Editing Joaquín Balaguer (section)

==Death and legacy==
[[File:Busto Joaquin Balaguer Faro a Colon RD 02 2017 1849.jpg|thumb|right|300px|Monument of Balaguer at the [[Columbus Lighthouse]]]]
In 2000, Balaguer sought the presidency yet again. Although by this time he could not walk without assistance, he nonetheless plunged into the campaign, well aware that his large reservoir of supporters could mean the difference in the election.<ref name=balance>{{cite news | first = James | last = Ferguson | title = Veteran, 94, holds balance of power in Dominican vote | newspaper = [[The Guardian]] | page = 18 | date = 2000-02-04 | access-date = 2010-05-15 | url= https://www.theguardian.com/world/2000/feb/04/3 | location=London}}</ref> He won around 23% of the votes in [[2000 Dominican Republic presidential election|the election]], with PLD candidate [[Danilo Medina]] just barely nosing him out for a spot in the runoff with PRD candidate [[Hipólito Mejía]], who came just a few thousand votes short of outright victory.  Balaguer stated that he himself personally accepted Mejía's election, but hinted that his supporters would split their votes between Mejía and Medina in the runoff. Medina would have needed nearly all of Balaguer's supporters to cross over to him in order to have any realistic chance of overcoming a 25-point deficit in the first round. When it was apparent Medina would not get nearly enough support from Balaguer's voters to have a chance at victory, he pulled out of the runoff, handing the presidency to Mejía.<ref name="Buckman"/>

He died of [[heart failure]] on July 14, 2002 at Santo Domingo's Abreu Clinic at the age of 95.

He was a [[Polarization (politics)|polarizing]] figure who could incite as much hate as love from the population. Despite his image as a standard Latin American caudillo, Balaguer at the same time developed a legacy as a great reformer.<ref name=mixedbag /> His land reform policies were praised for successfully distributing land to peasants and earned him support from the country's rural population.<ref name=landreform />

[[Ronald Reagan]] said "[...] Balaguer has been a driving force throughout his country's democratic development. In 1966 he led democracy's return to the Dominican Republic after years of political uncertainty and turmoil. Indeed, he is, in many ways, the father of Dominican democracy." [[Jimmy Carter]] said "President Balaguer has set an example for all leaders in this nation in changing his own country and his own people away from a former totalitarian government to one of increasingly pure democracy."

A [[Joaquín Balaguer metro station|metro station]] in Santo Domingo is named after him.

He is one of the central characters in [[Mario Vargas Llosa]]'s novel ''[[The Feast of the Goat]]''.