Dominican Republic 1965
Source: Relatos de los héroes anónimos de abril [Stories by Anonymous Heroes of the April Revolution] by Tirso Medrano. Unpublished book. This book excerpt appears here with the author’s permission.
Translated: for marxists.org by Amaury Rodríguez, 2019.
Translator’s Note: The following document amplifies the voices of ordinary people who played a vital role within the nuclei of rebellion that gave impetus to the 1965 revolt and subsequent anti-imperialist war in Santo Domingo: Working class Afro-Dominicans and Haitian revolutionaries. I thank Tirso Medrano for granting me permission to translate this book excerpt.
Around ten o'clock in the morning on June 15 of 1965, Yankee soldiers were advancing along Vicente Nobles Street towards Mella Avenue. That is when combatants from the POASI [1] comando [2] were forced to retreat to the Casa Zaglul building. After forcing us out of that building, we barricaded ourselves right across where there is a [masonic] lodge. U.S. troops also drove us out from there. Afterwards, we attacked them from all the side streets next to Mella Avenue.
During the night, we lost Moratín, one of our fighters. Then we regrouped on March 19 street on the corner of Mercedes street. At that time, the POASI comando only had 47 combatants including 13 Haitians.
* The original version of this document appears in Spanish here: Testimonio de Ramón Hernández,excombatiente constitucionalista de POASI.
1. Sindicato de Trabajadores Portuarios de Arrimo (POASI – longshoremen’s union). During the 1965 revolt, POASI became one of the most combative comando populares or peoples’ militias. In the 1970s, POASI became a combative labor union in the midst of state repression. See: Dock Workers Fight for Democratic Rights.
2. The word “comando” refers to comando populares or peoples’ militias formed during the 1965 revolution in the Dominican Republic.