SANTO DOMINGO.

Auckland Star, Volume LXX, Issue 214, 11 September 1939, Page 5

SANTO DOMINGO.

HAVEN TO REFUGEES.

SAYS CARIBBEAN "STRO'NG

MAN."

GENERAL TRUJIIXO'S AIMS. (By TORRES-MAZZORANNA. NEW YORK. Although there are no pending issues between the United States and Santo Domingo, he would like to see American Customs intervention in the Island Republic terminated, General Rafael L. Trujillo, "strong man" of the Caribbean nation and President of its only politie«l party, asserted on his arrival in New York for a five-day visit to the World's Fair and West Point, whence he will proceed to Europe.

General Trujillo, who is in his late forties, did not recall by his modest demeanour the picture generally associated with a tropical dictator. He has a pleasant manner and speaks with a soft voice. He is accompanied on this trip by an entourage numbering over a score.

His conversation on Monday with President Roosevelt and other prominent officials in Washington convinced him, he said, of the good faith and sincerity of the good neighbour policy. He feels sure, the genera. 1 added, that foreign aggression against the Americas would find all the nations of the western hemisphere united in a common front. Hopes for American "League." "The main difference between European and American diplomacy," he asserted, "is that ours, in the Americas, is not motivated by any desire for aggression. We have no issue of selfdetermination to settle and no need of 'living space.' The three greatest nations in the hemisphere, the United States, Brazil and Argentina, carry on their international relations on a plane of equality and free from Imperialistic designs. is why Americanism is

equivalent to pacifism, and, in order that both terms may have a single meaning, I hope some day to see in operation a league of American nations."

As to American-Dominican relations, General Trujillo said, his only desire is to obtain the early withdrawal of American intervention in the management of Dominican Customs, a situation which he inherited in 1930 from previous administrations and which is "a burden on the national sovereignty."

"Because I have complete faith in the sense of justice of the United States," he said, "I believe that the present arrangement will be changed to conform to the standards of mutual respect and cordiality that should prevail among American nations. About the only thing American officials do in the Dominican Customs is collecting duties and distributing them for the servicing of the national debt and partly also for increasing the fiscal revenue of the island." Asylum For Refugees. Asked whether he was here in search of a loan, a.s other recent Latin-Ameri-can visitors, General Trujillo said emphatically: "We do not want to contract any foreign loans, although our credit is sound. During 'the last nine years we have been getting along with our own resources and we intend to continue doing so. President Jacinto B. Pevnado, head of the present administration, has asked me to study new possibilities for the industrial development of our country, and that I am doing now." His Government. the Dominican strong man said, is definitely committed to a very liberal policy toward Jewish and Spanish refugees. "My country," he affirmed, "will not only grant asylum, but will be a real second fatherland to political refugees. This is one of the things I am studying and intend to solve during my visit in the United States. Santo Domingo needs workers, technicians, tradesmen and professionals and will receive them no matter what their political ideas or religious beliefs may be." Democratic Processes.

The question whether he was a dictator brought a smile to General Trujillos lips. "I did represent in my country," he said, "a type of strong government responsibility coupled with democratic processes, i" was placed at the head of the Government by thej

Dominican people. My first purpose,! , already accomplished, was to restore public order so that the nation might resume its normal civil and economic life. I wiped out the traditional armed uprisings that during 50 years weakened us. Demagogy, which has thrived in nearly all our Latin-American countries, brought mine to the point where it lost its national sovereignty. When I came into power, I found a community without resources or possibilities. Xo schools, no roads, no harbour facilities. The country was in the same condition] >:s in colonial times.

| "To make it a progressive, respectable and civilised republic, I had to submerge many private interests and resist with legitimate force the efforts of those who were using subversive force to destroy my work of reconstruction.

"I have not been a dictator, but a lover of work and order and an enemy of chaos and idleness. There are no political prisoners in Santo Domingo and we live a democratic life without restlessness or fears. My people wanted me to run for a third term, but I declined, because I do not want to perpetuate myself in power. The present regime, headed by President Pevnado, has the backing of the people and the solid and loyal faith of the National Dominican party, over which I preside."—N.A.N.A.