Mr. Bernardo Vega is a historian, economist and writer. He served as director of the newspaper El Caribe, Ambassador in Washington and Governor of the Central Bank of the Dominican Republic. I am used to reading his writings published at Clave Digital.
Today I noticed that he shared with his readers this article, of historic interest, with respect to Anti-Haitianism during the Trujillo Era. I have chosen the following fragment for criticism purposes:
(An English translation will follow)
"El dominicano generalmente cree que durante los treinta y un años de la dictadura de Trujillo la política oficial fue propagar el antihaitianismo.
En realidad eso [-RV: la política oficial de propagar el
antihaitianismo-] sólo ocurrió entre 1942 y 1946 coincidiendo con y
debido al odio que Trujillo desarrolló contra su antiguo amigo y
protegido, Elie Lescot, quien devino presidente de Haití en 1941. Ni
antes ni después de ese período de cuatro años permitió Trujillo que se
publicaran argumentos anti-haitianos."
-English translation by RV:
"A Dominican generally believes that during the thirty-one years of the Trujillo dictatorship the official policy was to propagate Anti-Haitianism.
In reality, that [-RV: official policy to propagate Anti-Haitianism-] only ocurred between 1942 and 1946 overlapping with and due to the hatred that Trujillo developed against his former friend and protégé, Elie Lescot, who became president of Haiti in 1941. Not before or after this period of four years did Trujillo allow for the publishing of Anti-Haitian statements."
I find, on one account, that Vega has limited the time of propagation of Anti-Haitianism as an official policy of the Trujillo dictatorship, reducing it to a period of only four years, found within the decade of the 40’s; this arouses my curiosity and even a healthy feeling of doubt, since at the end of the decade of the 30’s a massacre of Haitians took place with some trujilloist-state backing, be it for the promotion, execution, concealment or denial.
Another account is that, when acknowledging what sort of media was used to propagate the official policy of Anti-Haitianism during the Trujillo Era, it seems that Vega has focused only on publication, which on the context of the whole article is understood on a strict sense, as the production of issues of writings printed on paper. I ask myself if the trujilloist-state propaganda related to Anti-Haitianism had other kind of media for divulgation.
Another account is that, when acknowledging what sort of media was used to propagate the official policy of Anti-Haitianism during the Trujillo Era, it seems that Vega has focused only on publication, which on the context of the whole article is understood on a strict sense, as the production of issues of writings printed on paper. I ask myself if the trujilloist-state propaganda related to Anti-Haitianism had other kind of media for divulgation.
If I could hold a conversation with the historian relating to his article, I would respectfully ask him to further develop on my observations. In general, I believe in the integrity of Mr. Vega and that if there is enough merit for a rectification, he would gladly review his opinions.
