Dominican Civil War

Dominican Civil War
Part of the Cold War

American soldiers engaged in a firefight while a child takes cover under a jeep for protection in Santo Domingo on May 5, 1965.
Date24 April 1965 – 3 September 1965[1]
(4 months, 1 week and 3 days)
Location
Result

Loyalist victory

  • Ceasefire declared
  • Formation of the provisional government for new elections
  • Deposition of Juan Bosch of the presidency ratified
  • Organization of presidential elections in 1966 under international supervision
  • Election of Joaquín Balaguer as the new president
  • Establishment of the Fourth Dominican Republic on July 1, 1966
Belligerents
Loyalist faction
United States

Constitutionalist faction

  • Dominican Revolutionary Party
  • Social Christian Revolutionary Party
  • June 14th Revolutionary Movement
Commanders and leaders
Elías Wessin y Wessin
Antonio Imbert Barrera
Lyndon B. Johnson
Robert McNamara
Bruce Palmer[1]
Juan Bosch
Francisco Caamaño[1]
André Rivière [2]
Ilio Capocci 
Strength
Loyalists:
2,200 regulars
12 AMX-13 light tanks
24 L-60 light tanks
13 Lynx armoured cars
1 frigate
4+ fighters
United States:
6,924 Marines
12,434 82nd Airborne
Unknown number of M48 Patton main battle tanks
Constitutionalists:
1,500 regulars
5,000 armed civilians
5+ light tanks
Casualties and losses

Dominican Republic:

  • 500 regulars killed[3]
  • 325 police killed[3]
  • 5 light tanks captured
  • 2 P-51 Mustang fighters shot down

United States:

  • 47 dead (including 9 Marines and 18 82nd Airborne killed)[4]
  • 283 wounded or injured[5]
  • 1 M50 Ontos damaged

IAPF:

  • 11 wounded
600 regulars killed[3]
unknown armed civilians killed
5 light tanks destroyed
1 cargo ship damaged[6]
6,000 Dominican casualties and 350 U.S. casualties[3]
The Inter-American Peace Force (IAPF) was designed as a peacekeeping force and thus is not considered a war participant.

The Dominican Civil War (Spanish: Guerra Civil Dominicana), also known as the April Revolution (Spanish: Revolución de Abril), took place between April 24, 1965, and September 3, 1965, in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. It started when civilian and military supporters of the overthrown democratically elected president Juan Bosch ousted the militarily installed president Donald Reid Cabral from office. The second coup prompted General Elías Wessin y Wessin to organize elements of the military loyal to the dictator Reid ("loyalists"), initiating an armed campaign against the "constitutionalist" rebels.

Allegations of communist support for the rebels led to a United States invasion (codenamed Operation Power Pack),[7] which later transformed into an Organization of American States occupation of the country by the Inter-American Peace Force. Although ostensibly neutral, U.S. civilian and military leaders deployed troops in a way that aided the anti-Bosch forces.[8] Elections were held in 1966, in the aftermath of which Joaquín Balaguer was elected. Later in the same year, foreign troops departed from the country.

  1. ^ a b c d e Lawrence Yates (July 1988). "Power Pack: U.S. Intervention in the Dominican Republic 1965–1966" (PDF). Lawrence Papers. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 11, 2017. Retrieved June 28, 2015.
  2. ^ "Dominican Republic: The Fighting Resumes". Time. June 25, 1965. On a table in the morgue lay a two-year-old boy caught in a crossfire, his stomach full of shrapnel; next to him was the corpse of André Rivière, a French soldier of fortune who was one of Caamaño's top aides.
  3. ^ a b c d Palmer 2015, p. 247.
  4. ^ "In 1965, U.S. And Dominican Tanks Fought Brief, Violent Skirmishes". June 22, 2016. Archived from the original on August 11, 2023. Retrieved August 11, 2023.
  5. ^ Palmer 2015, p. 246.
  6. ^ Palmer 2015, p. 96.
  7. ^ "US Invasion Dominican Republic 1965". sincronia.cucsh.udg.mx. Archived from the original on October 16, 2022. Retrieved August 8, 2021.
  8. ^ Rabe, Stephen (2012). "Chapter 5: No More Cubas - The Kennedy and Johnson Doctrines". The Killing Zone: the United States wages Cold War in Latin America. Oxford University Press. pp. 101–102.