54 years ago...

[Hickory]

Rapheal Trujillo, dictator of the DR for 31 years, was assasinated outside of the DR capital city by seven men, six of which were killed themselves. Trujillo had lead a long, brutal rule and all of the citizens were glad to see him go. (I think)

Let today be a memorial to the brave men who stopped the 31-year reign of terror.

[Banya]

In 1937, Trujillo led the Dominican military in a mass-murder of Haitians living in large numbers in the borderlands of the Dominican Republic out of fear of a Haitian uprising and the economic toll the Haitian farm workers were taking on the Dominican Republic, a genocide that became known as El Corte, or The Cutting, from the soldiers' use of machetes, knives, and clubs.  The genocide has also been called the Parsley Massacre, as French- and Creole-speaking Haitians could not correctly pronounce the trilled 'r' in perejil, the Spanish word for parsley, and those who could not correctly say this code word were easily identified and murdered.

The Farming of Bones is one of the best-written and most insightful books I've ever read, and it explores the desperation of Haitians and Dominicans alike in 1937 and the years following.

[Luftwaffles]

Trujillo was yet another monster that lived in this part of the world, we were really used to them at one point because they were everywhere. Hopefully those times are over for good.

Another "great" example of this was our very own Videla, whose dictatorship killed thousands, left more than 30.000 people missing and started a war against the UK.

[Hickory]

There is a particulary good book about this by Julia Alvarez called Before We Were Free. It's quite good, read it.

[Skyblade]

I honor men such as these with courage to do something. It's not an easy thing. After all, most of them lost their lives.