Formula by Airplane

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC

Brigadier General Antonio Imbert Barreras, president of the loyalist Government of National Reconstruction, sat in his office in Santo Domingo's International Zone and pretended to sight along a rifle barrel. "I don't understand these Americans," he muttered. "They never come straight. How can they talk with people who have been killing their own countrymen?"

It was a question Tony Imbert asked again and again last week. The U.S. reply was getting a little scratchy from use: the one hope for lasting peace in the Dominican Republic was through a "broad-based" coalition government--and that meant talking to Colonel Francisco Caamano Deno and his Communist-infiltrated rebels, who so far have killed 20 U.S. troops, wounded another 119. The sole U.S. condition was that no one from either extreme left or right could participate.

Yet as the ugly little civil war entered its second month, the U.S. seemed no closer to its objective than it was at the start. In ten days of exhausting negotiations, the best efforts of the chief U.S. mediator, Presidential Adviser McGeorge Bundy, were frustrated at every turn--either because of rebel demands or because of Imbert's refusal to dissolve his civilian-military junta. At last, Bundy returned to Washington with no solution in sight.

Losing Support. There was a wave of doubt about the man the U.S. had chosen to lead a coalition. A report popped up in the U.S. press that Antonio Guzman, 54, onetime agriculture minister in the regime of deposed President Juan Bosch, had been involved in a 1964 bank scandal. According to the story, Guzman was a director of the Dominican Agricultural Bank, which reportedly came up $75 million short on an audit covering the period from 1963 to May 31, 1964. It was a bum rap. Ernst & Ernst, the bank's U.S. auditors, explained that the $75 million deficit was merely an administrative technicality to consolidate potentially uncollectable debts and questionable government bonds left over from the 31-year Trujillo dictatorship. Moreover, Guzman did not become a bank director until April 1964, barely two months before the audit ended. But that was not the only point raised against Guzman. Another: throughout the negotiations, he had refused to go along with U.S. suggestions that known Castroites and Communists be shipped out of the country as part of any political settlement.

As for "broad support," there were few cheers in the Dominican Republic last week, either for Guzman, or Rebel Leader Caamano, or exiled President Juan Bosch, in whose name the civil war was launched. From the start, Bosch had sat it out in Puerto Rico, exhorting his followers by telephone. He was still there; and in Santo Domingo, that sort of distance scarcely made hearts grow fonder. Bottled up in their 2-sq.-mi. downtown stronghold, Caamano and his rebels still put on a brave show, sporadically sniping at U.S. troops and chanting a new version of a Castro slogan--"Caamano, hit the Yankees hard!" Their audience was growing smaller. Under the U.S.-imposed cease-fire between rebels and loyalists, so many Dominicans had left the rebel area that one Marine told a newsman: "You wonder if anyone is left there."

"We Want Freedom!" The man who claimed to be gaining strength in the stalemate was Loyalist Leader Imbert, who had driven the rebels out of the city's northern section and was only prevented by U.S. troops from carrying the fight into the downtown rebel pocket. In Imbert's part of Santo Domingo, shops and factories opened. As Imbert himself visited a market, children tugged at his sleeve and people clustered around him. "We want freedom!" an old lady cried. "I think we have it," replied Imbert, embracing her. "We know you killed Trujillo," someone shouted. Imbert beamed. A young man identified himself as a former rebel. "I turned my gun in to the norteamericanos" he explained. "But now I am afraid to go home because the police will arrest me." Imbert promised to protect him.

From a balcony of the Congressional Palace next day, Imbert told a crowd of 3,000 that he was the victor and saw no reason to compromise. "This grand and noble people have won the battle against the slavery that a band of Communists wanted to impose on them." Chanting "liberty and dignity," the crowd then marched to el Embajador Hotel, headquarters of the foreign press corps. Many of the marchers carried signs identifying them as Imbert supporters from other Dominican cities. Others carried slogans in English: WE

ARE WITH GOD AND NOT THE DEVIL.'

THEY SPEAK RUSSIAN. WE DON'T!

TOO SMALL TO BE DIVIDED.

If the U.S. wanted a coalition government. Imbert was ready with his own version. After huddling with representatives of six parties, ranging from the far-right Vanguardia to the middle-of-the-road Christian Democrats, he announced a "broad-based provisional legislative assembly" composed of appointees from each party as well as delegates from labor, business, the professions, and farmers. Declared Imbert: "This solution should be preferred over formulas brought in by airplane."

Growing Presence. And so the stalemated crisis continued--with one marked change. Bundy's departure left the OAS's Secretary-General Jose A. Mora as the chief peace-seeking official on the scene. He quickly announced that the U.S. had advanced him $5,000,000, which he would use to pay civil servants' salaries in both the loyalist and rebel zones; at Mora's orders, U.S. paratroopers moved in to block Imbert's access to the Central Bank. Indeed, the U.S. seemed more and more anxious to have the OAS take over in Santo Domingo. Brazil's General Hugo Panasco Alvim was scheduled to arrive and take over command of the 18,000-man peace-keeping force from Lieut. General Bruce Palmer. Mixed patrols of U.S. and Latin American troops started driving through Santo Domingo. And the first 3,500 U.S. marines and paratroopers departed as 1,170 Brazilians landed to replace them.

What effect this growing Latin American presence would have remained to be seen. So far, neither side seemed pleased. Caamano ordered his followers to refuse the OAS paychecks, agreed to allow OAS Jeep patrols in his area only if they were escorted by rebel guards. As for Imbert, he summoned his military leaders for a hurried conference. After three hours they left, looking grim and unsmiling.

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