DOMINICAN REPUBLIC: Attempted Coup or No Coup?

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For the puzzled Dominicans, that is the question

Even as the early voting returns started trickling in last week, a trend in the presidential balloting was becoming apparent. In his attempt to win an unprecedented fourth term, Dominican Republic President Joaquin Balaguer was slipping further behind his principal challenger, Antonio Guzmán of the Dominican Revolutionary Party. By 4 a.m. on the day after the election, with about one-fourth of the ballots counted, Guzmán was leading by 326,076 to 218,073.

At that moment, an army officer with soldiers burst into Santo Domingo's electoral commission headquarters and declared: "This is now over! Get out!" Technicians broadcasting the results were ordered to cut their signals; radios and television sets throughout the country went dead. As word spread of the army's intervention, the country of 5 million was thrown into confusion. Had a coup taken place that would invalidate the election and keep Balaguer in power?

The armed forces immediately denied that there had been a coup, stating in a communiqué that "false rumors are being spread by the enemies of peace." Yet Santo Domingo had the look of a city in the midst of military takeover. Troops patrolled the streets of the capital as apprehensive Dominicans remained safely inside their homes.

Some knowing Dominicans insisted that the invasion of electoral headquarters was an impetuous decision by Santo Domingo Police Chief Neit Nivar Seijas. According to this theory, the top cop, a veteran backer of Balaguer, panicked when he saw the voting returns running against his boss. Balaguer denied this. The army's interference, he explained after nearly two days of silence, was the fault of a mere lieutenant who decided, on his own, to safeguard the ballots after he had heard rumors of a planned coup.

While the country was trying to figure out just what had happened, officials of the President's Reformista Party were claiming victory. But so was Guzmán. The wealthy 67-year-old rancher and coffee planter told a news conference: "It is up to the electoral board to declare me the winner. We will not allow the official election results to be altered." Manuel Joaquin Castillo, head of the board, insisted that no one had yet won and at week's end announced that the counting of ballots had resumed. He warned his countrymen, however, that the tally "might take ten or 15 days—or longer."

Whatever the real story behind the army's halt of the tabulating, Dominicans had good reasons to suspect a coup in support of the President. No group has benefited more from Balaguer's long tenure than military officers; with their luxurious homes and flashy cars, they rank among the wealthiest Dominicans.