Rafael Leonidas Trujillo Molina (October 24, 1891–May 30, 1961) ruled the Dominican Republic from 1930 until his assassination in 1961. Officially, he was President only from 1930 to 1938, and again from 1942 to 1952. His brother Hector Trujillo was President from 1952-60, and it was only under pressure from the Organization of American States that a non-relative, Trujillo ally Joaquin Balaguer, succeeded Hector. For more than 30 years, Rafael Trujillo and his family held absolute power on the Dominican side of the island of Hispaniola. Popularly, he was known as "El Jefe" (The Chief), but he was privately referred to as "Chapitas" -- literally, "bottlecaps" -- because of his indiscriminate use of medals. Dominican children emulated El Jefe by constructing toy medals from bottle caps. His tyranny, historically known as "La Era de Trujillo" or "The Trujillo Era", is considered one of the bloodiest of the 20th century, as well as a time of a classic personality cult, when the monuments to Rafael Trujillo were in abundance.
READ MORE: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rafael_Trujillo
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dominican_Republic
