Trujillo's military training and criminal record

At first, very few young Dominicans volunteered to join the army created by the invaders. The North Americans found it necessary to enlist adults of the worst kind, as was the case of Rafael L. Trujillo Molina.

In December 1918, Trujillo, 27 years old, requested an officer's position in the Dominican National Guard (GND) from Colonel C. F. Williams, its commander. It had been created by the United States Marines the previous year, directed by them, and already had 21 American officers, 17 Dominicans and 691 enlisted men.

As a reference, Trujillo included a letter of recommendation from the Administrator of the Central Boca Chica where he had worked for two years as head camp guard, which mentioned that the U.S. Marines themselves had congratulated the mill for having a camp guard like Trujillo. At that time, the main task of the guardacampestre was to control the braceros, a task in which Trujillo stood out for his brutality in the enslaving treatment of the sugar cane cutters.

Accepted into the National Guard, he received the rank of Second Lieutenant. In 1918 the Guard was mainly dedicated to chasing some 600 “gavilleros” in the eastern region. This new Guard, in the first 18 months since its creation in 1917, had captured some 270 patriots pursued by the army of occupation; it had killed in the Province of El Seybo some 80 “Gavilleros” and captured some 100. By that time there had been some 50 National Guard confrontations with patriots marked by them as “Gavilleros.”

In 1946, Albert C. Hicks related in his book 'Blood in the Streets', that in 1918 (the same year in which he requested his “enganche”), Trujillo was sentenced to six months in jail for forgery of documents. Robert Crassweller explains in his book that by that time “he was an adult criminal” who stole cattle and that in San Pedro de Macoris he had been sentenced to jail for forgery, although he managed to avoid that imprisonment. Trujillo's biographer assures that in 1916, Trujillo had formed a gang of young men, known as “the 44th”, because of the bloody reputation of the 44th Marine Infantry Company. This gang robbed warehouses and warehouses.

The future dictator was assigned by the U.S. Marines in San Pedro de Macoris to fight the ''gavilleros''. The army of occupation never participated directly in these confrontations, but the National Guard commanded by North American officers. The combats were, therefore, between Dominicans.

As soon as Trujillo arrived in uniform in the East, he began his mischief. From El Seybo, in March 1919, he wrote to his friend Marino Rocafort, who served as interpreter and spy for the occupation troops: “In my office a matter has arrived that relates to land that Emilio Malleta bought on behalf of Santa Fe from Mrs. Pablo Rijo without her husband's authorization. I want that if you know Emilio Malleta and if it is possible for you to scare him to me because the urgent thing for Pablo Rijo is that Emilio Malleta gets in touch with him”.

In June 1919, from Ramon Santana, Trujillo wrote to Rocafort. ... “The capture of the fugitive gang member Toledano Feliciano has been one of the best and quickest that has taken place since the world began. At 2 o'clock in the afternoon I received the circular. At 5 o'clock the gang member was safely off to sleep and at 1 o'clock at night he was captured. No other news. I am waiting for the spies. Yours, Trujillo.”

Trujillo's accusations of statutory rape and demanding bribes did not cease. In July 1919 he was accused of 'assault with the intention of committing kidnapping, with felony and by force, and against her will', of the 17 year old Isabel Guzman of the city of Los Llanos. Also on that same date he was accused of 'scandalous conduct tending to destroy good morals, with the commission of improper sexual relations, to the scandal and disgrace of the Dominican National Guard and the Military Government of the United States'. On that same occasion he was also accused of arresting Mr. José Nuñez 'illegally charging the sum of US $ 150.00, as a ransom or bribe so that Mr. José Nuñez and his daughter would be released from prison and set free', as in fact happened since upon receiving the payment they were released. In November 1919 he was accused of committing the same kidnapping and bribery of Messrs. Carlitos Alduey and Esteban Alduey, from whom he received the same sum of US $ 150.00.