Ramfis Trujillo
Encyclopedia
Madrid
Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...
, Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
), better known as Ramfis Trujillo, was the son of Rafael Leónidas Trujillo Molina and María Martínez. Like his close friend (and for a time brother-in-law) Porfirio Rubirosa
Porfirio Rubirosa
Porfirio Rubirosa Ariza was a Dominican diplomat and adherent of Rafael Trujillo. He made his mark as an international playboy, for his jet setting lifestyle, and his legendary prowess with women...
, he was regarded by most as a reckless and spoiled playboy
Playboy (lifestyle)
A playboy is a modern version of a public Casanova — a man of means with ample time for leisure, who demonstratively appreciates the pleasures of the world.The term has also been applied to a flashy womanizer, such as a player, pappagallo, or Don Juan....
, though he is also remembered for his ruthlessness and cruelty. He took control 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...
on 30 May 1961, after his father was assassinated.
Early life
Though Ramfis's paternity was legitimately recognized by his father, it was rumored at the time that La Españolita (as María Martínez was affectionately called before she met Trujillo) conceived Ramfis with a Cuban man named Rafael Dominicis, who then disappeared (some say killed). The story goes that Dominicis was María Martínez's lover before she met Trujillo, thus explaining why Ramfis' physical features are more Caucasian than Trujillo's who was of part Negro descent from his grandmother's side. Some others say that the Cuban man was her first husband.Jesús Galíndez
Jesús Galíndez
Jesús Galíndez Suárez was a Spanish writer who disappeared in New York City. He was allegedly kidnapped and murdered by henchmen of Rafael Trujillo, dictator of the Dominican Republic.-Biography:...
in his famous book La Era de Trujillo testifies to the following:
"Ramfis", Rafael L. Trujillo Molina, Jr., the oldest son of Trujillo, was born in 1929 when his mother was married to a Cuban, who rejected him as his son. Subsequently, Trujillo recognized him as his own. While still an illegitimate child by an adulterous union and with his father still married to his second wife, (...). In 1935 Trujillo married the mother of "Ramfis", Maria Martinez Alba, and (he) became legitimized."
At age 14 (some say age four), his father made him a colonel, with equivalent pay and privileges and he became a brigadier general by the age of nine.
In the early 1950s, he married his first wife, Octavia Ricart, who bore him six children.
In the mid 1950s, he was sent to study at the U.S. Army's Command and General Staff College
Command and General Staff College
The United States Army Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas is a graduate school for United States Army and sister service officers, interagency representatives, and international military officers. The college was established in 1881 by William Tecumseh Sherman as a...
in Fort Leavenworth
Fort Leavenworth
Fort Leavenworth is a United States Army facility located in Leavenworth County, Kansas, immediately north of the city of Leavenworth in the upper northeast portion of the state. It is the oldest active United States Army post west of Washington, D.C. and has been in operation for over 180 years...
, Kansas
Kansas
Kansas is a US state located in the Midwestern United States. It is named after the Kansas River which flows through it, which in turn was named after the Kansa Native American tribe, which inhabited the area. The tribe's name is often said to mean "people of the wind" or "people of the south...
. While there, and with Rubirosa as his liaison, Ramfis skipped class and took off for Hollywood. He had affairs with several Hollywood starlets, most notably with Kim Novak
Kim Novak
Kim Novak is an American film and television actress. She began her career with her roles in Pushover and Phffft! but achieved greater prominence in the 1955 film Picnic...
. Ramfis became notorious for buying luxury cars, mink
Mink
There are two living species referred to as "mink": the European Mink and the American Mink. The extinct Sea Mink is related to the American Mink, but was much larger. All three species are dark-colored, semi-aquatic, carnivorous mammals of the family Mustelidae, which also includes the weasels and...
coats, and jewelry for beautiful girls during his stay. Ramfis's flashy gift-giving made the national news and members of the United States Congress
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....
were openly questioned by the press about what real use was being made of foreign aid given to the Dominican Republic. At one point a bumper sticker began appearing on the cars of girls in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
that read: "THIS CAR WAS NOT A GIFT FROM RAMFIS TRUJILLO".
Since his attendance at the military school was erratic at best, he was denied his diploma after completion. This fact greatly infuriated, and at the same time, humiliated his father.
When he returned home, his wife Octavia filed for divorce. His unruly behavior, including gang rapes of young women and frivolously ordering murders, forced his father to send him to a sanatorium
Sanatorium
A sanatorium is a medical facility for long-term illness, most typically associated with treatment of tuberculosis before antibiotics...
in Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
. Ramfis apparently suffered from psychological problems, possibly the result of the pressure that his father constantly placed on him, as he intended to remake him into an image of his father. Dominican historian Bernardo Vega has documented Ramfis's history of mental hospital stays, and Robert Crassweller also wrote about it in his Trujillo's biography. Ramfis received electroshock treatments in Belgium as early as 1958; there were also stays in mental hospitals after that.
Not long after all this, he moved to Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
to resume his socialite lifestyle. Many of these actions have most historians convinced that Ramfis never wanted to be a ruler like his father and that he just wanted to live the carefree and bon vivant life of a playboy, shunning any sort of responsibility. Lita Milan (née Iris Lia Menshell) became his second official wife during these years. She was an American of Hungarian immigrant parents, who had a short but relatively successful film career in Hollywood, most notably in The Left Handed Gun
The Left Handed Gun
The Left Handed Gun is a 1958 American western film and the film directorial debut of Arthur Penn, starring Paul Newman as Billy the Kid and John Dehner as Pat Garrett...
, opposite Paul Newman
Paul Newman
Paul Leonard Newman was an American actor, film director, entrepreneur, humanitarian, professional racing driver and auto racing enthusiast...
. Because of her black hair and dark good looks, Lita was often cast as Latino
Latino
The demonyms Latino and Latina , are defined in English language dictionaries as:* "a person of Latin-American descent."* "A Latin American."* "A person of Hispanic, especially Latin-American, descent, often one living in the United States."...
and Native American
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
girls. They had two children.
Influential years
On May 30, 1961, his father was assassinated in a plot to end the 31-year-long dictatorial regime. He quickly returned to the country and with the help of Johnny Abbes GarcíaJohnny Abbes García
Johnny Abbes García was the chief of the governmental intelligence office during the Rafael Trujillo dictatorship in the Dominican Republic. A man of violence and a murderer, he ruled under Trujillo during the end of his era, and later served Duvalier in Haiti.-Rise to power:Abbes was born in 1924...
, the ruthless intelligence chief, brutally repressed any elements believed to be connected with his father's death, murdering many of the suspects himself.
Both internal and external pressures forced him into exile late in 1961, when he fled back to France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, along with all of the surviving Trujillos, aboard the famed yacht Angelita (still sailing today as the Sea Cloud
USCGC Sea Cloud (WPG-284)
USCGC Sea Cloud was a weather ship for the United States Coast Guard and United States Navy during World War II. The ship served as the first racially integrated warship in the United States Armed Forces since the American Civil War. Originally a private yacht, she was transferred to the Coast...
), with his father's casket, which was allegedly lined with $4 million in cash, jewels and important papers.
In 1962, he settled down in Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
where he was protected by Generalisimo Francisco Franco
Francisco Franco
Francisco Franco y Bahamonde was a Spanish general, dictator and head of state of Spain from October 1936 , and de facto regent of the nominally restored Kingdom of Spain from 1947 until his death in November, 1975...
. There he continued with his jet-set lifestyle, which included flying planes as a hobby (also one of the passions of Rubirosa).
There is a story by a Gerry Hemming (leader of a group of anti-communist soldiers of fortune, who trained anti-Castro Cubans in the early 1960s), who says that in 1963, Ramfis and Johnny Abbes attended a meeting in Haiti
Haiti
Haiti , officially the Republic of Haiti , is a Caribbean country. It occupies the western, smaller portion of the island of Hispaniola, in the Greater Antillean archipelago, which it shares with the Dominican Republic. Ayiti was the indigenous Taíno or Amerindian name for the island...
, with other unknown men for the purpose of pledging money to partly finance a plot which would result in the John F. Kennedy assassination
John F. Kennedy assassination
John Fitzgerald Kennedy, the thirty-fifth President of the United States, was assassinated at 12:30 p.m. Central Standard Time on Friday, November 22, 1963, in Dealey Plaza, Dallas, Texas...
, allegedly as revenge for the supposed Central Intelligence Agency
Central Intelligence Agency
The Central Intelligence Agency is a civilian intelligence agency of the United States government. It is an executive agency and reports directly to the Director of National Intelligence, responsible for providing national security intelligence assessment to senior United States policymakers...
(CIA) involvement in the assassination of Rafael Trujillo, Sr. http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/JFKhemming.htm
He died on December 28, 1969, in Spain, from pneumonia
Pneumonia
Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung—especially affecting the microscopic air sacs —associated with fever, chest symptoms, and a lack of air space on a chest X-ray. Pneumonia is typically caused by an infection but there are a number of other causes...
, in a hospital after being severely injured in a car accident, a fate similar to Rubirosa's, 11 days earlier in the outskirts of Madrid
Madrid
Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...
. The person in the car he hit, Teresa Beltran de Lis, the Duchess of Albuquerque, died instantly.
Trujillo was initially buried in Madrid's Almudena
Cementerio de la Almudena
The Cementerio de Nuestra Señora de La Almudena is a cemetery in Madrid, Spain. It is the largest in Madrid and one of the largest in Western Europe...
cemetery, but his remains were subsequently moved to the El Pardo
El Pardo
The Royal Palace of El Pardo is a historical building near Madrid, Spain, in the present-day district of Fuencarral-El Pardo. Owned by the Spanish state and administered by the Patrimonio Nacional agency, the palace began as a hunting lodge.-Overview:...
cemetery to accompany his father's remains.
Ramfis Trujillo's children and grandchildren are still alive, some of them living in Spain.