Dominican Republic: Abrazos in the Night

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Back in the dim pages of Dominican history—four Presidents and two years ago—Leftist Juan Bosch and Moderate Joaquin Balaguer were both former Presidents who had been sacked by the military. Both were in exile and both had been forbidden to return by the Dominican government. With so much in common, the two struck up a long-distance friendship and began discussing their country's problems by telephone—Bosch from San Juan and Balaguer from New York. Last week, five days after Balaguer defeated Bosch in the country's presidential elections, the two met for the first time since their exile days, and once again discussed the problems and the future of the Dominican Republic.

The meeting, held in the small stucco home of a Bosch supporter outside Santo Domingo, was set up by Interim President Héctor Garcia-Godoy, who has long insisted on the need to "broaden the middle and eliminate the sharp differences between the right and left." Both Bosch and Balaguer seemed intent on doing that.

Downhill Push. Gathering shortly before 10 p.m., the two exchanged warm abrazos, then sat down and talked for two hours. Balaguer repeated his campaign proposal for a "government of unity" formed from both parties. Bosch promised to push the idea among his followers, who account for most of the young, trained technicians and planners in the country.

As for Bosch, he said that he would stay out of the government but would not slip back into exile as had been rumored. If he joined the government or left the country, he feared that he would lose control of the young, trigger-happy leftists in his party and "leave the streets to someone else." Right now, he said, it was all he could do to keep them from declaring another war against the Bosch-hating military.

Balaguer, in turn, said that he planned to weed out the worst of the hotheads in khaki. In any case, the two agreed wholeheartedly that the Organization of American States' 8,000-man force should remain in the Dominican Republic until the threat of further trouble blows over. That could be several weeks—or several months.

In the end, the meeting did not solve any of the deeper problems or conflicts gnawing at the country. But with the right and left now on speaking terms, things were clearly improving. A U.S. observer remarked: "I think it's all downhill from here."

Nursing & Cursing. The same optimism was apparently shared last week by white-haired U.S. Diplomat Ellsworth Bunker, 72, who at last was packing up and leaving for home. A member of the OAS's three-man peace committee and Washington's mint-cool troubleshooter in Santo Domingo, Bunker first arrived on the turbulent scene in June 1965, and over the months nursed, cursed, cajoled and wheedled the two rival factions to a truce and, finally, to elections this month. In the process, he won the respect and trust of both sides. "He doesn't see labels," says one Garcia-Godoy aide. "He sees people." Bunker restored U.S. prestige in the Dominican Republic—and throughout Latin America—and made it possible for the U.S. to withdraw gracefully from what a year ago struck many as one of the worst blunders in recent American foreign policy.