Rafael Trujillo

Dictator who ruled the Dominican Republic for thirty-one years.

Life

National Guard

During the U.S. occupation of the Dominican Republic, Trujillo joined the U.S.-trained National Guard, and in 1930 he seized power in a coup.

Personality cult

He built an extreme personality cult, renamed the capital "Ciudad Trujillo," and his family controlled most of the national economy. In 1937 he ordered the massacre of Haitians in the border region with Haiti, in which tens of thousands were killed; it became known as the Parsley Massacre.

Assassinated

In 1961 he was ambushed and assassinated by a group of army officers on the outskirts of the capital.

Legacy

Trujillo was one of the most brutal dictators in Latin America; the Peruvian writer Vargas Llosa's novel The Feast of the Goat depicts his rule and assassination.

Did you know? The "Parsley Massacre" got its name because soldiers made people say the Spanish word for "parsley" (perejil), identifying Haitians by their pronunciation.

Key dates

• 1930Takes power in a coup
• 1936Capital renamed Ciudad Trujillo
• 1937Parsley Massacre
• 1961Assassinated