Juan Bosch

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This article is about the politician Juan Bosch. For the film director, see Juan Bosch (director) ; on cyclists see Juan Plans Bosch .

Juan Bosch (1963)

Juan Emilio Bosch Gaviño (born June 30, 1909 in La Vega , † November 1, 2001 in Santo Domingo ) was a politician, head of state and writer of the Dominican Republic .

Life

After the dictator Rafael Leónidas Trujillo came to power in August 1930 , Bosch went into exile in Puerto Rico and Cuba . During this time he traveled to numerous countries in Latin America and Europe, where he campaigned for support for the realization of democratic conditions in his home country. In Chile he won the friendship of the left-wing politician Salvador Allende and the writer Pablo Neruda .

After Trujillo's assassination on May 30, 1961, Bosch returned to the Dominican Republic and at the end of 1962 stood as a candidate for the Partido Revolucionario Dominicano (PRD) in the first free presidential election since 1930, which he won with 60% of the vote. He took office on February 27, 1963. In his government activities he focused on the democratization of the country, on the implementation of social reforms and on politics independent of the USA . As a result, he fell into disrepute on the part of the Dominican oligarchy, the Catholic Church and the United States, who accused him of adhering to communism and allied against it. In a military coup supported by the CIA , Bosch was overthrown on September 25, 1963 after only seven months in office and again forced to go into exile. The power took over as a result, a three junta (triumvirate), based on military arbitrariness and political terror.

Meanwhile, a movement for the restoration of constitutional status and the return of Bosch was formed in the Dominican Republic. Their suppression and persecution by the military and the police led to a nationwide popular uprising in mid-April 1965 (April Revolution). Bosch's supporters quickly gained the upper hand, disempowered the military junta and set up a provisional government. The military then asked the US to send troops. These corresponded to the “call for help” and sent 42,000 Marines to the Dominican Republic to avert the “left” popular uprising and “communist danger”. Over 5,000 Dominicans lost their lives in the fighting that followed.

The Americans stayed in the country until Joaquín Balaguer (1906–2002), who had already been president under Trujillo, who had come from the USA, was able to win the highest office in the interests of the Bosch opponents in allegedly manipulated “elections”. It was not until 1990 that Juan Bosch reapplied for the office of president, but was beaten by Balaguer with a wafer-thin majority. Also in 1994 he was defeated by his traditional adversary.

Activity as a writer

In addition to his political activities, Juan Bosch was also and above all known as one of the great contemporary writers and storytellers of the Spanish-speaking culture. In his works he often dealt with the social problems of his country and Latin American politics. In his early stories, which have been translated into many languages ​​and which have made their way into Latin American literary history under aesthetic and genre-theoretical aspects, Bosch addresses the national identity of the Dominican Republic. The late works tend to have urban themes and are evidence of a continental and universal theme.

Works

Literary works

• La Mañosa (novel, 1936)
• Three volumes of short stories: Cuentos escritos antes del exilio , Cuentos escritos en el exilio , Más Cuentos escritos en el exilio .
• The girl from La Guaira . Caribbean tales. Frankfurt / Main 1990, ISBN 3-7638-0140-5

Political works

• Bolívar y la guerra social
• De Cristóbal Colón a Fidel Castro
• El Caribe, frontera imperial
• Composición Social Dominicana
• El Pentagonismo, Sustituto del Imperialismo - in German "The Pentagonism or The Replacement of Imperialism?". Reinbek near Hamburg 1969
• Poker de Espanto en el Caribe
• Dictaduras Dominicanas
• Classes Sociales en la República Dominicana
• Crisis de la Democracia de America en la República Dominicana
• Brief historia de la oligarquía
• Trujillo - Causas de una tiranía sin ejemplo
• La Guerra de la Restauración
• Cuentos escritos en el exilio

Web links

• Literature by and about Juan Bosch in the catalog of the German National Library
• Biography on web.archive.org (Spanish)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Ashley Harrell, Kevin Raub: Repubblica Dominicana. Lonely Planet, p. 431.

predecessor	Office	successor
Rafael Filiberto Bonelly	President of the Dominican Republic 1963	Emilio de los Santos