AfroLatino previously said:

Many of you keep going back and forth with this and have yet given any good educative information about Col. Francisco Alberto Caamaño Deñó so that those who do not know about him can. Instead of rambling on, why not provide worthy solid links to debate this?

The one pure mistake always made by people posting on this site is that they never can help themselves not to project their own passionate subjectivity on a matter. I mean this constant circular verbal masturbation is useless due to the fact that if anyone would like to learn about Col. Francisco Alberto Caamaño Deñó they could objectively google it and from the given results from google, one does not have to pick wikipedia if they chose not to; but if they do, well it is their choice. Even if someone were to choose to be passionately subjective about a topic, the least they could do is manage to be constructively productive. You do not have to be a Dominican to learn about Dominican history and to give your opinion, view and so forth on Dominican matters.

There are many Dominicans who do not even know about their own history that a foreigner at times can be way more knowledgeable than them since many times or often than not, a foreigner can learn about certain aspects of the history of certain place and mange to be impartial and neutral, with no pre-conceived bias, prejudice and favoritism to the story. NOw if any of you wants to debate anything on him, bring forward proper documents and materials so that others can cross referenced and see if the story is checked out or not by comparing provided data.

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Col. Francisco Alberto Caamaño Deñó: pronounce Caah-Mah-Nyoh Deh-Nyoh (11 June 1932 – 16 February 1973) was a Dominican soldier and politician. His entry into history books came during the Dominican Republic Civil War that began on April 24, 1965. He was one of the leaders in the movement to restore the democratically elected President Dr. Juan Bosch, who had been overthrown in a CIA sponsored military coup d'état in September, 1963. This faction of loyalists came to be known as the Constitucionalistas, for their desire to return to a rightful and constitutional form of government, as opposed to the military junta that was in place.


As the Constitucionalistas successfully seized and held Santo Domingo over the initial days of the uprising, U.S. President Lyndon Johnson ordered an invasion by the U.S. military, dubbed as Operation Power Pack, with the pretext that the lives of American citizens there needed to be protected. A factor that was arguably more involved in the decision was the fear that the Constitucionalistas would bring about a communist regime in the country, and this risk of "another Cuba" was something that would not be allowed.

During this period, Caamaño was de facto and, arguably, de jure, President of the Dominican Republic. After a few months of brave fighting by the Constucionalistas, who were outnumbered and outgunned by the foreign forces, Caamaño and his men consented to a reconciliation agreement and thus ended the Consitucionalista government. Facing ongoing threats and attacks during the following months, including a particularly violent attack at the Hotel Matum in Santiago, Camaaño accepted an agreement imposed by the USA government. The Dominican Provisional President, Garcia Godoy, sent Colonel Caamano as the Military Attache to the Dominican Embassy to England. While there, he was contacted by Cuban officials and he fled to Cuba to start a guerrilla group. He had a support group led by Amaury German Aristy that was expected to create the conditions for a victorious landing of Caamano's comands in Dominican Republic. This group was ambushed by the Dominican Army and killed during a fierce fight that included heavy artillery and even airplanes. During the Winter of 1973, after several years staying low-profile, Caamaño led the landing of a small group of rebels at Playa Caracoles, near Azua and then into the mountains of the Cordillera Central, with the purpose of starting a peasant revolution to overthrow Dominican President Joaquín Balaguer. Balaguer's government was repressive and highly centralized during this period, reminding many of the Rafael Trujillo regime in which Balaguer been one of the dictator's puppet presidents and close advisers.

P.S: After a few weeks of guerrilla war against Balaguer's regular army and not having received the much hoped-for peasant support, he was wounded and captured by Dominican government forces, and then summarilly executed. Some twenty years passed before Caamaño was officially honored by the Dominican government as a hero for his attempts to restore rightful government to his country. Today, there is an avenue in Santo Domingo that bears the name Presidente Caamaño (the avenue borders the western bank of the Ozama River harbor, near its outlet to the Caribbean sea).

generoso previously said:

What gives the right to claim your information is than better than anyone's else's?
Where you in ciudad nueva in 1965?
Did you know Coronel Caamaño or Montes Arache?
Why can't you be an American and a Dominican as well?
The Dominican civil war was a sorry chapter in history for brothers to have to fight each other over politicians. I think the whole thing could have been avoided.
The same as for the US civil war in 1861-65 that killed and maimed thousands.
All wars are deeply a failure to dialogue and communicate or excess greed.
I will end with one story:
There is nothing more frightening than having bullets whizing by you from all sides and from the skies
as well. Do you know that when a plane is coming at you head on you don't hear the clakety clak of the machine guns until he goes by?
There is nothing more humiliating than watching an uninvited guest foreign army come in and stop the fight and take sides to tilt the balance the wrong way.
The US invasion was totally uncalled for and a abuse of power because the US forces were partial to the side against the Constitucionalistas.
The curious thing is that most of the units that came to DR first like the 82 ND airborne the 101 ST and the 1 ST Marine division were later sent to Vietnam were they were later expelled by the VC.

arkatype previously said:

Juan Bosch was a communist pig and Caamano was his henchmen, he wanted to create another Cuba. What's so great about that. Guantanamo Bay!!!!!

soydeicampo previously said:

Caamano was a communist was a communist was a communist! There's no point trying to sugar coat this fact, my step dad fought for him and heard all the recruitment propaganda at the time so f^% what you read....the man was a communist!
Why did he go to communist Cuba for assistance if he wasn't. Would Uncle sam had spent millions on a peacekeeping mission if the threat weren't a real one, I resent intervention as much as the next man. But as above Caamano was a communist.
BTW; nothing wrong with socialism/communism as an ideal, just doesn fly in the real world.
Another thing: would you try to start a guerilla campaign with just 8 men? poor strategy! He led those men to their deaths. Didnt stand a chance, not in the face of the Dominican Army, too well trained, too disciplined, too capable. Suicide. Poor leadership by Caamano in my opinion. shouldnt of put his faithful followers in that position in the first place. The Dominican people didnt want communism, hence he got sold out, wasnt the same as Batista's Cuba so couldnt never in a hundred years work.
Poor.
We dont need a Che or Fidel. We have had our own heroes in our time. Maximo Gomez/Antonio Duverge to quote two.
Had Caamano been succesfull we would be a third rate communist state, without the levels of infrastructure and wealth we enjoy today, admittedly theres lots of interference from abroad, the distibution of wealth could be better but we have a better quality of life as people than many developed countries. Dominicans have a better lifestyle than people in developed countries if you think about it, always out drinking partying, doing family stuff, leading happy lives, even if their poor.

Lautaro previously said:



soydeicampo, I'll put it easy for you. Of our western neighbours, which is better off, communist Cuba or capitalist Haiti? I'm letting Jamaica out of this because, for better or for worse, that island is still a semi-colony of the Downing-Street cabinet.

TuPapaupa previously said:

I hope you don't mind if I answer your question before he does.

I'll take Cuba any day of the week!.

Some of these people are ASSuming that because Castro allowed him to train his troops there that all of a sudden he was going to turn the DR into a Communist country.

How many countries has Castro tried to assist and at the end of the day, none became Communists?.

If any of you know anything about International History, you'll know which countries I am talking about.

Visiting a country, for whatever reason, doesn't mean that person believes in their policies. Only idiots will think so.

To this day, many years later, Puerto Rican singer Danny Rivera is thought, by many idiots, to be a Communist because he went to Cuba, when it was taboo, and performed to fans, including Castro.

To this day, many narrow-minded idiots still think he is Communist, even thought he said back them, and still says, that all he did was his job and that politics was never a subject while he was there.