Juan Bosch
Encyclopedia
Juan Emilio Bosch Gaviño (30 June 1909, La Vega
– 1 November 2001, Santo Domingo
) 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 Trujillo for over 25 years. To this day he is remembered as an honest politician and regarded as one of the most prominent writers in Dominican literature. He is the founder of both the Dominican Revolutionary Party
(PRD) in 1939 and the Dominican Liberation Party
(PLD) in 1973.
In 1934 he married Isabel García and had two children with her: Leon and Carolina. As Trujillo's dictatorship was getting stronger and meaner, Bosch was jailed for his political ideas, being released after several months. In 1938, knowing that the tyrant wanted to buy him with a position in the Congress, Bosch managed to leave the country, settling in Puerto Rico.
, something that defined his patriotic and humanist ideals. In July, with other Dominican expatriates, he founded the Partido Revolucionario Dominicano (PRD), which stood out as the most active front against Trujillo outside the Dominican Republic.He was the first president that was democratic.
Bosch heavily sympathised with leftist ideas, but he always denied any communist affiliation. He collaborated with the Cuban Revolutionary Party and had an important role in the making of the Constitution that was promulgated in 1940.
Bosch married for the second time, this time a Cuban lady, Carmen Quidiello, with whom he had two more children, Patricio and Barbara. At the same time, his literary career was ascending, gaining important acknowledgments like the Hernandez Catá Prize in Havana for short stories written by a Latin American author. His works had a deep social content, among them "La Noche Buena de Encarnación Mendoza", "Luis Pié", "The Masters" and "The Indian Manuel Sicuri", all of them described by critics as masterpieces of the sort.
Bosch was one of the main organizers of the 1949 military conspiracy that landed in Cayo Confites in the north coast of the Dominican Republic, to overthrow the dictatorship of Trujillo. However, the expedition failed, and Bosch fled to Venezuela, continuing his anti-Trujillo campaign. In Cuba, where he returned by requirement of his friends in the Authentic Revolutionary Party, he played a notorious part in the political life of Havana, being recognized as a promoter of social legislation and author of the speech pronounced by President Carlos Prío Socarrás
when the body of José Martí
was transferred to Santiago de Cuba
.
When Fulgencio Batista
led a coup d'etat
against Prío Socarrás and took over the presidency in 1952, Bosch was jailed by Batista's forces. After being liberated, he left Cuba and headed to Costa Rica, where he dedicated his time to pedagogical tasks, and to his activities as leader of the PRD.
In 1959 the Cuban Revolution took place, led by Fidel Castro
, causing a major political, economic and social upheaval in the Caribbean island. Bosch accurately perceived the process that had begun from those events, and wrote a letter to Trujillo, dated February 27, 1961. He told Trujillo that his political role, in historical terms, had concluded in the Dominican Republic.
presidential candidate, was a fresh change for the Dominicans. His manner of speaking, direct and simple, especially when addressing the lowest classes, appealed the farmers as much as the people from the cities. Immediately he was accused by the Church and by conservatives of being a communist, but in the electoral match of December 20, 1962, Bosch obtained a sweeping triumph over his main oppositor Viriato Fiallo of the National Civic Union, in what is acknowledged to be the first free election in the country's history.
On February 27, 1963, Juan Bosch and Armando González Tamayo took possession as the new President and Vice President of the Dominican Republic, in a ceremony that was attended by important democratic leaders and personalities, like Luis Muñoz
and José Figueres
.
Bosch immediately launched a deep restructuring of the country. On April 29, he promulgated a new liberal constitution. The new document granted the people freedoms they had never known. Among other things, it declared specific labour rights, and mentioned unions, pregnant women, homeless people, the family, rights for the child and the young, for the farmers, and for illegitimate children.
However, Bosch faced powerful enemies. He moved to break up latifundia
, drawing the ire of landowners. The Roman Catholic Church
thought Bosch was trying to oversecularize
the country. Industrialists did not like the new Constitution's guarantees for the working class
. The military, who previously enjoyed free rein, felt Bosch put them on too short a leash. In addition, the United States
was skeptical of even a hint of left-leaning politics in the Caribbean after Fidel Castro
openly declared himself a Communist.
. Bosch went back to exile in Puerto Rico
.
Less than two years later, growing dissatisfaction generated another military rebellion on April 24, 1965, that demanded Bosch's restoration. The insurgents, commanded by Colonel Francisco Caamaño
, removed the junta from power but on April 28, with United States assistance in the civil war dispatching 42,000 troops to the island.
An interim government was formed, and elections were fixed for July 1, 1966. Bosch returned to the country and ran as his party's presidential candidate. However, he ran a somewhat muted campaign, fearing for his safety and believing he'd be thrown out of office by the military again if he won. He was soundly defeated by Joaquín Balaguer
, who garnered 57% of the vote.
During the last half of the 1960s, Bosch remained a very prolific writer of essays, both political and historical. He published some of his most important works during this time: "Dominican Social Composition", "Brief History of the Oligarchy in Santo Domingo", "From Christopher Columbus to Fidel Castro", and numerous articles of different sorts.
By 1970, Bosch had the intention of reorganizing the PRD, and turning its members into active, studious militants of the historical and social reality of the country. His project was not accepted by most of the PRD, most of whose members were turning in a more mainstream social democratic direction. Also, given the military repression, and lack of political equality between the PRD and the official Reformist Party, Bosch abstained from the 1970 elections.
The differences and contradictions between Bosch and an important sector of the PRD, as well as the corruption that had started to grow within the party, made him leave the organization in 1973, and thus he founded the Dominican Liberation Party
(PLD) on December 15 of that same year.
Later he ran unsuccessfully for president as the PLD candidate in 1978, 1982, 1986, 1990, and 1994. He came closest to winning in 1990, but there were serious allegations of fraud against Balaguer.
After placing third in the 1994 election, Bosch retired from politics. He was already 83 years old and presumably suffering from Alzheimer's disease
. In 1996 he was practically carried to the consolidation of the "Patriotic Front", an alliance between the PLD and his lifelong opponent Balaguer, as part of the latter's plan to defeat the PRD in the next presidential election.
To this day, he is remembered as a man of principle
s. Over the years, as his luck rose and fell, his political direction oscillated wildly. He described himself as a "non-Communist" and a friend of Fidel Castro, and he told an interviewer in 1988 that he had never been Marxist.
His legacy in politics is more than relevant: his ideals, while mostly forgotten or betrayed by his followers, remain powerful values in public administration. Many believe the Dominican Republic would have flourished both economically and politically without foreign assistance (namely, the U.S.) had Bosch's government been able to fend off the Kennedy administration's overt and covert pressures, and to carry out all of his proposed reforms.
The contributions of Professor Bosch to literature through his narratives, novels, short stories and essays made him a role model for several generations of writers, journalists and historians. At one point, laureate
Gabriel García Márquez
once said that Bosch had been one of his greatest influences.
La Vega
La Vega is a province of the Dominican Republic. Until 1992 it included what is now Monseñor Nouel province.-Municipalities and municipal districts:...
– 1 November 2001, Santo Domingo
Santo Domingo
Santo Domingo, known officially as Santo Domingo de Guzmán, is the capital and largest city in the Dominican Republic. Its metropolitan population was 2,084,852 in 2003, and estimated at 3,294,385 in 2010. The city is located on the Caribbean Sea, at the mouth of the Ozama River...
) was a politician
Politician
A politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...
, historian
Historian
A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the study of all history in time. If the individual is...
, short story
Short story
A short story is a work of fiction that is usually written in prose, often in narrative format. This format tends to be more pointed than longer works of fiction, such as novellas and novels. Short story definitions based on length differ somewhat, even among professional writers, in part because...
writer, essayist, educator, and the first cleanly elected 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...
for a brief time in 1963. Previously, he had been the leader of the Dominican opposition in exile to the dictatorial regime of Rafael Trujillo for over 25 years. To this day he is remembered as an honest politician and regarded as one of the most prominent writers in Dominican literature. He is the founder of both the 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....
(PRD) in 1939 and the Dominican Liberation Party
Dominican Liberation Party
The Dominican Liberation Party is one of the main political parties of the Dominican Republic, and has a centrist position.The party has been elected into office thrice now with Leonel Fernández as President of the Dominican Republic in the 1996, 2004 and 2008 elections, though losing in 2000...
(PLD) in 1973.
In 1934 he married Isabel García and had two children with her: Leon and Carolina. As Trujillo's dictatorship was getting stronger and meaner, Bosch was jailed for his political ideas, being released after several months. In 1938, knowing that the tyrant wanted to buy him with a position in the Congress, Bosch managed to leave the country, settling in Puerto Rico.
A long exile
By 1939 Bosch had gone to Cuba, where he directed an edition of the completed works of Eugenio María de HostosEugenio María de Hostos
Eugenio María de Hostos known as "El Ciudadano de América" , was a Puerto Rican educator, philosopher, intellectual, lawyer, sociologist and independence advocate....
, something that defined his patriotic and humanist ideals. In July, with other Dominican expatriates, he founded the Partido Revolucionario Dominicano (PRD), which stood out as the most active front against Trujillo outside the Dominican Republic.He was the first president that was democratic.
Bosch heavily sympathised with leftist ideas, but he always denied any communist affiliation. He collaborated with the Cuban Revolutionary Party and had an important role in the making of the Constitution that was promulgated in 1940.
Bosch married for the second time, this time a Cuban lady, Carmen Quidiello, with whom he had two more children, Patricio and Barbara. At the same time, his literary career was ascending, gaining important acknowledgments like the Hernandez Catá Prize in Havana for short stories written by a Latin American author. His works had a deep social content, among them "La Noche Buena de Encarnación Mendoza", "Luis Pié", "The Masters" and "The Indian Manuel Sicuri", all of them described by critics as masterpieces of the sort.
Bosch was one of the main organizers of the 1949 military conspiracy that landed in Cayo Confites in the north coast of the Dominican Republic, to overthrow the dictatorship of Trujillo. However, the expedition failed, and Bosch fled to Venezuela, continuing his anti-Trujillo campaign. In Cuba, where he returned by requirement of his friends in the Authentic Revolutionary Party, he played a notorious part in the political life of Havana, being recognized as a promoter of social legislation and author of the speech pronounced by President Carlos Prío Socarrás
Carlos Prío Socarrás
Carlos Prío Socarrás was the President of Cuba from 1948 until he was deposed by a military coup led by Fulgencio Batista on March 10, 1952, three months before new elections were to be held.- Governance :...
when the body of José Martí
José Martí
José Julián Martí Pérez was a Cuban national hero and an important figure in Latin American literature. In his short life he was a poet, an essayist, a journalist, a revolutionary philosopher, a translator, a professor, a publisher, and a political theorist. He was also a part of the Cuban...
was transferred to Santiago de Cuba
Santiago de Cuba
Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city of Cuba and capital city of Santiago de Cuba Province in the south-eastern area of the island, some south-east of the Cuban capital of Havana....
.
When Fulgencio Batista
Fulgencio Batista
Fulgencio Batista y Zaldívar was the United States-aligned Cuban President, dictator and military leader who served as the leader of Cuba from 1933 to 1944 and from 1952 to 1959, before being overthrown as a result of the Cuban Revolution....
led a coup d'etat
Coup d'état
A coup d'état state, literally: strike/blow of state)—also known as a coup, putsch, and overthrow—is the sudden, extrajudicial deposition of a government, usually by a small group of the existing state establishment—typically the military—to replace the deposed government with another body; either...
against Prío Socarrás and took over the presidency in 1952, Bosch was jailed by Batista's forces. After being liberated, he left Cuba and headed to Costa Rica, where he dedicated his time to pedagogical tasks, and to his activities as leader of the PRD.
In 1959 the Cuban Revolution took place, led by Fidel Castro
Fidel Castro
Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz is a Cuban revolutionary and politician, having held the position of Prime Minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976, and then President from 1976 to 2008. He also served as the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba from the party's foundation in 1961 until 2011...
, causing a major political, economic and social upheaval in the Caribbean island. Bosch accurately perceived the process that had begun from those events, and wrote a letter to Trujillo, dated February 27, 1961. He told Trujillo that his political role, in historical terms, had concluded in the Dominican Republic.
Presidency and opposition
After 23 years in exile, Juan Bosch returned to his homeland when Trujillo was assassinated on May 30, 1961. His presence in the national political life, as the Dominican Revolutionary PartyDominican 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....
presidential candidate, was a fresh change for the Dominicans. His manner of speaking, direct and simple, especially when addressing the lowest classes, appealed the farmers as much as the people from the cities. Immediately he was accused by the Church and by conservatives of being a communist, but in the electoral match of December 20, 1962, Bosch obtained a sweeping triumph over his main oppositor Viriato Fiallo of the National Civic Union, in what is acknowledged to be the first free election in the country's history.
On February 27, 1963, Juan Bosch and Armando González Tamayo took possession as the new President and Vice President of the Dominican Republic, in a ceremony that was attended by important democratic leaders and personalities, like Luis Muñoz
Luis Muñoz Marín
Don José Luis Alberto Muñoz Marín was a Puerto Rican poet, journalist, and politician. Regarded as the "father of modern Puerto Rico," he was the first democratically elected Governor of Puerto Rico. Muñoz Marín was the son of Luis Muñoz Rivera, a renowned autonomist leader...
and José Figueres
José Figueres Ferrer
José María Hipólito Figueres Ferrer , served as President of Costa Rica on three occasions:1948–1949, 1953–1958, and 1970–1974....
.
Bosch immediately launched a deep restructuring of the country. On April 29, he promulgated a new liberal constitution. The new document granted the people freedoms they had never known. Among other things, it declared specific labour rights, and mentioned unions, pregnant women, homeless people, the family, rights for the child and the young, for the farmers, and for illegitimate children.
However, Bosch faced powerful enemies. He moved to break up latifundia
Latifundia
Latifundia are pieces of property covering very large land areas. The latifundia of Roman history were great landed estates, specializing in agriculture destined for export: grain, olive oil, or wine...
, drawing the ire of landowners. The Roman Catholic Church
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
thought Bosch was trying to oversecularize
Secularization
Secularization is the transformation of a society from close identification with religious values and institutions toward non-religious values and secular institutions...
the country. Industrialists did not like the new Constitution's guarantees for the working class
Working class
Working class is a term used in the social sciences and in ordinary conversation to describe those employed in lower tier jobs , often extending to those in unemployment or otherwise possessing below-average incomes...
. The military, who previously enjoyed free rein, felt Bosch put them on too short a leash. In addition, the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
was skeptical of even a hint of left-leaning politics in the Caribbean after Fidel Castro
Fidel Castro
Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz is a Cuban revolutionary and politician, having held the position of Prime Minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976, and then President from 1976 to 2008. He also served as the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba from the party's foundation in 1961 until 2011...
openly declared himself a Communist.
Coup d'état
On September 25, 1963, after only seven months in office, Bosch was overthrown in a coup led by Colonel Elías Wessin and replaced by a three-man military juntaMilitary junta
A junta or military junta is a government led by a committee of military leaders. The term derives from the Spanish language junta meaning committee, specifically a board of directors...
. Bosch went back to exile in Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico , officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico , is an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of both the United States Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands.Puerto Rico comprises an...
.
Less than two years later, growing dissatisfaction generated another military rebellion on April 24, 1965, that demanded Bosch's restoration. The insurgents, commanded by Colonel Francisco Caamaño
Francisco Caamaño
Col. Francisco Alberto Caamaño Deñó [Cah-MAH-nyoh Deh-NYOH] was a Dominican soldier and politician....
, removed the junta from power but on April 28, with United States assistance in the civil war dispatching 42,000 troops to the island.
An interim government was formed, and elections were fixed for July 1, 1966. Bosch returned to the country and ran as his party's presidential candidate. However, he ran a somewhat muted campaign, fearing for his safety and believing he'd be thrown out of office by the military again if he won. He was soundly defeated 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:...
, who garnered 57% of the vote.
During the last half of the 1960s, Bosch remained a very prolific writer of essays, both political and historical. He published some of his most important works during this time: "Dominican Social Composition", "Brief History of the Oligarchy in Santo Domingo", "From Christopher Columbus to Fidel Castro", and numerous articles of different sorts.
By 1970, Bosch had the intention of reorganizing the PRD, and turning its members into active, studious militants of the historical and social reality of the country. His project was not accepted by most of the PRD, most of whose members were turning in a more mainstream social democratic direction. Also, given the military repression, and lack of political equality between the PRD and the official Reformist Party, Bosch abstained from the 1970 elections.
The differences and contradictions between Bosch and an important sector of the PRD, as well as the corruption that had started to grow within the party, made him leave the organization in 1973, and thus he founded the Dominican Liberation Party
Dominican Liberation Party
The Dominican Liberation Party is one of the main political parties of the Dominican Republic, and has a centrist position.The party has been elected into office thrice now with Leonel Fernández as President of the Dominican Republic in the 1996, 2004 and 2008 elections, though losing in 2000...
(PLD) on December 15 of that same year.
Later he ran unsuccessfully for president as the PLD candidate in 1978, 1982, 1986, 1990, and 1994. He came closest to winning in 1990, but there were serious allegations of fraud against Balaguer.
After placing third in the 1994 election, Bosch retired from politics. He was already 83 years old and presumably suffering from Alzheimer's disease
Alzheimer's disease
Alzheimer's disease also known in medical literature as Alzheimer disease is the most common form of dementia. There is no cure for the disease, which worsens as it progresses, and eventually leads to death...
. In 1996 he was practically carried to the consolidation of the "Patriotic Front", an alliance between the PLD and his lifelong opponent Balaguer, as part of the latter's plan to defeat the PRD in the next presidential election.
Death and legacy
Juan Bosch died on November 1, 2001, in Santo Domingo. As a former President, he received the corresponding honors at the National Palace, and was buried in his hometown of La Vega.To this day, he is remembered as a man of principle
Principle
A principle is a law or rule that has to be, or usually is to be followed, or can be desirably followed, or is an inevitable consequence of something, such as the laws observed in nature or the way that a system is constructed...
s. Over the years, as his luck rose and fell, his political direction oscillated wildly. He described himself as a "non-Communist" and a friend of Fidel Castro, and he told an interviewer in 1988 that he had never been Marxist.
His legacy in politics is more than relevant: his ideals, while mostly forgotten or betrayed by his followers, remain powerful values in public administration. Many believe the Dominican Republic would have flourished both economically and politically without foreign assistance (namely, the U.S.) had Bosch's government been able to fend off the Kennedy administration's overt and covert pressures, and to carry out all of his proposed reforms.
The contributions of Professor Bosch to literature through his narratives, novels, short stories and essays made him a role model for several generations of writers, journalists and historians. At one point, laureate
Nobel Prize
The Nobel Prizes are annual international awards bestowed by Scandinavian committees in recognition of cultural and scientific advances. The will of the Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, established the prizes in 1895...
Gabriel García Márquez
Gabriel García Márquez
Gabriel José de la Concordia García Márquez is a Colombian novelist, short-story writer, screenwriter and journalist, known affectionately as Gabo throughout Latin America. He is considered one of the most significant authors of the 20th century. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in...
once said that Bosch had been one of his greatest influences.