On this day in 1924, the United States ended its military occupation of the Dominican Republic. The goal of the occupation, which began in 1916, was to force the Dominicans to repay their large debts to European creditors, whose governments threatened military intervention.
The US Marines landed and established effective control of the country within two months. Three major roads were built, largely for military purposes, connecting for the first time the capital with Santiago in the north, Azua in the west, and San Pedro de Macorís in the east; the system of forced labor used by the Americans in Haiti was absent in the Dominican Republic.
With the United States occupation of Haiti to the west of the Dominican Republic, the United States Marines controlled all of Hispaniola “through censorship, intimidation, fear, and military force”, according to Lorgia García Peña, a contemporary American academic. Like Haiti, the finances of the Dominican Republic were controlled by National City Bank of New York, subsequently allowing American businesses to acquire Dominican properties to cultivate sugar. American corporations would then force Haitians to migrate to the Dominican Republic and work on sugar plantations in poor conditions.
U.S. forces withdrew on September 18, 1924, and handed policing authority to the Dominican National Guard. Despite the withdrawal, there were still concerns regarding the collection and application of the country’s customs revenues. To address this problem, representatives of the United States and the Dominican Republic governments met at a convention and signed a treaty, on December 27, 1924, which gave the United States control over the country’s customs revenues. In 1941, the treaty was officially repealed and control over the country’s customs revenues was again returned to the government of the Dominican Republic. However this treaty created lasting resentment of the United States among the people of the Dominican Republic.
Marine machine gun unit in the Dominican Republic
Coming soon…
Today is the birthday, in 1962, of Joanne Catherall, singer with The Human League. Formed in Sheffield, England in 1977 the group attained widespread commercial success with their third album Dare in 1981. The album contained four hit singles, including the UK/US No.1 hit ‘Don’t You Want Me’. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zM_T4wYZg0k
