ABSTRACT
This chapter analyzes the first part of the Antonio Guzman Fernandez presidency. It focuses on the policies and processes whereby the president began to change the political character of the Dominican military establishment; military affairs are analyzed in terms of broader political and economic events. Guzman’s election and inauguration indicated that the Dominican Republic had come a long way in its development of a democratic political system with a less than fortuitous historical legacy and political environment. Even Guzman’s critics praised his government’s respect for human rights, and few Dominicans would have argued for a return to official repression. The US military role in the Dominican Republic had declined steadily since the crisis of 1965, from a dominating influence following the civil war to a small presence by the time of Guzman’s inauguration. Under Joaquin Balaguer, presidential manipulation of personal rivalries among ambitious and powerful officers had been highly functional for Dominican civil-military relations.
