The Marines, Counterinsurgency, and Strategic Culture

186 Chapter 7
pseudo governing units. The American occupiers found their interference
intolerable. Marines did not intend to be inhibited by local ne’er- do- wells
in their own efforts to do good in the name of an adolescent, but growing,
central government. Thus, when indigenous factions—of whatever sort—
resisted the consolidation of power, the military response was to assert further
control under the mantra “restoring internal order.” Asserting control
over one aspect of society often led to attempts to control those to which
it was linked, until the Marine- manufactured constabularies became thoroughly
intertwined in all levels of governing. 3
So strong was the valuing of efficiency and the perception of centralized
power as a necessary tool for delivering state benefits more widely and
more rapidly that Marines were happy to extend this logic to the unseating
of recalcitrant locally elected officials as well. The move was perceived by
Marines in Haiti as a useful cleaning- up and expediting process:
There was a gradual disappearance of local government, and commissioners
appointed by the President took the place of the horde
of office holders who in previous years had spent most of their time
exacting under the guise of “taxes” a harsh tribute from the people.
While this system of government may have been criticized by
some in view of the control exercised over it by American officials,
it certainly lent itself to the expeditious reformation of the country
and the government. 4
The Marines made the same moves in the Dominican Republic, usurping
local power in order to “reduce the ability of provincial governors and
local officials to disrupt the peace and frustrate national programs.” 5 Col.
Rufus Lane, who served as minister of foreign relations, justice, and public
instruction within the Dominican military government, acknowledged that
provincial governments had previously been “a very prominent factor in the
administration” of the country but that these duties had since been taken
over by the military government in order to execute policy more efficiently.
The centralizing reach of the military government did not stop at the provincial
level. Rufus goes on to explain:
The municipal governments were, under the constitution of Santo
Domingo, nominally independent. The officers were elected and
they had certain legislative powers within the confines of their
municipalities. In fact, however, all municipal governments were
subject to the control of national government, and under the
military occupation the tendency towards the ascendency of the
national government was increased. These municipal governments
were highly inefficient and wasteful and seemed to be incapable of
carrying responsibility in reformatory measures. The Department