Antonio Guzmán Fernández
Encyclopedia
- For other people named Antonio Guzmán, see Antonio GuzmánAntonio GuzmánAntonio Guzmán may refer to:*Antonio Guzmán Fernández, former president of the Dominican Republic*Antonio Guzmán Blanco, president of Venezuela*Antonio Guzmán Núñez, Spanish footballer...
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Silvestre Antonio Guzmán Fernández (February 12, 1911 – July 4, 1982) was a Dominican
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...
businessman and a politician. He was the 46th President of 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...
, from 1978 to 1982.
Early life
Antonio Guzmán was born in the town of La VegaLa Vega
La Vega is a province of the Dominican Republic. Until 1992 it included what is now Monseñor Nouel province.-Municipalities and municipal districts:...
. He studied in the primary and secondary schools of La Vega.
He worked in the fruit
Fruit
In broad terms, a fruit is a structure of a plant that contains its seeds.The term has different meanings dependent on context. In non-technical usage, such as food preparation, fruit normally means the fleshy seed-associated structures of certain plants that are sweet and edible in the raw state,...
exportation business and soon became a wealthy rancher as well.
An early member of Juan Bosch
Juan Bosch
Juan Emilio Bosch Gaviño was a politician, historian, short story writer, essayist, educator, and the first cleanly elected president of the Dominican Republic for a brief time in 1963. Previously, he had been the leader of the Dominican opposition in exile to the dictatorial regime of Rafael...
's Dominican Revolutionary Party
Dominican Revolutionary Party
The Dominican Revolutionary Party is one of the main political parties of the Dominican Republic. It has a moderate centrist position, social democratic in name. The party's distinctive color is white....
, he served as secretary of agriculture in Bosch's brief 1963 administration. In May 1966 he was the vice-presidential candidate for the PRD, with Bosch as the candidate for president. The elections were won, however, by Joaquín Balaguer
Joaquín Balaguer
Joaquín Antonio Balaguer Ricardo was the President of the Dominican Republic from 1960 to 1962, from 1966 to 1978, and again from 1986 to 1996.-Early life and introduction to politics:...
.
He ran for president in 1974 as the candidate of a united opposition ticket. However, he pulled out after Balaguer changed the rules in a way that the opposition felt was unfair.
Presidency
Guzmán ran for president again in 1978 as the PRD candidate, with Jacobo MajlutaJacobo Majluta Azar
Jacobo Majluta Azar was born in Santo Domingo, on 9 October 1934 and died on 2 March 1996. A politician from Dominican Republic of Lebanese descent, he was vice president in the government of President Antonio Guzmán and became president, for 43 days, with the suicide of President Guzmán.He joined...
as his running mate. When election returns showed an unmistakable trend in Guzmán's favor, the military stopped the count. However, amid vigorous protests at home and strong pressure abroad, the count resumed. When the returns were all in, Guzmán handed Balaguer the first loss of his electoral career. When Balaguer left office that year, it marked the first time in the Dominican Republic's history that an incumbent president peacefully surrendered power to an elected member of the opposition.
Guzmán's political plan was to move slowly to reform the social and economic aspects of the Dominican Republic, while he tried to have direct contact with the armed forces because of their threat concerning pressure in the political field. To directly attack the last problem, he implemented a program that reassigned or even removed officers who were skeptical of his plans and also promoted younger officers who stood behind Guzmán. This new program also called for an institution for more formal training for officers and personnel that enlisted in the armed forces. This program proved to be a great success, and it was a major part of the legacy Guzmán left behind.
Politically though, there was not a lot Guzmán could do because he was restrained to some extent since the majority of Congress consisted of Balaguer's Reformist Party—which gave them benefits when it came to vetoing the different reforms Guzmán wished to launch. Since Guzmán was a wealthy cattle rancher—he knew how to implement well-mapped economic policies. He also helped make the nation’s public transportation system better and increased minimum wage. But even though Guzmán made many reforms that were beneficial to the country, he was still criticized for not responding to the economic decline. One big event that made the criticism even stronger was Hurricane David
Hurricane David
Hurricane David was the fourth named tropical cyclone, second hurricane, and first major hurricane of the 1979 Atlantic hurricane season. A Category 5 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale, David was among the deadliest hurricanes in the latter half of the 20th century, killing...
that hit in 1979, which slowed the economy even more.
End of Presidency
Guzmán is believed to have committed suicideSuicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...
by a gunshot to the head on July 4, 1982, while still in his office in the Palacio Nacional. Vice president Jacobo Majluta
Jacobo Majluta Azar
Jacobo Majluta Azar was born in Santo Domingo, on 9 October 1934 and died on 2 March 1996. A politician from Dominican Republic of Lebanese descent, he was vice president in the government of President Antonio Guzmán and became president, for 43 days, with the suicide of President Guzmán.He joined...
became acting president and ruled for the remaining 43 days of the four year term.
Basically, Guzmán’s administration symbolized a bridge that crossed over from Trujillo’s dictatorship and Balaguer's heavy hand to a more liberal style of government.