Trouble in the Caribbean

Although Europe and Asia remained the critical areas in the policy of Communist containment, American interest in Caribbean developments increased sharply after Cuba's defection from the West. When a military revolt in April 1965 to oust the civilian junta in the Dominican Republic was followed by a military counterrevolution, the United States monitored the situation closely.

As both factions sought to gain control of the government machinery, the capital city of Santo Domingo became a bloody battleground and all semblance of law and order vanished. Concern over the immediate threat to American lives rose as diplomatic efforts to restore peace failed. First to provide protection for U. S. nationals and subsequently to insure that the Communists did not get another foothold in the Caribbean, President Johnson sent Marine Corps and then Army airborne troops to Santo Domingo to stabilize the situation.

Less than seventy- two hours after alert, two battalions of the 82d Airborne Division from Fort Bragg, North Carolina, air- landed at a field east of Santo Domingo and fanned out toward the city. They were soon reinforced by four additional airborne battalions with support units. In the meantime, Marine troops consolidated their hold on the western portion of Santo Domingo. Since the forces of the rebels, the so- called Constitutionalists, were concentrated in the southern part of town, Lt. Gen. Bruce Palmer, Jr., the American ground force commander, carried out a night operation to link up the Army and Marine units and to separate the warring factions. Using three airborne battalions for the action, Palmer had the first move into the easternmost sector, then passed the other two through the first to secure a corridor. With surprising ease and speed, the 82d Airborne's troops crossed the city and joined with the marines, thus creating a buffer zone between the two fighting forces.

By the end of the first week in May all nine battalions of the 82d Airborne Division and four battalions of marines were in the Dominican Republic. With supporting forces the total number of American troops soon reached a peak of about 23,000. They patrolled the streets of Santo Domingo, maintained law and order, and distributed food, water, and medical supplies to both sides. The quick landings in force and the establishment of the buffer zone made further fighting on a large scale impossible. With stalemate the alternative, the adversaries began a series of negotiations that lasted until September.

The U. S. intervention in the Dominican Republic became the subject of spirited discussion in the United States and abroad. Despite unfavorable public reaction to the intervention in some Latin American countries, the Organization of American States did ask its members to send troops to the Dominican Republic to help restore order. Six members— Brazil, Costa Rico, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Paraguay eventually dispatched forces and joined the United States in forming the first inter- American force ever established in the Western Hemisphere. Although American troops constituted the largest contingent of the force, Lt. Gen. Hugo Panasco Alvim of Brazil was named commander in May and General Palmer became his deputy to emphasize the international composition of the force. Some U. S. troop withdrawals began almost immediately after the Latin American units arrived.

The acceptance of a provisional government by both sides in early September relieved much of the tension in the Dominican Republic, and by the end of 1965 all but three battalions of the 82d had returned to the United States. After elections in mid- 1966, the last U. S. and Latin American elements pulled out in September, ending the 16- month intervention. Although the legality and the unilateral nature of the U. S. action have been challenged, there is little doubt but that the intervention saved lives and restored law and order in the Dominican Republic.