Timeline Dominican Republic
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History: http://www.hispaniola.com/DR/Guides/History.html
History (in Spanish): http://www.rincondominicano.com/historia.shtml
History: http://www.vdiest.nl/America/dominican_republic.htm
ICL: http://www.uni-wuerzburg.de/law/dr__indx.html
Lanic: http://lanic.utexas.edu/la/cb/dr/
USLC: http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/dotoc.html
Haiti and the Dominican Republic comprise the
Island
of Hispaniola. The capital of DR is Santo Domingo.
(WUD, 1994, p.673)(SFC, 1/10/96, p.A15)(Hem., Dec. '95, p.106)
1492 Dec 5,
Columbus discovered Hispaniola (Haiti and the Dominican Republic).
(http://tinyurl.com/dfzzk)
1492 Dec 24-1492 Dec 25, The Santa
Maria under Columbus ran aground on a reef off Espanola on Christmas
eve, and sank the next day. With the remains of the Santa Maria,
Columbus built a fort and called it La Navidad.
(http://tinyurl.com/dfzzk)
1493 Jan 4, Columbus departed La
Navidad, Hispaniola, and sailed eastward along the coast. He left
behind 38 men, all of whom were later killed in disputes with the local
Indians.
(ON, 8/09, p.2)
1493 Jan 6, Columbus encountered
the Pinta along the north coast of Hispaniola.
(ON, 8/09, p.2)
1493 Jan 16, Columbus aboard the
Nina departed Hispaniola along with the Pinta to return to Spain.
(ON, 8/09, p.2)
1493 Nov 3, Christopher Columbus
discovered the Caribbee Isles (Dominica) during his second expedition.
He and his crew of 1,500 built the town of La Isabela on the northern
coast of the Dominican Republic. It was abandoned within 5 years due in
part to poor relations with the Taino Indians. This area was part of
the chiefdom of Higuey.
(AM, 7/97,
p.54,60)(http://www1.minn.net/~keithp/v2.htm)
1493 Nov 22, Christopher Columbus
arrived at Hispaniola on his 2nd voyage.
(AM, 7/97, p.54,60)(www.jeanrabel.com/history1.html)
1493 Nov 28, Christopher Columbus
arrived La Navidad, Hispaniola. He found the fort burned and his men
from the 1st voyage dead. According to the account of Guacanagari, the
local chief who had befriended Columbus on the first voyage, the men at
Navidad had fallen to arguing among themselves over women and gold.
(http://www1.minn.net/~keithp/v2.htm)
1493 Dec 8, Christopher Columbus
and his crew of 1,500 built the town of La Isabela on the northern
coast of the Dominican Republic. It was abandoned within 5 years due in
part to poor relations with the Taino Indians. This area was part of
the chiefdom of Higuey.
(AM, 7/97,
p.54,60)(http://www1.minn.net/~keithp/v2.htm)
1494 Jan 6, The 1st Roman Catholic
Mass in the New World marked the official establishment of La Isabela.
(AM, 7/97, p.58)
1494 Jan, In the Dominican
Republic there was a failed rebellion against Columbus. The revolt was
organized by Bernal de Pisa, the royal accountant, who was unhappy with
the poor return of gold. Pisa was jailed and several others were hanged.
(AM, 7/97, p.57,59)
1494 Apr 24, Columbus departed
Isabela, Hispaniola, with 3 ships in an effort to reach China, which he
believed was nearby.
(http://www1.minn.net/~keithp/v2.htm)
1494 Apr, Alonso de Hojeda cut off
the ear of a Taino Indian for alleged stealing and sent a number of
Indians in chains to La Isabela.
(AM, 7/97, p.59)
1494 Aug 20, Columbus returned to
Hispaniola. He had confirmed that Jamaica was an island and failed to
find a mainland.
(http://www1.minn.net/~keithp/v2.htm)
1494 Father Ramon Pane wrote an
account of the Taino religion at the request of Christopher Columbus.
(AM, 7/97, p.61)
1495 The Taino Indians staged an
organized attack on the Spaniards, but it was easily crushed.
(AM, 7/97, p.59)
1496 Mar 10, Christopher Columbus
concluded his 2nd visit to the Western Hemisphere as he left Isabela,
with 2 ships for Spain. He returned to Spain to ask for more support
for his colony on Hispaniola.
(AM, 7/97, p.59)(http://www1.minn.net/~keithp/v2.htm)
1496 Apr, About this time
Bartolome Columbus moved the colony to a new settlement on the south
coast, named Isabela La Nueva. It was established on the east bank of
the Ozama River. Columbus established Santo Domingo in what is now the
Dominican Republic.
(SFC, 5/17/96, p.A-14)(AM, 7/97, p.59)(SFEC,
2/14/99, p.T10)
1497 While Columbus was absent
Francisco de Roldan, a former servant, and over 100 followers sacked
the custom house at La Isabela and left to live with the Taino in a
province called Jaragua.
(AM, 7/97, p.59)
1498 Aug 19, Christopher Columbus
arrived at the southern coast of Hispaniola.
(http://www1.minn.net/~keithp/v2.htm)
1500 Oct, Governor De Bobadilla of
Santo Domingo captured Christopher Columbus and returned him in
shackles to Spain. Columbus, during his third sojourn to the new world,
engaged in a dispute with the ambassador plenipotentiary to Santo
Domingo, Hispaniola (later shared by Haiti and the Dominican Republic).
Columbus was later released and forgiven by the Queen.
(V.D.-H.K.p.143)(SFEC, 3/15/98, Z1
p.8)(http://www1.minn.net/~keithp/v2.htm)
1502 Jun 29, Christopher Columbus
arrived at Santo Domingo, Hispaniola, on his 4th voyage to the new
world. He requested harbor and advised Gov. Nicolas de Ovando of an
approaching hurricane. Ovando denied the request and dispatched a
treasure fleet to Spain. 20 ships sank in the storm, 9 returned to port
and one made it to Spain.
(http://www1.minn.net/~keithp/v4.htm)
1502 Bartolome de Las Casas,
soldier, sailed to Hispaniola. He participated in the conquest of Cuba
and received a royal land grant. He later had a change of heart and
became a Dominican priest. 2,500 colonists arrived at Hispaniola.
(NH, 10/96, p.29)(TL-MB, 1988, p.8)
1502 A hurricane nearly destroyed
La Nueva Isabela and it was abandoned. The city was rebuilt on the
other side of the river as Santo Domingo by the new governor, Nicholas
de Ovando.
(AM, 7/97, p.59)
1503 Apr 16, Christopher Columbus
abandoned the garrison at Rio Belen (Panama) and sailed for home
(Hispaniola) with 3 ships. On the way he was shipwrecked in Jamaica.
(http://www1.minn.net/~keithp/v4.htm)
1504 Jun 29, Diego Mendez, one of
Columbus's captains, returned to Jamaica with a small caravel and
rescued the Columbus expedition. Mendez had managed to take a canoe
from Jamaica to Hispaniola where he chartered the rescue ship.
(http://www1.minn.net/~keithp/v4.htm)
1503 The missionary Bartolome de
Las Casa described the brutal destruction of a Taino Indian city, La
Aleta (later in the Dominican Republic). Captain-Gen’l. Juan de
Esquival led a Spanish force that massacred 600-700 Higuey Tainos for
rebelling after one of their chiefs was disemboweled by a Spanish
attack dog. In 1997 archeologists found evidence of a city at the site
called La Aleta.
(SFC, 3/29/97, p.A10)(AM, 7/97, p.60)
1510 The Florentine banker
Bartolommeo di Marchionni lent the King of Spain money for the crown’s
first shipment of Africans to Santo Domingo.
(SFEC,11/16/97, BR p.4)
1514 Diego Columbus, son of
Christopher, built the first seat of government in the Americas in
Santo Domingo.
(SFEC, 2/14/99, p.T10)
1515 Bartolome de Las Casas
(1474-1566), Dominican priest and the first Spanish priest to be
ordained in the New World, returned to Spain from Hispaniola to plead
on behalf of the ill-treated native Indians. He became known as the
“Apostle to the Indians.” Helen Rand Parish (1912-2005) later authored
a number of seminal works on Las Casas.
(NH, 10/96, p.29)(TL-MB, p.11)(SSFC, 5/15/05,
p.A19)(http://tinyurl.com/brzzu)
1515 By this year the Taino
Indians were practically annihilated in clashes with the Spanish.
(SFC, 3/29/97, p.A10)
1522 A massive slave rebellion,
the first of dozens, was crushed in Hispaniola.
(TL-MB, p.12)
1526 Jul 26, The Spaniard Lucas
Vasquez de Ayllon and his colonists left Santo Domingo in the Caribbean
for Florida.
(HN, 7/26/98)
1585 Francis Drake attacked the
Spanish ports of Vigo and Santo Domingo. English shipping in Spanish
ports was then confiscated as a virtual declaration of war by
Spain.
(TL-MB, 1988, p.24)
1586 Jan 1, Francis Drake, who
left England on a new voyage to America last September, made a surprise
attack on the heavily fortified city of Santo Domingo in Hispaniola,
forcing the governor to pay a large ransom.
(HN, 1/1/99)
1697 Sep 20, The Treaty of Ryswick
was signed in Holland. It ended the War of the Grand Alliance (aka War
of the League of Augsburg,1688-1697) between France and the Grand
Alliance. Under the Treaty France’s King Louis XIV (1638-1715)
recognized William III (1650-1702) as King of England. The Dutch
received trade concessions, and France and the Grand Alliance members
(Holland and the Austrian Hapsburgs) gave up most of the land they had
conquered since 1679. The signees included France, England, Spain and
Holland. By the Treaty of Ryswick, a portion of Hispaniola was formally
ceded to France and became known as Saint-Domingue. The remaining
Spanish section was called Santo Domingo.
(www.caribbeanguides.net/hispaniola.htm)(www.jacobite.ca/documents/1697ryswick.htm)
1791 Aug 14, Haitian slaves, led
by voodoo priest Boukman Dutty, gathered to plan a revolution.
(SFCM, 5/30/04, p.9)( http://tinyurl.com/yun3k3)
1791 In St. Domingue Toussaint
L’Ouverture joined the slave rebellion against plantation owners and
later led a colonial revolt against France. In 1995 Madison Smart Bell
authored "All Souls Rising," a novel set in this period.
(SFEC, 1/26/97 BR, p.10)(SSFC, 4/8/01, BR p.4)(SFCM,
5/30/04, p.10)
1792 Jan 28, Rebellious slaves in
Santo Domingo launched an attack on the city of Cap.
(HN, 1/28/99)
1793 Apr 14, A royalist rebellion
in Santo Domingo was crushed by French republican troops.
(HN, 4/14/99)
1793 Aug 29, Slavery was abolished
in the French colony of Santo Domingo (Haiti).
(HN, 8/29/98)(MC, 8/29/01)
1793 Sep, The 1st British soldiers
came ashore at St. Domingue.
(SFCM, 5/30/04, p.10)
1794 May, Toussaint Louverture
(L’Ouverture), Haitian rebel leader, ended his alliance with the
Iberian monarchy and embraced the French Republicans. An order followed
that led to the massacre of Spaniards.
(WSJ, 1/19/07, p.W4)
1795 Jul 22, Spain signed the
Peace of Basel, a treaty with France ending the War of the Pyrenees.
The treaty ceded Santo Domingo to France.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peace_of_Basel)
1795 Britain reinforced its forces
in St. Domingue. It was the largest expedition that had ever left
England.
(SFCM, 5/30/04, p.12)
1798 May 2, The black General
Toussaint L'ouverture forced British troops to agree to evacuate the
port of Santo Domingo. After 5 years of fighting over 60% of 20,000
British troops were buried on St. Domingue.
(HN, 5/2/99)(SFCM, 5/30/04, p.12)
1800 Dessalines, a lieutenant of
Haitian rebel leader Toussaint L'Ouverture (Louverture),
butchered many mulattoes (the estimates range from 200 to 10,000).
(http://tinyurl.com/22xwby)(WSJ, 1/19/07, p.W4)
1800s The Haitians occupied the
country twice since the 1800s.
(SFC, 5/17/96, p.A-14)
1801 Jan, Toussaint Louverture,
ignoring the commands of Napoleon Bonaparte, overran Spanish Santo
Domingo, where slavery persisted.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toussaint_L'Ouverture)
1801 Jul 7, A new constitution,
drafted by a committee appointed by Toussaint Louverture (L’Ouverture),
went into effect and declared the independence of Hispaniola. The
constitution made him governor general for life with near absolute
powers.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toussaint_L'Ouverture)(WSJ, 3/1/04, p.A16)
1802 Feb, Napoleon sent a large
army under his brother-in-law, Charles Leclerc, to regain control of
St. Domingue. Thousands of soldiers died mainly to yellow fever and
French control was abandoned so as to support military ventures in
Europe. Toussaint L'Ouverture turned to guerrilla warfare inspired by
the ideals of the French Revolution and its motto of "Liberty,
Equality, Fraternity."
(CO, Grolier's, 11/10/95)(AP, 4/7/03)
1803 Nov 18, The Battle of
Vertieres was fought. Jean-Jacques Dessalines (b.1758), Haitian rebel
leader, led his army to decisive victory over the French with his
slogan "Cut off their heads and burn down their houses."
(HFA, ‘96, p.42)(AP,
4/7/03)(www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/43a/168.html)
1804 Jan 1, Jacques Dessalines
proclaimed the Republic of Haiti and declared independence from France
(National Day).
(WSJ, 3/1/04, p.A16)(SFCM, 5/30/04, p.19)
1804 Apr 20, Jean-Jacques
Dessalines, Haitian rebel leader, commanded a massacre of the French at
town of Cape Francois. It is generally thought that Dessalines had
around 20,000 French slaughtered in early 1804.
(http://tinyurl.com/yu94s8)(http://tinyurl.com/23fdxf)
1804 Oct 6, Jean-Jacques
Dessalines (b.1758) had himself crowned James I, Emperor of Haiti. He
was murdered two years later in a conspiracy under Christophe and
Pétion.
(www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/43a/168.html)
1806 Oct 17, Jean-Jacques
Dessalines (b.1758), Emp. Jacques I of Haiti, was assassinated.
(www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/43a/168.html)
1844 Feb 27, Dominican Republic
gained independence from Haiti (National Day). [see Nov 6]
(MC, 2/27/02)
1844 Nov 6, Spain granted
independence to the Dominican Republic. The Dominican Republic won
independence from next door Haiti after 2 occupations. [see Feb 27]
(SFC, 5/16/96, p.A-9)(MC, 11/6/01)
1849-1878 Buenaventura Baez served five terms as
president of the Dominican Republic. He sought to have his country
annexed by the United States twice, in 1850 and 1868. In 1878 he was
forced out of office and into permanent exile in Puerto Rico. Baez
helped lead the revolt that established the republic's independence
from Haiti in 1843. Baez is remembered as a thoroughly corrupt tyrant,
having no regard for his people or their property.
(HNQ, 2/1/99)
1863-1865 The conflict of this period was known as
the War of the Restoration. From 1844--after independence from
Haitian—until 1899, the fledgling republic was dominated by a series of
dictatorial “men on horseback.” One of these strong men, Pedro Santana,
endeavored to stave off the threat of Haiti by returning the country to
Spanish control, with him as the Governor General beginning in 1861.
The Spanish troops eventually left, but the idea of the protectorate
remained, eventually leading to U.S. occupation in 1916.
(HNQ, 8/10/00)
1891 Oct 24, Rafael L. Trujillo
Molina, was born. He became president and dictator of the Dominican
Republic (1930-61).
(MC, 10/24/01)
1902 Apr 28, A revolution broke
out in the Dominican Republic.
(HN, 4/28/98)
1904 Jan 2, U.S. Marines were sent
to Santo Domingo to aid the government against rebel forces.
(HN, 1/2/99)
1905 Feb 7, The Dominican Republic
signed a treaty turning over customs collection to US.
(MC, 2/7/02)
1916 May 5, U.S. marines invaded
the Dominican Republic. [see May 15, 1916]
(HN, 5/5/98)
1916 May 15, U.S. Marines landed
in Santo Domingo to quell civil disorder. [see May 5, 1916]
(HN, 5/15/98)
1916 May 29, U.S. forces invaded
the Dominican Republic and stayed until 1924. [see May 5&15, 1916]
(HN, 5/29/98)
1916 Nov 29, US declared martial
law in Dominican Republic.
(MC, 11/29/01)
1916-1924 US Marines occupied the Dominican Republic.
(SFC, 5/17/96, p.A-14)
1924 Jun 26, After eight years of
occupation, American troops left the Dominican Republic.
(HN, 6/26/98)
1930 Sep 3, In the Dominican
Republic a hurricane killed 2,000 and injured 4,000.
(MC, 9/3/01)
1930-1961 Rafael Trujillo, an American-trained
National Guard general, was dictator during this period.
(SFC, 5/17/96, p.A-14)
1930s Late, A handful of Spanish
artists, including Eugenio Granell and Jose Vela Zanetti, immigrated to
Santo Domingo and introduced the modern art idiom.
(WSJ, 6/18/96, p.A14)
1936 Trujillo changed the name of
Santo Domingo to "Ciudad Trujillo."
(WSJ, 2/8/00, p.A24)
1937 Mar 6, Jose Pena Gomez
(d.1998 at 61), advocate for the poor and later mayor of Santo Domingo,
was born in Valverde, Dominican Republic, to Haitian immigrants.
According to Jose Pena Gomez, a Dominican massacre of Haitians forced
his parents to flee back to Haiti. Jose was adopted by a Dominican
family.
(SFC, 5/12/98, p.A21)
1937 Thousands of Haitian
immigrants were massacred in the Dominican Republic. In 1998 the novel
“The Farming of Bones” by Edwidge Danticat was based on this event.
(SFEC, 12/13/98, BR p.3)
1942 Minerva Bernardino led the
fight for expanded rights in the new constitution.
(SFC, 9/5/98, p.A23)
1947 Juan Bosch of the Dominican
Republic worked as a personal secretary to Cuba’s Pres. Carlos Prio
Socarras and participated in an ill-fated attempt to organize an
anti-Trujillo invasion.
(SFC, 11/2/01, p.D6)
1950 Minerva Bernardino (d.1998 at
91) was appointed a representative of the Dominican Republic at the
United Nations. She was one of the only 4 women to sign the 1945 UN
Charter in San Francisco. She had insisted that the document include
the phrase “to ensure respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms
without discrimination against race, sex, condition or creed.”
(SFC, 9/5/98, p.A23)
1955 Rafael Leonidas Trujillo
ordered every household to hang a plaque that read: In this house,
Trujillo is chief."
(WSJ, 2/8/00, p.A24)
1956-1959 Some 1,300 Japanese made a 30-day, 8,000
mile voyage across the oceans to settle on free land offered by
Dominican Republic dictator Gen. Rafael Trujillo. In 2000 more than 170
immigrants sued the Japanese government, claiming they were deceived
into leaving Japan and taking bad land. In 2006 Japan settled the
lawsuit, promising to pay up to $17,000 to each plaintiff as well as
$10,000 to emigrants who did not take part in the suit.
(AP, 7/25/06)
1959 The Dominican dictator
Trujillo broke relations with Cuba soon after Castro took power.
(WSJ, 4/9/98, p.A1)
1961 May 30, Rafael Leonides
Trujillo Molina (69), Dominican Republic dictator (1930-61), was
murdered. In his final years he had installed Joaquin Balaguer as vice
president and then as president. Balaguer fled to exile in NYC
following the assassination.
(SFC, 5/17/96, p.A-14)(SFC, 7/15/02, p.B6)(MC,
5/30/02)
1962 Dec 20, In its first free
election in 38 years, the Dominican Republic chose leftist Juan Bosch
Gavino, the leftist leader of the Dominican Revolutionary Party, as
president. Juan Bosch (1909-2001) was toppled in the Dominican Republic
by the army shortly after being elected. His plans for land reform
would have split up sugar plantations owned by generals.
(SFC, 5/17/96, p.A-14)(SFC, 5/12/98, p.A21)(HN,
12/20/98)(SFC, 11/2/01, p.D6)
1965 Jose Pena Gomez incited a
popular uprising on radio and demanded the restoration of Pres. Bosch.
Leftists in the army revolted and Pres. Lyndon Johnson sent in 23,000
US Marines to prevent a Cuban-style revolution.
(SFC, 5/12/98, p.A21)
1965 Apr 28, U.S. Army and Marines
under US Pres. Lyndon Johnson invaded the Dominican Republic to stop a
civil war. Johnson sent 22,800 troops at the urging of Thomas Mann
(d.1999 at 87), a high state department official. The troops stayed
until stay until Oct 1966.
(SFC, 5/17/96, p.A-14)(HN, 4/28/98)(MC, 4/28/02)
1965 Jul 5, Porfirio Rubirosa
(b.1909), Dominican Republic playboy, died in a car crash in Paris. His
5 wives included Woolworth heiress Barbara Hutton. In 2005 Shawn Levy
authored “The Last Playboy: The High Life of Porfirio Rubirosa.”
(http://tinyurl.com/bfdj4)(SSFC, 10/16/05, p.M3)
1966 Joaquin Balaguer, a
conservative former president, defeated Bosch in elections with US
support and served as president for 22 of the next 30 years.
(SFC, 5/17/96, p.A-14)(SFC, 5/12/98, p.A21)
1968 Nov 12, Sammy Sosa, baseball
outfielder (Chicago Cubs), was born in the Dominican Republic.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sammy_Sosa)
1970 Feb 15, A Dominican DC-9
crashed into sea at Santo Domingo and 102 people were killed.
(http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19700215-0)
1973 Juan Bosch resigned from the
Dominican Revolutionary Party, founded by exiles in Cuba, and formed
the moderate Dominican Liberation Party.
(SFC, 5/12/98, p.A21)(SFC, 11/2/01, p.D6)
1975 Mar 17, Journalist Orlando
Martinez Howley, editor of the opposition magazine Ahora and columnist
for El Nacional, was slain. In 1997 police arrested retired Gen’l.
Salvador Lluberes Montes, former chief of the armed forces, in
connection with the slayings. In 2000 retired Gen. Joaquin Pou Castro,
gunman Rafael Lluberes Ricart, former air force officer Mariano Cabrera
Duran and Luis Emilio de la Rosa Beras were sentenced to 30 years in
prison each for their role in the murder.
(SFC, 11/25/96, p.A9)(SFC, 4/2/97, p.A12)(SFC,
8/5/00, p.A11)
1975 Nov 20, An interim report by
the US Senate’s Church Committee said that the CIA failed to
assassinated Fidel Castro at least 8 times. The report also covered CIA
activity in Chile, the Congo, the Dominican Republic and elsewhere.
(WSJ, 8/5/06,
p.A9)(http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Church_Committee)
1978 May, The Revolutionary Party
(PRD), under the leadership of Jose Pena Gomez, won the Dominican Rep.
presidential elections.
(SFC, 5/12/98,
p.A21)(www.qsy.com/dominican/domrep01.html)
1978 Aug 16, Antonio Guzman
(1911-1982) assumed office as president of the Dominican Rep. Mindful
of the fate of Juan Bosch sixteen years before, Guzman determined to
move slowly in the area of social and economic reforms and to deal as
directly as possible with the threat of political pressure from the
armed forces.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonio_Guzm%C3%A1n_Fern%C3%A1ndez)
1979-1997 In the Dominican Rep. Metales y Oxido S.A.,
ran a battery recycling plant in Haina. It left behind fields of lead
powder that sickened local people and caused brain damage in children.
The Dominican government said in 1999 that the site would be cleaned
up, but little was done. In 2007 cleanup efforts began to move forward.
(AP, 6/20/07)
1980 Feb 27, The M-19
revolutionary group took over the embassy of the Dominican Republic in
Bogota, Colombia, for 2 months. After 61 days they were given $1
million and asylum to Cuba in a deal negotiation by Pres. Turbay.
(SFC, 1/7/97, p.A10)(WSJ, 1/8/97, p.A12)(AP, 9/14/05)
1982 May 16, In the Dominican
Republic the Revolutionary Party, under the leadership of Jose Pena
Gomez (1937-1998), won the presidential elections. The PRD's
presidential candidate, Salvador Jorge Blanco, won, and the PRD gained
a majority in both houses of Congress. Jose Pena Gomez served as the
mayor of Santo Domingo from 1982-1986.
(http://tinyurl.com/32jvel)(www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/35639.htm)
1982 Jul 4, Antonio Guzman
(b.1911), president of the Dominican Rep., committed suicide by a
gunshot wound to his head while still in office. Vice president Jacobo
Majluta Azar served out the remainder of the term.
(http://tinyurl.com/2qsrx7)(http://history.sandiego.edu/gen/20th/dominican.html)
1986 In the Dominican Republic
former Pres. Joaquin Balaguer won elections and served for 10 years.
(SFC, 7/15/02, p.B6)
1986 The site of the 1493 town of
La Isabela was named a national park, Solar de las Americas.
(AM, 7/97, p.54)
1986 Ramon Baez Sr. started
Baninter Bank.
(WSJ, 6/30/03, p.A12)
1990 Inflation surged to 100% and
forced the initiation of austerity measures.
(SFC, 5/17/96, p.A-14)
1991 Julia Alvarez, native of the
Dominican Republic, wrote her novel “How the Garcia Girls Lost Their
Accents.”
(SFC, 2/5/97, p.E1)
1992 A US Senate report linked the
Sun Yee On triad to criminal organizations in Canada, the Dominican
Republic, and 7 US cities including SF. The report stated that the
syndicate was in outright control of the entertainment industry in Hong
Kong.
(SFC, 2/18/98, p.A7)
1994 May 26, Michael Jackson and
Lisa Marie Presley were married in the Dominican Republic. (The
marriage, however, did not last.)
(AP, 5/26/99)
1994 Oct, The former Haiti police
chief, Lt. Col. Michel Francois fled to the Dominican Republic 2 weeks
after US troops arrived in Haiti.
(SFC, 3/8/96, p.A10)
1994 Balaguer was re-elected after
a questionable 1% margin of victory over Jose Francesco Pena Gomez. By
this year inflation dropped to 4%
(SFC, 5/17/96, p.A-14)
1994 Journalist Narciso Gonzalez
disappeared outside air force headquarters. he had accused Balaguer of
fraud in the elections.
(SFC, 11/25/96, p.A9)
1996 Feb 6, A Turkish-owned Boeing
757 jetliner crashed into the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Puerto
Plata shortly after takeoff from the Dominican Republic, killing 189
people, mostly German tourists.
(WSJ, 2/8/96, p.A-1)(SFC, 5/12/96, p.A-14)(AP,
2/6/01)(WSJ, 11/13/01, p.A14)
1996 Mar 2, Jacobo Majluta (61),
President of Dominican Republic (1982), died.
(SC, 3/2/02)
1996 May 16, Three candidates vied
to succeed Pres. Joaquin Balaguer. Front runner Jose Francisco Pena
Gomez of the Dominican Liberation Party was accused of having Haitian
parentage. Most Dominicans are of mixed European and African heritage.
The candidate of the ruling Social Christian Reformist Party was
Jacinto Peynado. The centrist candidate was Leonel Fernandez.
(SFC, 5/16/96, p.A-9)
1996 May 18, A second round of
voting on June 30 put Leonel Fernandez of the Dominican Liberation
Party against Jose Francisco Pena Gomez of the Dominican Revolutionary
Party.
(SFC, 5/18/96, p.A-8)
1996 Jun 30, Leonel Fernandez won
the elections with 51% of the vote.
(WSJ, 7/2/96, p.A1)
1996 Aug 16, Dominican Rep. Pres.
Balaguer left office. Leonel Antonio Fernández Reyna (b. 1953),
a 42-year-old lawyer who grew up in New York City, was the 100th
president of the Dominican Republic. He replaced Joaquín Amparo
Balaguer Ricardo (1906-2002), President of the Dominican Republic from
1960 to 1962, from 1966 to 1978, and again from 1986-1996.
(SFC, 11/25/96,
p.A9)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joaquin_Balaguer)
1996 Oct, Pres. Leonel Fernandez
forced 24 army generals into retirement.
(SFC, 11/25/96, p.A9)
1996 Nov 1, Pres. Fernandez fired
his commander-in-chief Lt. Gen’l. Juan Bautista Rojas Tobar after he
was accused of involvement in the 1994 slaying of Narciso Gonzalez.
(SFC, 11/25/96, p.A9)
1997 Nov 11, Troops clashed with
marchers at the start of a general strike and one demonstrator was left
dead. The strike was called to protest low wages, power outages, closed
schools and closed businesses.
(WSJ, 11/12/97, p.A1)
1998 Jan, The 6-month sugar cane
harvest began and thousands of Haitians were entering the country
illegally to work.
(SFC, 1/21/98, p.A9)
1998 Feb 7, Falco (40), Austrian
born pop singer, died while on vacation in an auto crash in the
Dominican Republic. His hits included “Der Kommissar,” “Rock Me
Amadeus,” and “Vienna Calling.”
(SFEC, 2/8/98, p.D8)
1998 Apr 8, Cuba restored
relations with the Dominican Republic.
(WSJ, 4/9/98, p.A1)
1998 Aug 20, Fidel Castro (72)
visited the Dominican Republic for a regional meeting on trade
negotiations with Europe. He was greeted by Pres. Leonel Fernandez (44).
(SFC, 8/21/98, p.A15)
1998 Sep 22, Hurricane Georges hit
the Dominican Republic and at least 12 people were killed. Three people
were killed in St. Kitts, 2 in Antigua and 4 in Puerto Rico.
(SFC, 9/23/98, p.A10)
1998 Sep 23, The death toll from
hurricane Georges reached 110. 17 people were killed in Haiti and 17 in
the Dominican Republic as the storm hit Cuba.
(SFC, 9/24/98, p.A12)(WSJ, 9/24/98, p.A1)
1998 The tiny 1.6 cm. Jaragua
Gecko was found on Beata Island. It was the smallest of all 23,000
species of reptiles, birds and animals.
(SFC, 12/15/01, p.A2)
1998 Sep 24, The death toll from
Hurricane Georges reached 443. The Dominican Republic toll was later
set at 265; 154 in Haiti; 6 in Cuba; 11 in Puerto Rico; 2 in Antigua; 4
in St. Kitts and Nevis and 1 in the Bahamas.
(SFC, 9/25/98, p.A16)(WSJ, 9/28/98, p.A1)(SFC,
10/3/98, p.A11)
1999 Jan 6, The Dominican Republic
considered sending soldiers into parts of Santo Domingo where fighting
between police and drug gangs had left 48 people dead since late Dec.
(WSJ, 1/7/99, p.A1)
1999 Sep 22, The FBI hit a big
Mexican drug ring, formerly run by Amado Carillo Fuentes, with 93
arrests in the US and the Dominican Republic.
(WSJ, 9/22/99, p.A1)
1999 Nov 26, Leaders of 71
developing countries demanded that the world's poorest countries be
allowed to export goods duty-free to wealthy economies. The ACP group
was meeting in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.
(SFC, 11/27/99, p.A14)
2000 Jan 17, A boat carrying 40
migrants trying to illegally reach Puerto Rico sank off the Dominican
coast after leaving Sabana de la Mar and at least 8 people were killed.
(SFC, 1/18/00, p.A12)
2000 Feb 25, It was reported that
the number of HIV infected people in the Caribbean region ranged from
500,000-700,000. Cases in Haiti were estimated to be 330,000 and
150,000 in the Dominican Republic
(SFC, 2/26/00, p.A10)
2000 Mar 8, Near Puerto Rico at
least 10 people died when a boat carrying some 70 illegal immigrants
from the Dominican Republic capsized.
(SFC, 3/9/00, p.A12)
2000 May 17, In the Dominican
Republic Hipolito Mejia, the populist opposition leader, was on the
verge of winning the election with enough votes to avoid a runoff.
Danilo Medina of the incumbent Liberation party had 24.9% and Joaquin
Balaguer had 24.6% for the Social Christian Reformist Party.
(SFC, 5/18/00, p.C16)
2000 May 18, Hipolito Mejia was
declared the winner in the presidential race after his opponents
withdrew.
(SFC, 5/19/00, p.D4)
2000 Aug 16, Hipolito Mejia (59)
assumed the presidency of the Dominican Republic succeeding Leonel
Fernandez. He proceeded to use foreign borrowing to finance public
spending.
(SFC, 8/17/00, p.A16)(Econ, 12/13/03, p.35)
2000 Oct 3, In the Dominican
Republic an arms depot exploded and 2 civilians were killed in San
Cristobal.
(WSJ, 10/4/00, p.A1)
2000 Dec 4, It was reported that a
mutated oral polio vaccine infected at least 3 people in the Dominican
Republic and Haiti. That standard vaccine appeared to work against the
mutated strain.
(SFC, 12/4/00, p.E2)(WSJ, 4/16/02, p.A1)
2001 Mar 15, Two of 60 Dominicans
survived a shipwreck following 24 days at sea. Some had resorted to
eating the dead after food and water ran out. The migrants were
attempting to reach Puerto Rico.
(SFC, 3/21/01, p.A14)
2001 Aug 31, The US Little League
tossed out pitcher Danny Almonte’s perfect game and all his teams
victories and 3rd place World Series finish after learning that he was
14 and not 12.
(SFC, 9/1/01, p.A8)
2001 Oct 7, Hurricane Iris caused
a mudslide in the Dominican Republic that killed 3 people.
(WSJ, 10/8/01, p.A1)
2001 Nov 12, American Airlines
Flight 587, bound for the Dominican Republic, crashed in Belle Harbor
in the Far Rockaway district of Queens just after takeoff from JFK
Airport. All 260 crew and passengers were killed as well as 5 people on
the ground. The A300-600 plane appeared to have fallen apart. The
vertical tail section cracked off when composite fittings failed
possibly due to turbulence from a preceding 747. In 2004 a safety board
said the pilot’s “unnecessary and excessive“ use of the rudder
contributed to the crash.
(SFC, 11/14/01, p.A14)(SFC, 11/15/01, p.A19)(SFC,
10/27/04, p.A3)(AP, 11/12/05)
2002 May 16, Legislative and
municipal elections were held. The ruling Dominican Revolutionary Party
of Pres. Hipolito Mejia claimed victory.
(SFC, 5/18/02, p.A13)
2002 Jul 13, Dominican
lawmakers voted to reform the country's constitution to allow
presidents to serve two consecutive terms in office.
(AP, 7/14/02)
2002 Jul 14, Joaquin
Balaguer (95), who ruled the Dominican Republic for 22 years and
dominated his country's politics for years after leaving office, died.
(AP, 7/14/02)(SFC, 7/15/02, p.B6)
2002 Aug 10, A UNICEF report said
about 2,500 Haitian children are smuggled illegally into the Dominican
Republic each year to work as manual laborers or beggars.
(AP, 8/10/02)
2002 Sep 14, In Santo Domingo,
Dominican Republic, demonstrators threw homemade firebombs at police
who retaliated with tear gas during a fourth day of violent protests
over electricity blackouts that have left 2 dead.
(AP, 9/14/02)
2002 Sep 20, A riot in an
overcrowded Dominican prison left at least 27 inmates dead and 48
others injured, 12 critically. Most of the deaths were by smoke
inhalation.
(AP, 9/20/02)
2002 Nov 15, Latin American
leaders gathered in Bavaro, Dominican Republic, for the 12th annual
Ibero-American Summit to discuss ways to ease poverty, fight drug
trafficking and heal internal strife.
(AP, 11/15/02)
2002 Nov 17, Leaders from Latin
America, Spain and Portugal closed their summit with new pledges of
support for struggling coffee-growing countries.
(AP, 11/17/02)
2003 Feb 26, Striking
Dominica public workers agreed to end a 6-day strike that slowed air
transportation and mail service, after the government agreed to review
its proposal to cut the work force.
(AP, 2/26/03)
2003 May 15, The Dominican
government took control of the Caribbean nation's oldest and most
respected newspaper and seized 70 radio and four television stations
after Ramon Baez, banker and media baron, was charged with bank fraud.
(AP, 5/15/03)(WSJ, 6/30/03, p.A12)
2003 Jun 3, Miss Dominican
Republic, 18-year-old Amelia Vega, was crowned in Panama City, Panama,
as Miss Universe 2003.
(AP, 6/4/03)
2003 Aug 11, The Dominican
Republic granted asylum to former Ecuadorian President Gustavo Noboa,
who has been under investigation for allegedly mishandling his
country's foreign debt negotiations and costing the country $9 billion.
(AP, 8/12/03)
2003 Aug 20, In the Dominican
Republic police clashed with rioters who were protesting rising prices
and electrical blackouts, leaving one man dead and a dozen arrested.
(AP, 8/21/03)
2003 Oct, The IMF suspended a $600
million loan program to the Dominican Republic, agreed upon in August,
after the government paid out a similar amount to re-nationalize the 2
main electricity distributors.
(Econ, 12/13/03, p.35)
2003 Nov 11, Dominican Republic
police fired rubber bullets at rock-throwing protesters during a
general strike. At least 6 people were reported killed and 60 injured.
(AP, 11/12/03)
2003 Dec 7, Tropical Storm Odette
lashed the Dominican Republic with torrential rains, prompting
thousands to flee their homes and killed at least 8 people before it
dissipated over the Atlantic.
(AP, 12/8/03)
2003 About 20% of Dominican
Republic’s GDP went into a questionable bailout of the country’s 3rd
largest bank. The bailout under Pres. Mejia triggered economic chaos.
(Econ, 8/21/04, p.31)(Econ, 5/20/06, p.42)
2004 Jan 28, Businesses shut down,
schools closed and streets emptied for a 48-hour strike to protest the
Dominican Republic's worst economic crisis in decades.
(AP, 1/28/04)
2004 Jan 29, In the Dominican
Republic at least 4 protesters died from gunshot wounds suffered in
clashes with security forces.
(AP, 1/29/04)
2004 Apr 20, Gen. Jose Miguel Soto
Jimenez said the Dominican Republic will pull its troops out of Iraq
early, in the next few weeks, following the lead of Spain and Honduras.
(AP, 4/20/04)
2004 May 16, Dominican Republic
President Hipolito Mejia sought a second term in an election. Leonel
Fernandez, former Dominican leader (1996-2000), reclaimed the
presidency in a vote that reflected frustration with the nation's worst
economic crisis in decades. A polling-station shooting left 3 people
dead.
(AP, 5/16/04)(AP, 5/17/04)(WSJ, 5/17/04, p.A1)
2004 May 24, Heavy rains left as
many as 2000 people dead across the island of Hispaniola. Health
officials feared up to 1,000 people could be dead in the Haitian town
of Mopau. Floods wiped out villages across Haiti and the Dominican
Republic. The final toll was over 3,300 dead.
(AP, 5/27/04)(SFC, 5/28/04, p.A3)(AP, 6/5/04)
2004 May 28, US officials and 5
Central American countries (Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala,
Honduras and Nicaragua) signed a free trade pact (CAFTA), to be later
approved by Congress. The Dominican Republic would be included later.
(SFC, 5/29/04, p.A4)
2004 Jun 17, In the Dominican
Republic Craig Roger Hiserote (55), an American executive for a North
Carolina-based energy company, was killed by two gunmen on a motorcycle
as he drove home from work in the coastal town of San Pedro de Macoris.
(AP, 6/17/04)
2004 Aug 10, Thirty-three missing
Dominican migrants were found alive after nearly two weeks at sea, but
two died on the way to the hospital. 55 others aboard died on the
journey.
(AP, 8/10/04)(SFC, 8/12/04, p.A12)
2004 Sep 6, The Supreme Court
ordered the Dominican government to relinquish control of the country's
oldest daily newspaper, which was taken over more than a year ago amid
a major bank scandal.
(AP, 9/6/04)
2004 Sep 13, In the Dominican
Republic 4 youths were swept away and killed by monstrous waves from
Hurricane Ivan in Santo Domingo.
(AP, 9/14/04)
2004 Sep 17, Tropical Storm Jeanne
lashed the Dominican Republic with wind and rain that triggered
mudslides and collapsed walls before it weakened to a tropical
depression and headed toward the Bahamas. Eight were killed across the
Caribbean.
(AP, 9/17/04)
2004 Oct 4, Officials in Haiti
said they have found hundreds more bodies, raising the death toll from
Tropical Storm Jeanne to nearly 2,000 people. Later estimates put the
death toll at 3,000.
(AP, 10/4/04)(AP, 11/1/07)
2004 Dec 3, A boat carrying at
least 91 Dominican migrants apparently trying to reach Puerto Rico
illegally capsized, killing eight people.
(AP, 12/4/04)
2004 The Dominican Republic joined
the negotiations for the Central American Free Trade Agreement with the
US and the agreement was renamed DR-CAFTA.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CAFTA)
2005 Feb, The Dominican Republic
secured a $665 million loan from the IMF.
(Econ, 5/28/05, p.42)
2005 Mar 7, In the Dominican
Republic rival gangs fighting for control of a provincial prison set
pillows and sheets ablaze, starting a fire that killed 136 inmates
after rescuers were thwarted by a jammed entrance.
(AP, 3/11/05)
2005 Apr 27, The Dominican
Republic education secretary said all public elementary and secondary
schools will institute mandatory English classes by the next school
year.
(AP, 4/27/05)
2005 Jun 30, In Honduras Central
American leaders agreed to create a regional special forces unit to
fight drug trafficking, gang violence and terrorism within their
borders. The 2-day regional meeting included the presidents of Costa
Rica, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, Nicaragua,
and Panama.
(AP, 6/30/05)
2005 Aug 2, President Bush signed
a free trade pact with five Central American nations and the Dominican
Republic.
(AP, 8/2/06)
2005 Aug 25, Haiti recalled its
top diplomat to the Dominican Republic after 3 Haitian migrants were
beaten and burned to death in an attack that has added to growing
tensions between the uneasy Caribbean neighbors.
(AP, 8/25/05)
2005 Sep 6, Dominican Republic
legislators overwhelmingly approved a free-trade agreement with the US
and five Central American countries, rejecting arguments that the pact
would devastate the domestic sugar industry. The other five countries
are Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua. Costa
Rica and Nicaragua had not yet ratified the pact.
(AP, 9/6/05)
2005 Sep 6, Nine countries:
Antigua, Belize, Grenada, Guyana, Dominica, Suriname, St. Kitts, St.
Vincent and the Dominican Republic, signed oil deals with Venezuela in
Jamaica. Cuba and Jamaica had previously signed. Chavez urged Caribbean
governments to consider Cuba-style socialism as an alternative to
capitalism.
(AP, 9/11/05)
2005 Oct 1, In the Dominican Rep.
1,719 homicides were reported in the first eight months of the year,
compared to 1,513 during the same period in 2004. At least 25 children
have been killed or injured by stray bullets in the same period. Police
estimate guns are used in 75 percent of homicides.
(AP, 10/1/05)
2005 Oct 22, A record 22nd
tropical storm of the season formed about 125 miles off the Dominican
Republic; because the annual list of storm names had already been
exhausted, forecasters called the new system Tropical Storm Alpha.
(AP, 10/22/06)
2005 Oct 25, A rain-swollen river
flooded Puerto Plata in the northern Dominican Republic, washing away
houses and killing six people, including two children.
(AP, 10/26/05)
2005 Nov 7, A jury in Miami,
Florida, found Luis Alavarez Renta, a powerful financier from the
Dominican Republic, liable on 3 counts of racketeering and one count of
fraudulent money transfer in a civil case stemming from his actions in
the 2003 collapse of Banco Intercontinental, or Baninter.
(WSJ, 11/9/05, p.A14)
2005 Dec 26, Maxima Perez (33), a
woman in the Dominican Republic, gave birth to the first sextuplets
ever recorded in this Caribbean country.
(AP, 12/27/05)
2006 Jan 10-2006 Jan 11, The
bodies of 24 Haitian migrants, who apparently suffocated crossing the
border in a sealed truck, were found in the Dominican Republic. The
victims were among 69 Haitians, mostly adult men, who were driven
across the border illegally at the northern Dominican town of Dajabon.
(AP, 1/12/06)
2006 Mar 2, Haiti's newly elected
Pres. Rene Preval met with Dominican Republic President Leonel
Fernandez in Santo Domingo amid rising tensions between their countries
over immigration and security.
(AP, 3/3/06)
2006 Mar 15, It was reported that
the Dominican Republic is looking to Washington for help recovering at
least $80 million in damages from a US utility it accuses of dumping
thousands of tons of coal ash on the country's beaches, sickening
residents and harming the tourism industry. The government says 82,000
tons of coal ash were shipped from an AES plant in Guayama, Puerto
Rico, and left on beaches in Manzanillo and the Samana Bay port town of
Arroyo Barril between October 2003 and March 2004 without proper
government permits.
(AP, 3/15/06)
2006 Apr 23, Powerful waves
capsized a boat carrying Dominican migrants near a popular surfing
beach off the coast of Puerto Rico killing at least five people. Small
boats frequently attempt to smuggle migrants from the Dominican
Republic to the US Caribbean territory, a roughly 70-mile journey
across the often-perilous Mona Passage.
(AP, 4/24/06)
2006 Jul, The Dominican Republic
government imposed a new law to combat crime, all bars, liquor stores
and nightclubs must close at midnight on weekdays and at 2 am on
weekends.
(AP, 10/14/06)
2006 Aug 17, Dominican Republic
President Leonel Fernandez named four generals and a former law partner
to the Cabinet, a day after his party took control of the Caribbean
country's Congress for the first time.
(AP, 8/18/06)
2006 Oct 11, In the Dominican
Republic Resort tycoon Howard "Butch" Kerzner was killed along with
three others when a helicopter they were traveling in crashed into a
building on the north coast.
(AP, 10/12/06)
2006 Nov 17, Sonia Pierre (43)
received the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award at a ceremony in
Washington, a prize of $30,000 and a promise from the center founded in
honor of the late senator to help her cause. Her tireless work securing
citizenship and education for Dominican-born ethnic Haitians has made
her the target of threats at home, but has earned her recognition from
overseas as a fierce defender of human rights.
(AP, 11/17/06)
2006 Nov 27, In the Dominican Rep.
fire struck a strip club after it closed in the early morning, killing
9 employees who lived on the floor above the establishment, including
several dancers.
(AP, 11/27/06)
2006 Dec 8, Former San Francisco
Giants shortstop Jose Uribe was killed in a car crash in his native
Dominican Republic.
(AP, 12/8/06)
2007 Feb 28, A boat carrying
Haitian migrants caught fire off the coast of the Dominican Republic,
leaving at least eight passengers dead and 44 missing.
(AP, 3/1/07)
2007 May 12, A cutter of the
Dominican Republic picked up 3 men hauling in bales of cocaine dropped
from a plane that had originated in Venezuela. A US plane and British
helicopters took part in the seizure of a half-ton of cocaine as
Colombian drug traffic via Venezuela escalated.
(SFC, 7/2/07, p.A17)
2007 Jun 6, In the Dominican Rep.
a gym teacher opened fire at a school, killing one student and wounding
another before using the gun to take his own life.
(AP, 6/6/07)
2007 Jul 4, Taiwan's vice
president kicked off a Latin American tour in the Dominican Republic,
an ally rapidly increasing its economic and political ties with the
island's diplomatic rival, China.
(AP, 7/4/07)
2007 Aug 18, Hurricane Dean
barreled across the eastern Caribbean and took aim at Hispaniola,
Jamaica and Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula, with forecasters saying it
could turn into a monster Category 5 storm within 72 hours. Dean
claimed at least six lives as it began sweeping past the Dominican
Republic and Haiti.
(AP, 8/18/07)
2007 Oct 29,
Tropical Storm Noel caused flooding and mudslides that killed at
least 20 people in the Dominican Republic and left another 20 missing.
(AP, 10/30/07)
2007 Nov 1, Floodwaters and
mudslides spawned by Tropical Storm Noel killed at least 143 people
including 84 in the Dominican Republic and 57 in Haiti. By this evening
Noel was upgraded to a Category 1 hurricane and rains continued to
pound the area.
(AP, 11/1/07)(AP, 11/4/07)
2007 Nov 8, Dominican
singer-songwriter Juan Luis Guerra swept the Latin Grammy Awards,
taking home five musical honors including album of the year, record of
the year and song of the year.
(AP, 11/8/08)
2007 Nov 21, Costa Rica's
president signed into law a free trade agreement (CAFTA) with its
Central American neighbors, the United States and the Dominican
Republic. Costa Ricans voted for the trade deal in a national
referendum, moving it forward. But then it became stalled again as
congress squabbled over the enabling legislation dealing with 13
different aspects of the deal. In late 2008 lawmakers overcame the
final intellectual-property hurdle by allowing schools and universities
to copy some materials and by reducing prison time for those guilty of
selling pirated goods.
(AP, 11/22/07)(AP, 11/11/08)
2007 Dec 12, Tropical Storm Olga
soaked portions of the Caribbean, triggering floods and landslides that
killed at least 38 people in the Dominican Republic, Haiti and Puerto
Rico.
(AP, 12/12/07)(AP, 12/13/07)(WSJ, 12/15/07, p.A1)
2008 Jan 3, Puerto Rico halted all
bird imports after a rare outbreak of avian flu in nearby Dominican
Republic, where authorities killed more than 100 chickens, including
fighting roosters that tested positive for the lethal virus. The ban
forced the cancellation of more than 100 cockfights, dealing a blow to
the lucrative industry.
(AP, 1/4/08)
2008 Feb 4, Dominican merchants
closed a popular border market that caters to Haitians, punishing their
impoverished neighbor for banning Dominican poultry and egg imports
following an outbreak of avian flu.
(AP, 2/4/08)
2008 Mar 7, At a summit in the
Dominican Republic the presidents of Colombia, Venezuela and Ecuador
agreed to end a bitter dispute triggered by a Colombian cross-border
raid with testy handshakes and an apology.
(AP, 3/8/08)
2008 May 14, In the Dominican
Republic 3 people, including a former congressman, were shot and killed
in Villa Vasquez ahead of May 16 elections.
(WSJ, 5/16/08, p.A8)
2008 May 16, Dominican Republic
President Leonel Fernandez was favored to win a third term, despite
concerns over long-serving politicians in this Caribbean nation with a
painful history of rule by strongmen.
(AP, 5/16/08)
2008 May 17, Dominican Republic
President Leonel Fernandez declared victory in the national election
and pledged to continue pushing forward economic projects that have
helped pull the Caribbean nation's economy out of crisis.
(AP, 5/17/08)
2008 May, In the Dominican
Republic the state holding company for electricity generation, known as
CDEEE, employed over 2,000 people to do the work of 20 or 30. More than
a third of the power was being stolen. Pres. Fernandez stood by the
unreforming boss, Radames Segura.
(Econ, 5/10/08, p.48)
2008 Aug 12, In the Dominican
Republic former Pan American Games wrestling medalist Wilson Santiago
Rojas (31) was shot to death when he tried to prevent his cousin from
being robbed inside a Santo Domingo electronics store.
(AP, 8/14/08)
2008 Aug 15, About 20 people,
including Italian tourists, were killed when two buses collided head-on
in the Dominican Republic.
(AP, 8/15/08)
2008 Aug 16, Dominican Republic
President Leonel Fernandez promised to boost agricultural production
and warned of dire economic times as he was sworn in for a third term.
(AP, 8/16/08)
2008 Aug 16, Tropical Storm Fay
lashed Haiti and the Dominican Republic with torrential rains and
floods that killed at least 18 people including at least 14 people in
Haiti, feared to have died aboard a bus that tried to cross a flooded
river.
(AP, 8/17/08)(AP, 8/18/08)
2008 Aug 28, Tropical Storm Gustav
bore down on Jamaica after leaving 67 people dead on Hispaniola,
including 59 in Haiti and 8 in the Dominican Republic.
(SFC, 8/29/08, p.A2)
2008 Sep 30, In the Dominican
Republic a Hummer truck registered to New York Mets pitcher Ambiorix
Burgos struck pedestrians Josefina Minaya Martinez (38) and Angely Fana
(29). They died later at a hospital. An arrest warrant for Burgos was
issued on Oct 3.
(AP, 10/4/08)
2008 Nov 1, Five migrants were
rescued after 15 days lost at sea. One died the next day. A total of 33
Dominican migrants were trying to reach Puerto Rico by boat when they
were reported missing by relatives in mid-October. Survivors said they
lost their way after the captain abandoned the ship. The survivors ate
their dead comrades to stay alive. Four Dominicans were later charged
with involuntary manslaughter for allegedly helping to organize the
illegal boat trip to Puerto Rico that ended in the deaths of 29
migrants.
(AP, 11/2/08)(AP, 11/11/08)
2008 Nov 19, The US Coast Guard
suspended its search for roughly 90 migrants feared dead after their
makeshift boat apparently sank in an often-stormy stretch of water
between the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico. The boat left the
southeastern Dominican Republic on the night of Nov 12 and a woman
whose boyfriend was on the boat alerted authorities that it was missing
on Nov 16.
(AP, 11/19/08)
2008 Dec 5, A boat from the
Dominican Republic was found adrift. 2 survivors were found by
fisherman and 49 others were presumed dead. Migrants had set off on Nov
13 in search of jobs in Puerto Rico.
(AP, 12/6/08)
2008 Dec 15, A plane from the
Dominican Rep. went missing near the Turks and Caicos Islands that
reportedly had 12 people on board.
(AP, 12/16/08)(AP, 12/17/08)
2009 May 2, In the Dominican Rep.
the decapitated body of a migrant from neighboring Haiti was found in
the Buenos Aires neighborhood of Santo Domingo. Residents alleged the
victim killed a local merchant. About 1 million people of Haitian
descent lived in the Dominican Rep., often suffering discrimination and
violence.
(AP, 5/5/09)
2009 May 17, Chile confirmed its
first two cases of swine flu in two women who arrived from the
Dominican Republic.
(AP, 5/17/09)
2009 Jun 16, In the Dominican Rep.
Mauricio Encarnacion Castillo and Ramon Antonio del Rosario set cocaine
evidence on fire after exchanging gunfire with police conducting a
raid. The house in San Pedro de Macoris then caught fire and the men
died of smoke inhalation.
(AP, 6/17/09)
2009 Sep 19, In the Dominican
Republic Angel Villanova (19), baseball player for the SF Giants,
allegedly shot and killed Mario Velete (25). Villanova had first signed
with the Giants in 2006 and had recently signed a contract for $2.1
million.
(SSFC, 9/27/09, p.A1)
2009 Sep 28, Luis Alberto
Santacruz Echeverri, an alleged Colombian cocaine trafficker arrested
in the Dominican Republic, was extradited to the US to face drug
trafficking charges.
(AP, 9/29/09)
2009 Oct 8, Leaders of the
Dominican Republic and Haiti agreed to cooperate in a campaign aimed at
eradicating the last vestiges of malaria from the islands of the
Caribbean by 2020.
(AP, 10/8/09)
2009 Oct 9, In the Dominican Rep.
dozens of citizens wearing flip-flops and swim suits and carrying
coolers and surfboards soaked in the sun outside Congress to protest a
proposal they say will limit public access to beaches and rivers.
President Leonel Fernandez and opposition leader Miguel Vargas
Maldonado supported the amendment that guaranteed the right to private
property along beaches and rivers, without giving any reasons.
(AP, 10/10/09)
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Subject = Dominican Rep.
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