Rafael Leónidas Trujillo Molina governed the Dominican Republic from 1930 until his assassination in 1961. He is one of the most formidable dictators of the twentieth centuries, and the crimes committed by him and his comrades were in innumerable and hedonistic, from torture and rape to mass murder of Haitians. His American ties brought him into power and his manipulation of US officials allowed him to survive for much longer than should have been fathomable. The name of the book La Fiesta del Chivo reflects that the dictator Trujillo is the whirlpool of the novel, and all the events revolve around him. Trujillo was nicknamed 'El Chivo ' (the goat), which is telling to his character for multiple reasons. The word is often associated …show more content…
They wanted to find someone to ‘manipulate’ in a way, to push their anti-communist regime. However, blinded by the threat of the cold war their the plan failed, since as we can see throughout the novel, what the people got in exchange from Trujillo was far worse; genocide, terror, rape and pillage, etc. Vargas Llosa uses violent language and profanities to express Trujillo’s aggressive behaviour and cruel, bitter attitude towards those around him. He refers to others in racist terms, which reveals from as very early stage his xenophobic mindset and absolute superiority; this is clearly true due to his intolerance for other races and nationalities. His character also uses an abundance of homophobic slurs and seems very concerned by only associating with 'manly ' men. Nearly every woman Trujillo comes across is considered as a sexual object for him to own, in a way that is almost primal. Most females he comes across in the novel are referred to as 'bitch ', showing clear disregard for the opposite sex and even deep rooted anger towards them; we later learn that this is due to his sexual difficulty with Urania which turns into frustration. However, faced with this clear sign of his ageing and decline, Trujillo is unable to confront his own reality, and turns viciously against the closest thing he can blame other than himself: women. We cannot rely wholly on this depiction of Trujillo as a dictator. First and foremost, La
Francisco Franco: Francisco Franco y Bahamonde was a Spanish military leader and statesman who ruled as the dictator of Spain from 1936 until his death. He came to power during the Spanish Civil War while serving as the Generalísimo of the Nationalist faction.
invested in the revolution. He eventually has to flee the country to get away from Trujillo. "Lío was
In The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, the reader gets a sense of what the expectations are of Dominican men and women. Junot Díaz uses Oscar in contrast to the other male characters to present the expectations of the Dominican male. On the other hand, Díaz presents the women in the text, especially Belicia, La Inca, Lola, and Jenni, as strong characters in their own rights, but the male characters, with the exception of Oscar, have a desire to display their masculinity to maintain power over these women. It would be unfair to say that the women bring the abuse unto themselves, but rather it is their culture that makes the abuse acceptable and almost to a certain extent—expected.
Fulgencio Batista, ex-president of Cuba, was a
Throughout the short story, Diaz’s use of Spanish is a connection as seen through the metaphors within his decisions before and during his “date”. Diaz starts off by telling his mom that he’s “feeling too sick [...] to visit [his] tia” even though “[his] mom knows [he] ain’t sick” (Diaz 1). The first word in Spanish is “tia”, meaning “aunt” in English. The connection is first created through his family as the narrator lies to his own mom to go on his “undercover” date. His “tia” takes on the meaning of his Spanish family. Diaz’s use of diction between the English and Spanish creates a connection to Diaz’s culture and wanting to fit into the American lifestyle. He is seen to constantly be at battle between who he wants be and who he really is. One of the first few uses of Spanish is the term “campo” which is used right after he
This paper will discuss what caudillos were and their characteristics, why they came to power, and how the people of Latin America justified caudillo rule.
In The Underdogs, there are countless cases of physical and verbal mistreatment of women. Smith’s Gender and the Mexican Revolution and Lewis’ taped autobiography of Pedro Martinez also emphasizes on the physical and verbal mistreatment. A prominent example in The Underdogs of verbal and insinuated physical mistreatment of women occurred with Camilla. La Pintada, speaking with Luis Cervantes, refers to her as “your ---” (74). Camilla’s later hatred of him due to him presumably raping her, shows the treatment of women as nothing more than objects even though he tries to display himself as a more
The image of a somewhat cohesive revolutionary party working towards peace put forth by Womack draws a stark line between the “bandit” enemy described by General Huerta and the Zapatistas. Brunk, in his writings on Zapata, challenges this narrative by exploring the gray space that does not allow for easy delineation between revolutionaries and bandits. Rather than existing as an arbitrary offshoot of Zapatismo, “banditry represented the pursuit of local political (and economic) goals” (Brunk, 349). Womack does acknowledge the “insoluble village rivalries that only compromise could ease”, but does not relate them directly to feuds involving bandits (Womack, 233). The nature of local politics was arguably defined by the multiplicity of intrinsic power struggles over local democratization.
In “The Myth of the Latin Woman: I Just Met a Girl Named Maria,” the incidents on the bus, in the hotel, and at the poetry involved prejudice and stereotypical misconceptions of Puerto Rican women. While Cofer was on a bus trip to Oxford University, a man “broke into an Irish tenor’s rendition of “Maria” from West Side Story” (Cofer 103). This implies that Latinas dealt with people who automatically assume that a Latina’s name is “Maria” or “Evita” based on a fictional movie. While at a hotel with a colleague, a middle-aged man called Cofer an “Evita” and he “began shout-sing a ditty to the tune of “La Bamba”---except the lyrics were about a girl named Maria” (Cofer 107). Then Cofer realized that “[she] was just an Evita or a Maria: merely a character in his cartoon-populated universe” (107). The men that sung stereotypical songs viewed Cofer as a sexual object and referred to her as an image displayed by the media.
Throughout history there have been many dictators and evil men who have destroyed the lives of their people. When such men are mentioned most people automatically think of Hitler, Stalin, Mussolini, and Castro. All of these men ruined the lives of their people and made their countries terrible places to live in. There is someone who seems to go unknown even though he committed heinous crimes. This man is Rafael Trujillo.
On January 26, 1813 Juan Jose Duarte and Manuela Diez Jimenez had giving birth to Juan Pablo Duarte one of the
The United States established diplomatic relations with the Dominican in 1884 following its independence from Spain. They are not run by a dictatorship, but through a democracy. They have a Representative Democracy government, which means that all eligible citizens vote on representatives to pass laws for them. The government has about 61% control over the economy down there. Their form of government is a lot like the United States. They have three branches (executive, legislative and judicial) of government and the court is in charge of actions against the President, designated members of his cabinet, and members of Congress.
At first glance, Cuba is a paradise, surrounded by green terrain and shimmering oceans, yet internally the fight for power takes over the country. In the 19th century, many had the desire to be in power, although the two that influenced history as we know it were Fulgencio Batista and Fidel Castro. Both of these leaders weren’t ideal, as they both had faults to their governments. In fact, their conflict among each other changed the history of the Caribbean. Castro and Batista’s conflict was based upon the disagreement of their goals for the country of Cuba, as well as who their allies were.
Alberto Korda took two photos on March 5, 1960. One of the still frames would immortalize one of the most infamous and controversial ideologues to have ever lived. The image being draped over millions of shirts, posters, and most significantly the Ministry of the Interior building in Cuba. Che Guevara being celebrated by the Castro’s, and his ideals forced upon Cuba by them. The Castro family has held power in Cuba since the 1960’s. Cuba being ruled by Fidel Castro until recently his brother Raul took charge. Both men being disliked by the global public and Fidel Castro recognized as an evil dictator. What is many times overlooked was the fact that Che Guevara was just as pivotal to the sinister Cuban regime. Che had major effects on the abuse of a society, Cuban politics, and the justification of evil.
If all these problems of social and economic inequality were not enough Cuba was being ruled by Fulgencio Batista an American backed dictator. Among his actions were suspending the worker's right to strike as established in the 1940 Constitution. Batista suspended the Constitution and most of political liberties of the Cuban people. Batista's regime was brutal assassinating the opposition and officials stealing from the national treasury to invest in