prize in Literature laureate Mario Vargas Llosa. The book is set in the Dominican Republic and portrays the assassination of Dominican dictator Rafael Leónidas Trujillo, and its aftermath, from two distinct standpoints a generation apart:...
Amado García Guerrero was a soldier who, due to a capricious test of his loyalty, executed a man with the bandaged eyes. Soon, he was told that the man he just executed was the brother of his ex-fiancée. Later, Salvador Sadhalá tried to console him by saying, “It's a lie, Amadito... It could be any other [man]. He deceived you... Forget about what was said to you. Forget about what you did."
According to Bernard Diederich, the reason for Trujillo's refusal of García's marriage request was that his fiancé's brother had looked for asylum
Right of asylum
Right of asylum is an ancient juridical notion, under which a person persecuted for political opinions or religious beliefs in his or her own country may be protected by another sovereign authority, a foreign country, or church sanctuaries...
in a foreign embassy in the capital. Later, Amadito received the order to shoot (some say to merely watch the execution of) a victim seated in the jail of the SIM. García followed orders, hoping that it would save himself and the man further torture
Torture
Torture is the act of inflicting severe pain as a means of punishment, revenge, forcing information or a confession, or simply as an act of cruelty. Throughout history, torture has often been used as a method of political re-education, interrogation, punishment, and coercion...
. Later, García recounted his troubles to Estrella Sadhalá and swore to assassinate Trujillo (Diederich 74).
Following this oath, Amado, youngest of the conspirators, joined his new comrades in a plan to kill Trujillo.
On May 30, 1961, the men regrouped and awaited Trujillo on the side of a highway, where they knew from inside intelligence that the dictator would be passing by on his way to visit a girl (Trujillo was famous for his extramarital affairs).
The men were:
Modesto Díaz Quezada
Luis Manuel Cáceres Michel
Juan Tomás Diaz
Manuel de Ovín Filpo (Spaniard immigrant and agronomist technician)
Salvador Estrella Sadhalá (a.k.a. "El Turco")
Huáscar Antonio Tejeda Pimentel
Luis Amiama Tió
Antonio Imbert Barrera
Antonio de la Maza
Roberto Pastoriza Neret
Pedro Livio Cedeño Herrera
and of course Amado García Guerrero.
There, on San Cristóbal Highway in Santo Domingo, the men ambushed Trujillo's car and successfully assassinated the dictator of over 30 years.
On June 2, agents of the Military Intelligence Service (SIM; the secret police) entered house #59 of Avenue San Martín, (a residence owned by García's relatives) and found Lieutenant Amado García Guerrero in hiding, where he was discovered by a female supporter from Trujillo. After bravely responding to the attacks of the SIM agents, García finally was mortally wounded and died at the age of 30.