A few more years of turmoil followed after Dominican President Rafael Trujillo was killed.
Opposition leader Juan Bosch was elected president in 1962, but deposed by a military coup the following year. Bosch’s supporters rebelled in 1965, and the United States again sent in marines.
Although Bosch denied it, the United States considered Bosch’s supporters to be communists.
In the midst of the Cold War, the United States did not intend to “lose” the Dominican Republic to communism the way it had “lost” Cuba. With U.S. assistance, new elections were held in 1966.
Joaquin Balaguer, a staunch anticommunist and former ally of El Jefe, was elected president. Reelected several times, he held the office until 1978 and again from 1986 to 1996.
