Joaquín Antonio Balaguer Ricardo (1 September 1906 – 14 July 2002) was a Dominican politician, writer, and lawyer who was the 41st, 45th and 49th president of the Dominican Republic, serving three non-consecutive terms from 1960 to 1962, 1966 to 1978, and 1986 to 1996.
A dominant figure in Dominican politics for much of the second half of the 20th century, Balaguer began his political career under the dictatorship of Rafael Trujillo, serving in diplomatic and ministerial posts before becoming vice president in 1957 and president in 1960. Although formally head of state, effective power remained with Trujillo until his assassination in 1961. Balaguer remained in office during the transition from the dictatorship but was forced into exile in 1962.
Balaguer returned to the Dominican Republic during the political crisis surrounding the 1965 civil war and was elected president in 1966 as the candidate of the Reformist Party, defeating former president Juan Bosch. His twelve years in office, known as the Doce Años, were marked by strong presidential rule, political repression and violence against opponents, rapid economic growth, and extensive public works and infrastructure development. He was reelected in 1970 and 1974 amid restricted political competition and opposition boycotts. In 1978, he was defeated by Antonio Guzmán of the Dominican Revolutionary Party and relinquished the presidency, following an failed military interruption of the vote count.
Balaguer returned to office after winning the 1986 election and was reelected in 1990 and 1994. His later governments continued his emphasis on public works and centralized presidential authority. Serious irregularities in the 1994 election against José Francisco Peña Gómez led to a political settlement that shortened Balaguer's term and introduced electoral and constitutional reforms. He left office in 1996 but remained influential in Dominican politics until his death, supporting Leonel Fernández in the 1996 election and making a final presidential bid in 2000. His legacy remains controversial, encompassing economic development and state-building as well as authoritarianism, political violence, clientelism, and anti-Haitian nationalism.
Balaguer was also a prolific author of poetry, literary criticism, history, and political essays, including works on Dominican nationalism and relations with Haiti.
Early life and introduction to politics
Balaguer was born on 1 September 1906 in Navarrete, later named Villa Bisonó in the Santiago Province in the northwestern corner of the Dominican Republic. His father was Joaquín Jesús Balaguer Lespier, a Spaniard native of Catalan and French ancestry born in Puerto Rico, and his mother was Carmen Celia Ricardo Heureaux, daughter of Manuel de Jesus Ricardo and Rosa Amelia Heureaux (of French descent), who was also a half-cousin of President Ulises Heureaux. Balaguer was the only son in a family of several daughters.
From a very early age, Balaguer felt an attraction to literature, composing verses that were published in local magazines even when he was very young. He was taught by Santiago-born educator and feminist writer Rosa Smester Marrero; in his memoirs, Balaguer recalled Smester's great influence on his intellectual formation.
After graduating from school, Balaguer earned a law degree from the University of Santo Domingo (UASD) and studied for a brief period at the University of Paris I Pantheon-Sorbonne. As a youth, Balaguer wrote of the awe with which he was struck by his father's fellow countryman, the Harvard graduate and political leader from Puerto Rico, Pedro Albizu. Despite the profound differences regarding their ethical and world visions, Albizu's fiery and charismatic rhetoric captured Balaguer's imagination and his recollection of this occasion was a harbinger of his passion for politics and intellectual debate.
Balaguer's political career began in 1930 (before Rafael Trujillo took control of the government) when he was appointed Attorney in the Court of Properties. In later years, he served as Secretary of the Dominican Legation in Madrid (1932–1935), Undersecretary of the Presidency (1936), Undersecretary of Foreign Relations (1937), Extraordinary Ambassador to Colombia and Ecuador (1940–1943 and 1943–1947), Ambassador to Mexico (1947–1949), Secretary of Education (1949–1955), and Secretary of State of Foreign Relations (1953–1956).
Vice presidency and first presidency (1957–1962)
When Trujillo arranged to have his brother Héctor re-elected to the presidency in 1957, he chose Balaguer as vice president. Three years later, when pressure from the Organization of American States (OAS) convinced Rafael that it was inappropriate to have a member of his family as president, Trujillo forced his brother to resign, and Balaguer succeeded to the post.
The situation was dramatically altered, however, when Trujillo was assassinated in May 1961. Balaguer initially remained president, with the real power held by Trujillo's son, Ramfis. They initially took steps to liberalize the regime, granting some civil liberties and easing Trujillo's tight censorship of the press.
Meanwhile, he revoked the nonaggression pact made with Cuba in January 1961. These measures did not go nearly far enough for a populace who had no memory of the instability and poverty that preceded Trujillo, and wanted more freedom and a more equitable distribution of wealth. At the same time, Ramfis' reforms went too far for the hard-line trujillistas led by his own uncles, Héctor and José Arismendi Trujillo. As the OAS continued economic sanctions imposed for Trujillo's attempted murder of Venezuelan President Romulo Betancourt, Ramfis warned that the country could descend into civil war between left and right.
Although official and unofficial repression of the opposition parties (the Dominican Revolutionary Party and National Civic Union, as well as the communist Dominican Popular Movement) continued, Balaguer publicly condemned this repression and in September he pledged to form a coalition government. Hector and Jose Trujillo left the country in October but the opposition parties demanded Ramfis withdraw from the government as well. At the end of October, Ramfis announced that he would resign if the OAS agreed to lift the economic sanctions. The OAS agreed on November 14 but Ramfis' uncles returned to the country the following day, hoping to lead a military coup. Ramfis resigned and went into exile on November 17 and rumours circulated that Air Force general Fernando Arturo Sánchez Otero would support pro-Castro revolutionaries. The United States now sent a small fleet of ships and 1,800 marines to patrol Dominican waters. The US consul informed Balaguer that these forces stood ready to intervene at his request, and would be supported by forces from Venezuela and Colombia. Air Force general Pedro Rafael Ramón Rodríguez Echavarría announced his support for Balaguer and bombed pro-Trujillo forces. The Trujillo brothers again fled the country on November 20 and Echavarría became Secretary of Armed Forces.
The Union Civica Nacional (UCN) called a national strike and demanded the formation of a provisional government under their leader, Viriato Fiallo, with elections to be delayed until 1964. The military were vehemently against the UCN taking power and Echaverría proposed a continuation of the Balaguer regime until the elections. The American consul mediated between the two sides and in January 1962 final agreement led to the creation of a seven-member Council of State, led by Balaguer but including members of the UCN, to replace both the Dominican Congress and the President and his cabinet until the election. The OAS finally lifted sanctions against the country upon the formation of the council. However, popular unrest against Balaguer continued and many saw Echaverría as positioning himself to seize power. Military forces opened fire on demonstrators on 14 January which led to rioting the following day. On 16 January, Balaguer resigned and Echaverría staged a military coup d'état and arrested the other members of the council. With the US supporting the UCN and a new national strike beginning immediately, Echaverría was arrested by other officers two days later. The Council of State was restored under the leadership of Rafael Bonnelly and Balaguer went into exile in New York and Puerto Rico. The US State Department continued to be in contact with Balanguer, with I. Irving Davidson functioning as a liaison.