The Coconut Latitudes: Secrets, Storms, and Survival in the Caribbean by Rita M. Gardner

Author:Rita M. Gardner
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub
Publisher: She Writes Press
Published: 2014-09-15T23:00:00+00:00

THE BREEDEN’S PREDICTION that “something big” is going to happen finally comes true when His Excellency Generalísimo Rafael Molinas Trujillo, the Supreme Benefactor, El Líder, El Jefe, is assassinated. On his way to visit a favorite mistress outside of Ciudad Trujillo, his motorcade is ambushed by a group of men who have been planning his killing for a long time. We first hear the news when one of Daddy’s workers comes running to our back gate, ringing the bell over and over and shouting.

“Goodness,” Mama says at the clamor, opening the front door. It is still early morning, much too soon for finca business or even the milk vendors. Daddy is in the bathroom shaving and I’m still in bed.

When she comes back, her face is gray. “Trujillo’s dead.” Daddy whistles, low, and plugs in the portable radio. A solemn newsman on Radio Caribe is lamenting the inconceivable loss of the supreme leader, brought down by scum, by cowards. Then we hear “CIA,” and they’re saying it’s a plot from the Yanqui imperialistas. Another reporter says there are many rumors that it isn’t even true—there’s been no assassination at all. It might just be a plot to see who his traitors are. El Jefe is really still alive and he’s sailed to Puerto Rico on the presidential yacht, Angelina. It’s a cruel joke—it has to be—but finally the assassination is confirmed. No one says a word against El Jefe—not out loud, anyway, and not for a long time. Daddy says we’ll ride this storm out just fine. He says things will actually improve in time. “We’ll just sit tight, although it’s going to be a bouncy ride.”

What does he think we’re on, a roller coaster? I know all about their surviving the great hurricane of 1938 in New England. I know Daddy froze almost to death on an engineering assignment in Russia one winter before the war. So I guess I can understand why we’ll stay put—this is just another crisis that will go away. As we wait for news of who’s going to run the country, we hear the US is sending ships and troops to protect American interests in the republic. Daddy says President Kennedy is just trying to be sure no Commies try to take over, like Castro did in Cuba. We don’t need help anyway, he says; we just have to keep making copra. Joaquín Balaguer is installed as President, and he manages to withstand the Trujillo family’s attempts at taking over. Former Trujillo mourners topple monuments and statues of El Jefe throughout the country. The capital’s name is changed from Ciudad Trujillo to its former name, Santo Domingo. I stop trying to understand what’s happening; it’s all very confusing. Daddy is right. Life does continue much the same as always. I guess we’re too far from all the action here in our faraway village.

We stay away from the capital because there it’s different. Anti-American sentiment is growing larger every day, like a thundercloud building off on the horizon.

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