Dominican Republic and Haiti: Country Studies

Dominican Republic: The Economy
Haitian forces and by self-serving caudillos after the Dominican
Republic achieved its independence in 1844, served mainly to
increase the country's foreign debt (see Ambivalent Sovereignty,
Caudillo Rule, and Political Instability, ch. 1). After failing
to achieve independence from Spain in the Ten Years' War
(1868-78), Cuban planters fled their homeland and settled in
Hispaniola's fertile Cibao region, where they grew tobacco and
later cocoa.
Plummeting tobacco prices in the late nineteenth century
prompted United States companies to invest heavily in a burgeoning
sugar industry, which would dominate the Dominican
Republic's economy for most of the twentieth century. The
influence of the United States was rising so rapidly that in 1904
it had established a receivership over Dominican customs to
administer the repayment of the country's commercial debt to
foreign holders of Dominican bonds.
Continuing economic difficulties and ongoing internal disorders,
combined with the Dominican government's inability
to maintain order and United States anxiety over Europe's
(especially Germany's) spreading influence in the republic, led
to United States occupation in 1916 and the establishment of a
military government (see From the United States Occupation
(1916-24) to the Emergence of Trujillo (1930), ch. 1). Even
after the marines departed in 1924, United States economic
advisers remained to manage customs revenues until 1941.
Although security interests were the primary reason for the
occupation, the United States did benefit commercially.
Dominican tobacco, sugar, and cocoa, previously exported to
French, German, and British markets, were shipped instead to
the United States. The powerful United States sugar companies
came to dominate the banking and transportation sectors.
They also benefited from the partition of former communal
lands, which allowed the companies to augment their holdings.
However, although the occupation was resented politically by
Dominicans, the Dominican economy also reaped some benefits:
the United States presence helped stabilize the country's
finances and greatly improved its infrastructure, constructing
roads, sanitation systems, ports, and schools.
Another significant outcome of the United States occupation
was the creation of a Dominican army, the commander of
which, Rafael Trujillo, took power over the nation in 1930 and
maintained absolute dictatorial control until his assassination
in 1961 (see The Trujillo Era, 1930-61, ch. 1). Trujillo's agree-
113