60. Memorandum Prepared in the Central Intelligence Agency1

No. 1120/65

THE COMMUNIST ROLE IN THE DOMINICAN REVOLT

Summary

It seems clear now as it did in the last days of April that a modest number of hard-core Communist leaders in Santo Domingo managed by superior training and tactics to win for themselves a position of considerable influence in the revolt within the first few days. Their influence within the movement grew day by day, and following the collapse of Molinaʼs government on 27 April there appeared to be no organization within the rebel camp capable of denying them full control of the rebellion within a very few days.

At the same time, the rebel cause, enjoying as it did the backing of Bosch and the continued support of several thousand military personnel, seemed likely to prosper in the face of the ineffective and dispirited countermeasures of the loyalists military.

Thus the prospect at the time of US intervention clearly was one in which a movement increasingly under the influence of Castroites and other Communists was threatening to gain the ascendancy in the Dominican Republic.

[Omitted here are 12 pages that describe in detail the Communist role in the Dominican Republic and two annexes: “Cuban Involvement in Dominican Revolutionary Activities” and “Communist Participation in the Dominican Rebellion.”]

  1. Source: Johnson Library, National Security File, Name File, [Valenti File Re: Dominican Republic]. Secret; No Foreign Dissem. Another copy of the memorandum indicates it was sent under cover of a May 7 memorandum to Moyers by Ray S. Cline, Deputy Director of Central Intelligence, who wrote: “You may find helpful as a ready reference the attached report, which is a wrap-up of the political evolution of the Dominican Republic revolt. It is based on all the relevant intelligence available to US as of 7 May.” (Ibid., Dominican Republic-Communist Participation in Current Dominican Republic Rebellion—5/65)