Dominican Republic and Haiti: Country Studies

Dominican Republic: National Security
armed forces were abolished in 1995. The renewal of upheaval
in Haiti would present a danger of large-scale refugee movements,
however. The several hundred thousand legal and illegal
Haitian immigrants who work in the nation as agricultural
laborers are already a recurring source of tension, and the
Dominicans would face increasing difficulty in controlling border
movement if the economic situation in Haiti caused more
Haitians to flee conditions in their own country (see Foreign
Relations, ch. 4).
After Castro's assumption of power in 1959, the Dominican
Republic saw Cuba as a potential external threat. This view,
which was rooted in the anticommunist sentiments espoused
by Trujillo, is still held by most military officers. It also has a
basis in the 1959 Cuban-based invasion attempt by anti-Trujillo
Dominicans. Cuba itself, however, has never taken overt military
action against the nation. Critics have charged the armed
forces with justifying attacks on leftist political groups and on
political and labor activists by falsely accusing them of having
ties with Cuba.
Until the mid-1970s, the military occasionally conducted
operations against limited insurgencies, but by the late 1970s
the country was relatively free of insurgent groups. In 1990
eight terrorist attacks, mainly bomb explosions, were directed
against United States targets in the Dominican Republic. None
of the attacks resulted in the death of a United States citizen.
Some were linked to the United States military action against
Panama. A group calling itself the Revolutionary Army of the
People claimed responsibility for several of the attacks. The
government blamed the National Union of Revolutionary Students
and other communist organizations for attempting to
organize a campaign of terror and subversion.
As part of its mission to assist the police in maintaining public
order, the military keeps watch on political groups deemed
to be possible sources of instability, including opposition parties
of the far left that have little following but operate freely.
Interdiction of illegal immigration is another mission of the
armed forces. The country has become an important way station
for would-be immigrants to the United States who attempt
to cross the 175-kilometer-wide Mona Passage to Puerto Rico.
Refugees from many corners of the world congregate on the
country's northern coast to make contact with boat captains.
Local officials are often bribed to overlook the activity.
Although the armed forces cooperate with the United States in
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