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Hispanic American Historical Review 83.2 (2003) 295-344


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In the Shadow of the State:
The Politics of Denunciation and Panegyric during the Trujillo Regime in the Dominican Republic, 1940-1958

Lauren Derby

[Figures]
Mr. Lucho Nuñez Soriano, the principal member of the tributary services of this city, has disappeared with about $1,500.00 which he received from numerous people for the renewal of identity cards, licenses, taxes, etc., without a stop. . . . The people ask: What kind of office is this, that of errands or gangsters?

—Justo Franco, "Foro Público," 1958

The case of Central I.D. Office and the situation reigning among the employees must be resolved in a radical way. . . . [It] must be subject to removals, transferals, or dismissals of certain employees that have created a deep cancer in a department that in previous times had a great reputation. . . . Of the women, Mrs. Morató is called Her Majesty the Queen of Gossip because all day long she is antisocial and aspires to be director. . . . They accept anything in bribes, from money to nail polish. And on top of it all, they are loose mouthed and gossips.

—José Lorenzo Castro A., "Foro Público," 1952 [End Page 295]

I have been, and will be, not a silent admirer, but rather a proclaimer of the wise ideas produced by your pinnacle of genius that extends like the evangelical doctrines of the redeemer of humanity. From whence comes my fidelity and loyalty to your person and your politics, which forms in me a true religion.

—Elpidio Eladio M.

The power of rhetoric is demonic in greatness.

—Plato, Gorgias

This essay examines the politics and practice of official discourse during the Trujillo regime in the Dominican Republic, one of the longest dictatorships in modern Latin America (1930-61). I focus here on two official oratorical genres: denunciation, and a highly stylized form of "panegyric," or praise speech, to Trujillo that became pro forma in all public arenas by citizens and state officials alike. These speech forms were most important in the capital of Trujillo City, the central theater of government and Trujillo's dominion, and most relevant to the emergent public sector of state employees that resided there. This group expanded more than fourfold under the regime and formed the basis of a new urban middle class, particularly in the capital, by the 1950s. 1 Denunciation and panegyric were institutionalized in the Public Forum(Foro Público) column of [End Page 296] the newspaper El Caribe, the main organ of the Trujillo regime in the 1950s. Some 5 to 15 letters of denunciation were published there daily from 1948 to 1961; a single accusation might be followed up with as many as 5 letters in defense of the denounced individual that reestablishing his or her credentials as a devout Trujillista via an exorbitant encomium to El Jefe. Foro Público published a grand total of 4,000 such columns, and more than 30,000 letters in all. 2 The largest percentage of the letters in the Public Forum was written by citizens accusing civil servants of corruption, inefficiency, or improper conduct. This is a surprising discovery, given the ironclad control over even trivial forms of dissent during the regime and Trujillo's emphasis on public order and discipline. 3 Lipe Collado argues that "reputation death squads" from the official party of the dictatorship, the Dominican Party, channeled local grievances collected via intelligence reports into these public missives, although some were authored by Trujillo's cronies or official Foristas under pseudonyms. Trujillo's son Radamés, for example, wrote under the nom de plume of Mexican revolutionary general [End Page 297] Pancho Villa. 4 At times Public Forum accusations commenced in private letters of complaint directed to the Dominican Party that resulted in the dismissal of public functionaries, as explored below. 5

Denunciation and panegyric were also pervasive speech genres outside the press, although denunciation was elsewhere generally secret, appearing in private letters to the...

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