Declassified military and intelligence documents have detailed how international isolation and bloody domestic political crimes created the conditions for the plot against Dominican Republic dictator Rafael L. Trujillo. The dictator's regime entered its most vulnerable period during the late 1950s as domestic and foreign pressures converged against his rule.
A series of scandalous violent events during those years forced both the United States government and the Organization of American States to distance themselves from the regime.
Newly declassified records reveal a guidance document prepared by the Washington Division for the Joint Chiefs of Staff in August 1960. The document referenced planning for a revolt originally scheduled for December 1959.
Political Murders and Assassination Plots
Opposition to the regime intensified following a wave of political killings. On November 25, 1960, Patria Mirabal, Minerva Mirabal, María Teresa Mirabal, and their driver Rufino de la Cruz were murdered on the Santiago-Puerto Plata highway in La Cumbre.
The three sisters were killed while traveling to visit Minerva's husband, Manolo Tavárez, a leader of the June 14 Movement who was being held by the regime.
Four months before the Mirabal murders, the regime targeted foreign leaders. On June 24, 1960, an attempt to eliminate Venezuelan President Rómulo Betancourt failed when a bomb targeted his presidential convoy.
Two members of the presidential entourage were killed in the blast, while Betancourt and other security officials were injured. The Venezuelan government publicly blamed the Trujillo regime after presenting several captured operatives involved in the attack.
The Venezuelan government escalated the case to the Organization of American States on August 20, 1960, leading the regional body to vote in favor of diplomatic and economic sanctions against the Dominican Republic.
International Diplomatic Fallout
The regime had also been implicated in international crimes dating back to 1956, including the kidnapping and disappearance of Basque professor Jesús de Galíndez in New York. Galíndez was a prominent academic opponent of Spanish dictator Francisco Franco, who was an ally of Trujillo.
Because Galíndez was abducted on American soil, his disappearance created severe diplomatic friction. To cover up his role in the kidnapping, Trujillo ordered the murders of Octavio de la Maza and Gerald Lester Murphy, an American pilot who reportedly flew Galíndez secretly from the United States to Dominican territory.
Following the attack on the Venezuelan president, then-Undersecretary of State C. Douglas Dillon testified before the US House Agriculture Committee on August 24, 1960. Dillon requested President Dwight D. Eisenhower to cut the Dominican sugar import quota to exert economic pressure on the regime.
Dillon testified that economic sanctions were expected to cause the downfall of the Trujillo dictatorship. He stated that the United States could no longer justify supporting a bloody regime that was faltering.
CIA Cables and the Fatal Ambush
The conspiracy culminated on May 31 at 3:41 a.m. when the CIA station issued a cable designated Flash Critic number 1, confirming the attack and death of Trujillo.
Following the message, the CIA ordered the immediate evacuation of key personnel from the country, including unit chief Robert Owen, operations officer Charles Cooson, and assistant Isabel Cintrón.
During a subsequent meeting between Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson and the Department of State, Johnson asked a direct question about the authority and timeline regarding the delivery of weapons to the conspirators. His reaction to the response remained a secret he took to his grave.
