Editing Rafael Trujillo (section)

==Personal life==
Trujillo's "central arch" was his thirst for power,<ref name="Crassweller pp. 73-95">{{harvp|Crassweller|1966|pp=73–95}}</ref> coupled with an intense desire for money, which he recognized as a source of and support for power. Up at four in the morning, he exercised, studied the newspaper, read many reports, and completed papers before breakfast. At the office by nine, he continued his work, and took lunch by noon. After a walk, he continued to work until 7:30 pm. After dinner, he attended functions, held discussions, or was driven around incognito in the city "observing and remembering."<ref name="Crassweller pp. 73-95"/> Until [[Santo Domingo]]'s National Palace was built in 1947, he worked out of the [[Museo de las Casas Reales|Casas Reales]], the colonial-era [[Viceregal]] center of administration. Today the building is a museum; on display are his desk and chair, along with a massive collection of arms and armor that he bought. He was methodical, punctual, secretive, and guarded; he had no true friends, only associates and acquaintances. For his associates, his actions towards them were unpredictable.{{Citation needed|date=June 2018}}

[[File:Trujillo family stamps D.R..jpg|thumb|left|Postage stamps honoring family members]]

Trujillo and his family amassed enormous wealth. He acquired cattle lands on a grand scale, and went into meat and milk production, operations that soon evolved into [[monopoly|monopolies]]. Salt, sugar, tobacco, lumber, and the lottery were other industries which he or his family members dominated. Family members also received positions within the government and the army, including one of Trujillo's sons who was made a colonel in the Dominican Army when he was only four years old.{{#tag:ref|Decree of 18 April 1933.<ref>{{harvp|de Galindez|1962|p=62}}</ref>|group=Note}}{{#tag:ref|In 1935, Ramfis, then aged 6, was promoted to general.|group=Note}} Two of Trujillo's brothers, Héctor and José Arismendy, also held positions in his government. José Arismendy Trujillo oversaw the creation of the main radio station, ''La Voz Dominicana'', and later the television station, the fourth in the Caribbean.{{Citation needed|date=June 2018}}

By 1937 Trujillo's annual income was about $1.5&nbsp;million (${{Inflation|US|1.5|1937}} million in {{Inflation-year|US}});{{Inflation-fn|US}} at the time of his death the state took over 111 Trujillo-owned companies. His love of fine and ostentatious clothing was displayed in elaborate uniforms and suits, of which he collected almost two thousand.<ref>{{harvp|Crassweller|1966|p=73}}</ref> Fond of neckties, he amassed a collection of over 10,000. Trujillo doused himself with perfume and liked gossip.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.healthcare.reachinformation.com/Rafael_Trujillo.aspx |title=Reach Information Portal |publisher= | website= healthcare.reachinformation.com |date=24 March 2009 |access-date=2 October 2012 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20131203011103/http://www.healthcare.reachinformation.com/Rafael_Trujillo.aspx |archive-date=3 December 2013 |url-status= dead }}</ref> His sexual appetite was rapacious, and he preferred [[mulatto|mulatta]] women with full bodies.{{Citation needed|date=January 2025}}

[[Image:Rafel Trujillo 1934.jpg|thumb|Trujillo with his second wife, Bienvenida, in 1934]]
Trujillo was married three times and kept other women as mistresses. On 13 August 1913, Trujillo married Aminta Ledesma Lachapelle, with whom he had 2 daughters, Julia, who died as an infant, and Flor de Oro, who died of lung cancer in 1978. On 30 March 1927, Trujillo married Bienvenida Ricardo Martínez, a girl from [[Monte Cristi (Dominican Republic)|Monte Cristi]] and the daughter of Buenaventura Ricardo Heureaux. A year later he met María de los Angeles Martínez Alba (nicknamed "''la españolita''", or "the little Spanish girl"), and had an affair with her. He divorced Bienvenida in 1935 and married Martínez. A year later he had a daughter with Bienvenida, named Odette Trujillo Ricardo.{{Citation needed|date=June 2018}}

Trujillo's three children with María Martínez were [[Ramfis Trujillo|Rafael Leónidas Ramfis]], who was born on 5 June 1929, [[Angelita Trujillo|María de los Ángeles del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús]] (Angelita), born in Paris on 10 June 1939, and Leónidas Rhadamés, born on 1 December 1942. Ramfis and Rhadamés were named after characters in [[Giuseppe Verdi]]'s opera ''[[Aida]]''.{{Citation needed|date=June 2018}}

In 1937, Trujillo met Lina Lovatón Pittaluga,<ref>{{cite journal |last=Derby |first=Lauren H. |year=2000 |title=The Dictator's seduction: gender and state spectacle during the Trujillo regime |journal= [[Callaloo (literary magazine)|Callaloo]] |volume=23 |issue=3 |pages=1112–1146 |doi= 10.1353/cal.2000.0134| s2cid= 162243104 }}</ref> an upper-class debutante with whom he had two children, Yolanda in 1939, and Rafael, born on 20 June 1943.{{Citation needed|date=June 2018}}

In spite of Trujillo's indifference to the game of [[baseball]], the dictator invited many black American players to the Dominican Republic, where they received good pay for playing on first-class, un-segregated teams. The great Negro league star [[Satchel Paige]] pitched for the [[Dragones de Ciudad Trujillo]], a team organized by Trujillo. Paige later claimed, jokingly, that his guards positioned themselves "like a firing squad" to encourage him to pitch well. Los Dragones won the 1937 Dominican championship at Estadio Trujillo in Ciudad Trujillo.<ref>{{cite magazine| last= Callard| first= Abby| title= Remembering Legendary Pitcher Satchel Paige| year= 2009| website= [[Smithsonian (magazine)|Smithsonian.com]] | url= http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/remembering-legendary-pitcher-satchel-paige-16345711/?no-ist |access-date= July 19, 2015}}</ref>

Trujillo was energetic and fit. He was generally quite healthy but suffered from chronic lower urinary infections and, later, prostate problems. In 1934, Dr. [[Georges Marion]] was called from Paris to perform three urologic procedures on Trujillo.<ref>{{harvp|Crassweller|1966|p=115}}</ref>

Over time Trujillo acquired numerous homes. His favorite was ''Casa Caobas'', on ''Estancia Fundacion'' near [[San Cristóbal, Dominican Republic|San Cristóbal]].<ref>{{harvp|Crassweller|1966|p=144}}</ref> He also used ''Estancia Ramfis'' (which, after 1953, became the Foreign Office), ''Estancia Rhadames'', and a home at [[Playa de Najayo]]. Less frequently he stayed at places he owned in [[Santiago de los Caballeros]], [[Constanza, Dominican Republic|Constanza]], [[La Cumbre, Valle del Cauca|La Cumbre]], [[San José de las Matas]], and elsewhere. He maintained a penthouse at the ''Embajador Hotel'' in the capital.<ref>{{harvp|Crassweller|1966|p=270}}</ref>

While Trujillo was nominally a [[Roman Catholic]], his devotion was limited to a perfunctory role in public affairs; he placed faith in local [[folk religion]].<ref name="Crassweller pp. 73-95"/>

He was popularly known as "El Jefe" ("The Chief") or "El Benefactor" ("The Benefactor") but was privately referred to as ''Chapitas'' ("[[bottle cap|Bottlecaps]]") because of his indiscriminate wearing of [[medals]]. Dominican children emulated Trujillo by constructing toy medals from bottle caps.