Editing Rafael Trujillo (section)

==Assassination==
[[File:Monumento livertad dictatura Totaal.JPG|thumb|"Memorial to the Heroes of 30 May", a 1993 sculpture by Silvano Lora along [[Autopista 30 de Mayo]] where Trujillo was shot]]
On 30 May 1961, Trujillo was shot dead when his blue 1957 [[Chevrolet Bel Air]] was ambushed on a road outside the Dominican capital.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.moreorless.au.com/killers/trujillo.html |title=Moreorless: Heroes & Killers of the 20th century |last=Harris |first=Bruce |access-date=12 November 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111115223630/http://www.moreorless.au.com/killers/trujillo.html |archive-date=15 November 2011 |url-status=dead}}</ref> He was the victim of an ambush plotted by a number of men, including Salvador Estrella Sadhalá, General Juan Tomás Díaz, Pedro Livio Cedeño, [[Antonio de la Maza]], [[Amado García Guerrero]] and General [[Antonio Imbert Barrera]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.museodelaresistencia.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=329:heroes-del-30-de-mayo-resenas-biograficas&catid=40:1961-1964&Itemid=135 |author=Museo Memorial de la Resistencia Dominicana |title=Heroes del 30 de Mayo. Resenas Biograficas |language=es |access-date=16 August 2012 |archive-date=9 December 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131209100933/http://www.museodelaresistencia.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=329:heroes-del-30-de-mayo-resenas-biograficas&catid=40:1961-1964&Itemid=135 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

=== Aftermath ===
The plotters failed to take control, as the later-executed General José René Román Fernandez ("Pupo Román") betrayed his co-conspirators by his inactivity, and contingency plans had not been made.<ref>{{harvp|Diederich|1978|pp=150ff}}</ref> On the other side, Johnny Abbes, Roberto Figueroa Carrión, and the Trujillo family put the [[Servicio de Inteligencia Militar|SIM]] to work to hunt the members of the plot and brought back [[Ramfis Trujillo]] from Paris to step into his father's shoes. The response by the SIM was swift and brutal. Hundreds of suspects were detained, many tortured. On 18 November the last executions took place when six of the conspirators were executed in the "Hacienda María Massacre".<ref>{{harvp|Diederich|1978|pp=235ff}}</ref> Imbert was the only one of the seven assassins who survived the manhunt.<ref name="imbert">{{cite news| url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-13560512| author=|title=I shot the cruellest dictator in the Americas| work=BBC News | date=27 May 2011 |access-date=16 August 2012}}</ref> A co-conspirator named Luis Amiama Tio also survived.{{Citation needed|date=June 2018}}

US President [[John F. Kennedy]] learned of Trujillo's death during a diplomatic meeting with French President [[Charles de Gaulle]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.netplaces.com/john-f-kennedy/promoting-the-cause-of-freedom/meeting-with-president-de-gaulle-in-france.htm |title=Meeting with President de Gaulle in France – John F. Kennedy |url-status=bot: unknown |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150224092947/http://www.netplaces.com/john-f-kennedy/promoting-the-cause-of-freedom/meeting-with-president-de-gaulle-in-france.htm |archive-date=24 February 2015 }}</ref>

Trujillo's funeral was that of a statesman with the long procession ending in his hometown of San Cristóbal, where his body was first buried. Dominican President [[Joaquín Balaguer]] gave the eulogy. The efforts of the Trujillo family to keep control of the country ultimately failed. The military uprising on 19 November of the [[Rebellion of the Pilots]] and the threat of US intervention set the final stage and ended the Trujillo regime.<ref>{{harvp|Diederich|1978|pp=250f}}</ref> Ramfis tried to flee with his father's body aboard his boat ''[[USCGC Sea Cloud (WPG-284)|Angelita]]'', but was turned back. Balaguer allowed Ramfis to leave the country and to take his father's body to Paris. There, the remains were interred in the [[Père Lachaise Cemetery|Cimetière du Père Lachaise]] on 14 August 1964, and six years later moved to [[Spain]], to the [[Mingorrubio Cemetery]] in [[El Pardo]] on the north side of [[Madrid]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://almomento.net/news/133/ARTICLE/8118/2008-04-11.html |title=Solitaria, en cementerio poco importante, está la tumba de Trujillo |last=Castellanos |first=Eddy |date=11 April 2008 |publisher=Almomento.net |language=es |access-date=14 November 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120402033025/http://almomento.net/news/133/ARTICLE/8118/2008-04-11.html |archive-date=2 April 2012 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

=== United States' involvement ===
The role of the [[Central Intelligence Agency|United States' Central Intelligence Agency]] in the killing has been debated. Imbert insisted that the plotters acted on their own.<ref name="imbert" /> However, Trujillo was certainly assassinated with weapons supplied by the CIA.<ref name="WHN">{{cite web|date = 9 December 2018|url = https://richpersonalities.com/rafael-trujillo-biography/|title = The Assassination of Rafael Trujillo|publisher = Sovereign Media|access-date = 17 January 2019|last = Kross|first = Peter|archive-date = 28 August 2018|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20180828204134/http://warfarehistorynetwork.com/daily/military-history/the-assassination-of-rafael-trujillo/|url-status = dead}}</ref><ref name="imbert" /><ref name="CIA">{{cite web |date=24 November 1972|url = https://www.cia.gov/library/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP84-00499R001000100003-2.pdf|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170123002412/https://www.cia.gov/library/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP84-00499R001000100003-2.pdf|url-status = dead|archive-date = 23 January 2017|title = The Kaplans of the CIA – Approved For Release 2001/03/06 CIA-RDP84-00499R001000100003-2|publisher = Central Intelligence Agency |access-date=17 January 2019 | pages=3–6}}</ref> In a 1975 report to the [[United States Deputy Attorney General|Deputy Attorney General of the United States]], CIA officials described the agency as having "no active part" in the assassination and only a "faint connection" with the groups that planned the killing.<ref>[http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB222/family_jewels_wilderotter.pdf Justice Department Memo, 1975]; [[National Security Archive]]</ref>

US involvement appears to go deeper than supplying weapons. In the 1950s, the CIA gave [[José Figueres Ferrer#Figueres' connection with the CIA|José Figueres Ferrer]] money to publish a political journal, ''Combate'' and to found a [[left-wing]] school for Latin American opposition leaders.<ref name="Cord Meyer">{{cite book |url =http://www.umsl.edu/~thomaskp/plwordab.htm| last=Ameringer | first=Charles D. | title=U.S. Foreign Intelligence: The Secret Side of American history  | publisher = Lexington Books | isbn= 978-0669217803| date=1990}}</ref> Funds passed from a shell foundation to the Jacob Merrill Kaplan Fund; then to the ''Institute of International Labor Research'' (IILR) headed by [[Norman Thomas]], six-time US presidential candidate for the [[Socialist Party of America]]; and finally to Figueres, Sacha Volman, and [[Juan Bosch (politician)|Juan Bosch]].<ref name="Diplomatic History">{{cite journal |date=24 April 2013|url = https://academic.oup.com/dh/article-abstract/37/5/995/357705|title = "Who Will Impose Democracy?": Sacha Volman and the Contradictions of CIA Support for the Anticommunist Left in Latin America|journal = Diplomatic History|access-date=17 January 2019 |last=Iber|first=Patrick | volume=37 | issue=5 | pages=995–1028 | doi=10.1093/dh/dht041 |doi-access=free }}</ref><ref name="Cord Meyer"/><ref name="CIA"/> Sacha Volman, treasurer of the IILR, was a CIA agent.<ref name="Cord Meyer"/>

[[Cord Meyer]] was a CIA official responsible for manipulating international groups.<ref name="Cord Meyer"/> He used the contacts with Bosch, Volman, and Figueres for a new purpose, as the [[United States]] moved to rally the [[Western Hemisphere]] against [[Cuba]]'s [[Fidel Castro]], Trujillo had become expendable.<ref name="Cord Meyer"/> Dissidents inside the Dominican Republic argued that assassination was the only certain way to remove Trujillo.<ref name="Cord Meyer"/>

According to [[Chester Bowles]], the Undersecretary of State, internal [[Department of State]] discussions in 1961 on the topic were vigorous.<ref name="StateDR">{{cite web |url =https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1961-63v12/d310| last=Bowles | first=Chester | title=Foreign Relations of the United States, 1961–1963, Volume XII, American Republics 310. Memorandum by the Under Secretary of State (Bowles) Notes on Crises Involving the Dominican Republic | date= 3 June 1961 | publisher = United States Department of State}}</ref> [[Richard N. Goodwin]], Assistant Special Counsel to the President, who had direct contacts with the rebel alliance, argued for intervention against Trujillo.<ref name="StateDR"/> Quoting Bowles directly: "The next morning I learned that in spite of the clear decision against having the dissident group request our assistance Dick Goodwin following the meeting sent a cable to CIA people in the Dominican Republic without checking with State or CIA; indeed, with the protest of the Department of State. The cable directed the CIA people in the Dominican Republic to get this request at any cost. When [[Allen Dulles]] found this out the next morning, he withdrew the order. We later discovered it had already been carried out."<ref name="StateDR"/>

An internal CIA [[memorandum]] states that a 1973 [[Office of Inspector General]] investigation into the murder disclosed "quite extensive Agency involvement with the plotters." The CIA described its role in "changing" the government of the Dominican Republic "as a 'success' in that it assisted in moving the Dominican Republic from a totalitarian dictatorship to a Western-style democracy."<ref>[http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB222/family_jewels_full_ocr.pdf CIA "Family Jewels" Memo, 1973 (see p. 434)] [[Family Jewels (Central Intelligence Agency)]]</ref><ref name="Cord Meyer"/>

[[Juan Bosch (politician)|Juan Bosch]], the earlier recipient of CIA funding, was elected president of the Dominican Republic in 1962 and was deposed in 1963.<ref name="Diplomatic History"/>

Even after the death of Trujillo, the unusual events continued. In November 1961, Mexican police found a corpse they identified as Luis Melchior Vidal Jr., godson of Trujillo.<ref name="CIA"/> Vidal was the unofficial business agent of the Dominican Republic while Trujillo was in power.<ref name="CIA"/> Under the cover of the American Sucrose Company and the Paint Company of America, Vidal had teamed up with the US-American Joel David Kaplan to operate as arms merchants for the CIA.<ref name="CIA"/>

Joel David Kaplan was the nephew of the previously mentioned Jacob Merrill Kaplan.<ref name="Kaplan71">{{cite magazine |date=30 August 1971|url = http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,909935,00.html|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20081221195619/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,909935,00.html|url-status = dead|archive-date = 21 December 2008|title = Whirlaway|magazine = [[Time (magazine)|Time]]| access-date = 2 May 2009}}</ref> The older Kaplan earned his fortune primarily through operations in Cuba and the Dominican Republic.

In 1962, the younger Kaplan was convicted of killing Vidal, in [[Mexico City]].<ref name="CIA"/> He was sentenced to 28 years in prison.<ref name="CIA"/> Kaplan [[list of helicopter prison escapes|escaped from a Mexican prison using a helicopter]]. The dramatic event was the basis for the [[Charles Bronson]] [[action film]] ''[[Breakout (1975 film)|Breakout]]''.<ref>Constatine, Alex [http://www.constantinereport.com/the-cia-the-kaplan-fund-and-a-1971-prison-breakout-in-mexico/ The CIA, the JM Kaplan Fund & a 1971 Prison Breakout in Mexico] 16 March 2010</ref><ref name="TimeMexico">{{cite magazine |date=8 June 2015|url = https://time.com/3912533/jail-break-kaplan-history/|title = The Strange Case of the Non-Criminal Jail Break|magazine = [[Time (magazine)|Time]]| access-date = 17 January 2019 | last= Rothman|first=Lily}}</ref>

The Mexican police requested for the FBI to arrest and remand Joel Kaplan on 20 August 1971.<ref name="CIA"/> Kaplan's attorney claimed that Kaplan was a CIA agent.<ref name="CIA"/> Neither the FBI nor the [[US Department of Justice]] has pursued the issue.<ref name="CIA"/> The Mexican government never initiated extradition proceedings against Kaplan.<ref name="TimeMexico"/>