Dominican Republic: Dead Rebels in the Hills

For weeks, bands of Castroite guerrillas have been roaming the Dominican hills, waging a hit-and-run war against the three-man junta that rules the Caribbean island nation. The guerrillas call themselves the 14th of June Movement (in imitation of Castro's 26th of July group), and estimates of their strength run to 250 men. While they pose no immediate threat to the government, their nuisance bombs and countryside ambushes make everybody nervous.

Last week the Dominican armed forces claimed an important victory over the rebels and announced the death of the Castroites' leader. After days of searching, troops moved in on a gathering of guerillas at a sawmill near the town of San José de las Matas in the central mountains. When the shooting ended, Manuel Tavárez Justo, 35, avowed Marxist and admirer of Castro, was dead, along with 14 of his comrades. Five others were captured. At first, Tavárez Justo's death was called a suicide, but later the government said that he had been shot to death in a gunfight with the soldiers. All 15, said the communique, were buried on the spot in a common grave.

Antigovernment Dominicans cried massacre, charged that the troops had cold-bloodedly gunned down the youths as they tried to surrender. But the incident's effect went deeper than that. Among the dead was Antonio Barreiro, 27, godson of Emilio de los Santos, chief of the ruling junta itself. De los Santos resigned as soon as he heard the news, making public a bitter split among the men who have been running the country on behalf of the army since the ouster of President Juan Bosch last September. De los Santos wanted a conciliatory approach to the rebels, but after a series of angry arguments, he was outvoted in favor of the all-out offensive. The land of Trujillo is still a land of violent solutions.