General Rafael Leonidas Trujillo came to power in 1930 and established an oppressive dictatorship in the Dominican Republic that lasted until his assassination in 1961. El Jefe (The Chief), as Trujillo was called, used his secret police to make arrests at will. The most infamous moment during his presidency was the massacre of thousands of Haitian citizens in 1937. Trujillo’s soldiers murdered Haitians working as sugar cane cutters or living in Dominican territory. Estimates of the men, women and children killed range from 13,000 to 20,000. It is a dark part of history that hasn’t much helped uniting the people on the Island of Hispaniola. Trujillo was also of part-Haitian descent.
enemies too.