Johnny Abbes García

Johnny Abbes García (born March 27, 1924 in Santo Domingo , Dominican Republic , † probably May 30, 1967 in Haiti ) was the head of the Dominican Republic's intelligence service during the dictatorship of Rafael Trujillo .

Abbes came from a well-to-do family - his father had German roots, his mother was a Dominican - and began his career as a sports reporter. However, he later began working in Mexico as an informant for the regime of the dictator Trujillo, who ruled the Dominican Republic from 1930 until his assassination on May 30, 1961. Presented by Trujillo's half-brother, the president, Abbes was soon with the rank of colonel chief of the company founded in 1957 military intelligence SIM (Servicio de Inteligencia Militar) and chief planner of attacks on dissidents of the regime abroad, eg. B. the car bomb attack on the Venezuelan President Rómulo Betancourt(1908–1981) on June 24, 1960, which he barely survived. The failed assassination attempt led to the regime's increasing isolation, particularly under pressure from the Kennedy administration. Abbes was also behind an attempt to have Castro shot in mid-February 1959 by a team brought to Cuba by Alexander Irwin Rorke, Jr. (1926–1963). His and Trujillo's many other victims also include the Mirabal sisters and the writer Jesús Galíndez , who was kidnapped and murdered in New York as the author of a book critical of Trujillo. Abbes is said to have tortured opponents of the regime and other victims personally, giving free rein to his sadistic fantasies. In the end, he is said to have fed still living victims to the sharks. After Trujillo's murder in 1961, which was followed by a bloody vengeance on the conspirators and other suspects, his successor Joaquín Balaguer , himself a long-time supporter of the regime, deported him to Japan as consul . A short time later he stayed in Europe and then became security advisor to the Haitian dictator "Papa Doc" Duvalier . In 1962 he was involved in the plot of his son-in-law and is said to have been killed like him. Others claim to have seen him later.

Mario Vargas Llosa describes him in his novel about the Trujillo regime The Festival of the Billy Goat as a "toad in body and soul".

literature

Mario Vargas Llosa : The Goat Festival. Suhrkamp, 2001.
Robert Crassweller: Trujillo - The Life and Times of a Caribbean Dictator. New York 1966.
Joaquin Balaguer: Memorias de un cortesano de la Era de Trujillo. Editora Collado, Republica Dominicana 2000.
Fabián Escalante: The Secret War: CIA Covert Operations Against Cuba, 1959–1962. Ocean Press, Melbourne 1995 (first Spanish 1993).
Jim Hougan: Spooks - The Private Use of Secret Agents. Bantam Books, 1979.

Web links

Limited shelf life. On the use and disadvantage of power. ( Memento of September 30, 2007 in the Internet Archive ). In: Saarland University , 2004 (review of Vargas Llosa's novel The Goat Festival and the Trujillo System)
Por Vargas Llosa: Los Rasputines . ( Memento from September 30, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) In: Caretas (Spanish)

swell

↑ https://somospueblo.com/johnny-abbes-garcia-jefe-del-sim-de-trujillo-nacido-un-27-de-marzo-de-1924/
↑ https://hoy.com.do/memorias-de-abbes/
↑ https://elpais.com/elpais/2017/11/30/opinion/1512069791_290181.html
↑ https://listindiario.com/puntos-de-vista/2018/11/21/542577/la-muerte-intermitente-de-johnny-abbes-garcia
↑ Venezuela: Trujillo's Murder Plot. In: Time . July 18, 1960.
↑ Balaguer met him, as he reports in his autobiography, while reading a book on Chinese torture methods.
↑ "Papa Doc" shot him and his family and blew up the house. (See Por Vargas Llosa: Los Rasputines . ( Memento of September 30, 2007 in the Internet Archive ))
↑ The ex-Marine and anti-Cuba activist Gerald Patrick Hemming claims that he was involved with Ramfis Trujillo - son of the dictator and international playboy - in 1963 in preparation of a plot against Kennedy in revenge for his role in the elimination of Trujillo. See John Simkin: Gerry P. Hemming ( April 25, 2014 memento on the Internet Archive ). In: Spartacus Educational. However, there was also an eyewitness to Abbes' execution, a neighbor who worked for an international organization.

personal data
SURNAME	Abbes García, Johnny
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Abbes García, John
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Dominican intelligence officer, chief of intelligence in the Dominican Republic
DATE OF BIRTH	March 27, 1924
PLACE OF BIRTH	Santo Domingo
DATE OF DEATH	uncertain: May 30, 1967
Place of death	Haiti

[1] ttps://somospueblo.com/johnny-abbes-garcia-jefe-del-sim-de-trujillo-nacido-un-27-de-marzo-de-1924/

[2] ttps://hoy.com.do/memorias-de-abbes/

[3] ttps://elpais.com/elpais/2017/11/30/opinion/1512069791_290181.html

[4] ttps://listindiario.com/puntos-de-vista/2018/11/21/542577/la-muerte-intermitente-de-johnny-abbes-garcia

[t19600718-5] Venezuela: Trujillo's Murder Plot. In: Time . July 18, 1960.

[6] Balaguer met him, as he reports in his autobiography, while reading a book on Chinese torture methods.

[7] "Papa Doc" shot him and his family and blew up the house. (See Por Vargas Llosa: Los Rasputines . ( Memento of September 30, 2007 in the Internet Archive ))

[8] The ex-Marine and anti-Cuba activist Gerald Patrick Hemming claims that he was involved with Ramfis Trujillo - son of the dictator and international playboy - in 1963 in preparation of a plot against Kennedy in revenge for his role in the elimination of Trujillo. See John Simkin: Gerry P. Hemming ( April 25, 2014 memento on the Internet Archive ). In: Spartacus Educational. However, there was also an eyewitness to Abbes' execution, a neighbor who worked for an international organization.