Struggling Forward

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC

Convinced that President Juan Bosch was veering too far left, Dominican Republic military leaders turned him out last September. In his place, they set up what they considered a reliably docile civilian triumvirate too weak to do any harm--or any good. But when the junta went through its inevitable first shake-up last December, out went one of its members and in stepped Donald Reid Cabral, 40, a Santo Domingo auto dealer and the frail (5 ft. 6 in., 132 Ibs.) but strong-willed son of a Scots banker. Since then, Reid has clearly become more equal than the others in the triumvirate. This week, as military men complained to Reid about still another member of the equal trio, his importance became even more marked.

Act Instead of Talk. Donny Reid, as Dominicans call him, got into politics as a plotter against Dictator Rafael Leonidas Trujillo and as vice president in the Council that ruled after Trujillo's assassination in 1961. Reid has no official political party ties, took no direct part in Bosch's overthrow. But. known as an able administrator, he was called upon to serve as Foreign Minister when the triumvirate first took over. "The people," says Reid, "have been deceived so many times that they no longer believe in talk. You must act instead of talk."

In three months he has pruned the government payroll, has cleared the streets of student rowdies with stern warnings that he would have terrorists shot on the spot.

Reid's most crucial moment came in an earlier test of strength with military brass jealous of his influence. To get the upper hand, he recently called in the army and navy chiefs of staff one at a time to inform them of a new system of rotating the three military staff command positions every 18 months. Getting wind of Reid's maneuver, officers of the powerful air force grew restless, and coup rumors crackled through the capital. Immediately, Reid called in the air force chief of staff--either accept the rotation plan, he put it bluntly, or lose your commission. Reid won the facedown, now boasts: "I am in the driver's seat." No formal announcement was ever made, but state papers now bear Reid's signature as junta president.

Hope Instead of Torture. The triumvirate still has not decided on any plan for a return to constitutional government, but throughout the country the assumption is growing that Donny Reid wants to become a full-fledged President. Under Reid, Castroite terrorism has petered out, food prices are lower, business confidence is returning. Last week the new U.S. ambassador, William Tapley Bennett, brought good news: renewal of a suspended $885,000 aid commitment and a $4,000,000 highway loan. The Dominican Republic is certainly not the showcase democracy that the U.S. once hoped for under Bosch, but at least a forward struggle has at last begun in the melancholy, dictator-tortured republic.

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