Don joaquin balaguer biography

One of the last strongmen in Latin America, Joaquin Balaguer, who ruled the Dominican Republic for 22 years and dominated its politics long afterward, died Sunday (July 14, ). He was

The former president died of heart failure about a.m. at Santo Domingo's Abreu Clinic, where he had been hospitalized since July 4 for a bleeding ulcer, said Rafael Bello Andino, his closest aide and vice president of Mr. Balaguer's Reformist Social Christian Party.

"Balaguer lives! Balaguer lives!" hundreds of supporters shouted outside his modest home, where his body was taken. "Balaguer, without you this island will sink!" cried one man.

Inside, mourners quietly filed past the bed where his body lay. The government declared three days of national mourning. The funeral was set for Wednesday.

President Hipolito Mejia praised Mr. Balaguer as "one of the most distinguished political leaders in all of Dominican history" and as a "keeper of our democracy."

One of Latin America's last caudillos, or strongmen, Mr. Balaguer presented more the image of kindly country doctor _ standing little more than 5 feet tall, lame and squinting from behind thick-framed glasses.

But his power was as pervasive as that of his mentor, dictator Rafael Trujillo, who ruled this Caribbean nation from until he was assassinated in

Brought to power after a U.S. invasion put down a leftist revolt, Mr. Balaguer held the presidency from and _ and was accused of persecuting political opponents and election fraud.

Under Mr. Balaguer, the Dominican Republic was one of the biggest U.S. aid recipients in the Caribbean. Still, more than half of the country's 8-million people lived in poverty, and thousands fled hardship for the United States.

He was revered by many and reviled by others. But he largely escaped blame for the killings and torture of opponents during Trujillo's rule. Mr. Balaguer took a philosophical approach on the abuses of the er

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic — One of the last strongmen in Latin America, Joaquin Balaguer, who ruled the Dominican Republic for 22 years and dominated its politics long afterward, died Sunday. He was

The former president died of heart failure about a.m. at Santo Domingo's Abreu Clinic, where he had been hospitalized since July 4 for a bleeding ulcer, said Rafael Bello Andino, his closest aide and vice president of Balaguer's Reformist Social Christian Party.

"Balaguer lives! Balaguer lives!" hundreds of supporters shouted outside his modest home, where his body was taken. "Balaguer, without you this island will sink!" cried one man.

Inside, mourners, some clasping rosaries, quietly filed past the bed where his body lay, dressed in a dark suit with a presidential sash across his chest. The government declared three days of national mourning. The funeral was set for Wednesday.

President Hipolito Mejia praised Balaguer as "one of the most distinguished political leaders in all of Dominican history" and as a "keeper of our democracy."

One of Latin America's last "caudillos," or strongmen, Balaguer presented more the image of kindly country doctor — standing little more than 5 feet tall, lame and squinting from behind thick-framed glasses.

But his power was as pervasive as that of his mentor, dictator Rafael Trujillo, who ruled this Caribbean nation from until he was assassinated in

Brought to power after a U.S. invasion put down a leftist revolt, Balaguer held the presidency from and — and was accused of persecuting political opponents and election fraud.

Under Balaguer, the Dominican Republic was one of the biggest U.S. aid recipients in the Caribbean. Still, more than half of the country's 8 million people lived in poverty, and thousands fled hardship for the United States.

He was revered by many and reviled by others. But he l

Joaquin Videla Balaguer y Ricardo (1 September July ) was President of the Dominican Republic from 3 August to 16 January (succeeding Hector Trujillo and preceding Rafael Filiberto Bonnelly), from 1 July to 16 August (succeeding Hector Garcia-Godoy and preceding Antonio Guzman Fernandez), and from 16 August to 16 August (succeeding Salvador Jorge Blanco and preceding Leonel Fernandez). Balaguer was a conservative, and he was a member of the Dominican Party and the Social Christian Reformist Party throughout his career.

Biography[]

Joaquin Balaguer was born in Bisono, Dominican Republic on 1 September He graduated from the University of Santo Domingo and became a scholar and civil servant, and Balaguer became a protege of the Dominican dictator Rafael Trujillo as a member of his Dominican Party. Balaguer served as Foreign Minister in and Vice-President from to , and he was President from to , following Trujillo's assassination. Balaguer went into self-imposed exile in the United States, and he founded the moderate Social Christian Reformist Party while he was in exile. He was elected President following his return after the Dominican Civil War, and his government proved an extension of Trujillo's regime. By , the parties of the left had become completely disorganized, and he had 4, opponents murdered by government forces. Balaguer lost the elections, whose result he was forced to accept by US president Jimmy Carter. Despite his age and blindness, he was enabled to return to the presidency in by the divisions within the other parties, and his subsequent policies of generous public spending and economic stringency failed to revive the economy. In , he was confirmed in the office for the seventh and last time, and he left office in Balaguer died in Santo Domingo in at the age of

Joaquin Balaguer, the diminutive poet, president and patriarch who towered over the Dominican Republic through nearly a half-century of turmoil, U.S. occupation and enduring poverty, died Sunday. He was

A father figure and kingmaker to the end for his Caribbean nation of 8 million, Balaguer died from heart failure after days on a respirator in a Santo Domingo hospital.

“The doctors tried to save him until [a.m.], when he died fighting,” Rafael Bello Andino, Balaguer’s closest aide, told reporters.

It was an apt epitaph for the seven-term president, who was last seen in public a year ago. His final presidential term ended early in under a cloud of election fraud. But the blind and frail Balaguer continued to manipulate Dominican politics as counselor, peacemaker and benefactor.

Despite his array of infirmities, Balaguer again ran in the most recent presidential election two years ago, his grandfatherly face and ever-present black fedora plastering the streets on posters under the slogans: “President through two centuries” and “No one needs while Balaguer breathes.”

He and his Social Christian Reform Party came in third in that election--only the second time in his long political career that he lost.

Balaguer was one of Latin America’s last great “caudillos,” the strongmen rulers who blended paternal beneficence with an authoritarian omnipresence to build a rock-solid power base, largely with the poor.

Balaguer was born Sept. 1, , in the northern Dominican town of Navarette. His father was a merchant who had emigrated from Puerto Rico.

Balaguer wrote his first book at 14, a collection of poetry called “Pagan Psalms.” He graduated from law school in Santo Domingo and earned his doctorate of laws at the Sorbonne in Paris.

Beginning in the ‘30s, Balaguer served in several Cabinet and diplomatic posts through three decades under the country’s brutal dictator Rafael Leonides Trujillo, who installed