DOMINICAN REPUBLIC: Heir Apparent

"Our peerless leader has disclosed that the re-establishment of the office of Vice President is being considered," reported El Caribe, newspaper mouthpiece of Rafael Leonidas Trujillo, the Dominican Republic's Generalissimo, Ambassador Extraordinary, Benefactor, etc., etc.—and for the past 24 years its Dictator. It was electrifying news. Anyone named Vice President would obviously be under grooming to take over the presidency, currently held by the Benefactor's brother and puppet, Hector Trujillo. Approving letters, marveling at the "brilliant suggestion of the Benefactor," began to appear, day after day, in the paper.

Discerning Dominicans, who know that letters to El Caribe are the Benefactor's way of informing the public about the current state of public demand, read avidly on for more clues. At last came a letter that not only seconded the creation of a vice-presidency, but significantly added that it was "absurd to deny high office to deserving Dominicans merely on the ground of youth." Nowadays, the letter explained, "young Dominicans get from their Maximum Leader . . . incomparable intellectual preparation." And that led to a logical conclusion: the minimum age for the vice-presidency, and the presidency, too, ought to be lowered from 30 to 25. Strikingly enough, the most visible Dominican in that age category is Major General Rafael Trujillo Jr., 26, better known by nickname "Ramfis."

A polo-playing six-footer, Ramfis has already had a spectacular career. When he was seven, his father made him an honorary colonel in the army, and all lesser ranks had to salute him. He studied law with tutors, but after graduation from the national university entered active army service as a second lieutenant and soon worked his way up to major general in the air force, a rise all the more remarkable because he is not a pilot.

If Ramfis becomes Vice President, he will become the regime's No. 2 boss. But No. 1, for years to come, is likely to be Ramfis' father, still vigorous at 64.