Rafael Trujillo, the often blood-thirsty dictator of the Dominican Republic for 31 years, perhaps deserved his fate in an even-handed appraisal of history.

The recent history of the Dominican Republic is an almost classical study of the way in which even a professedly benevolent dictatorship tends to become oppressive.

The Dominican Republic could turn toward Communist-type authoritarianism as easily as toward Western freedom.

For that reason any democratic reform and effort to bring genuine representative government to the Dominican Republic will need the greatest sympathy and help.

If the Dominican Republic achieves free, democratic government, it will be due in large part to the U.S. show of force that enabled President Balaguer to prevent a threatened restoration of Trujillo dictatorship.

In some countries the trend has gone further than others: Mexico, Panama, and Venezuela are displaying open sympathy for Castroism, and there is no country -- save the Dominican Republic whose funeral services we recently arranged -- where Castroism and Anti-Americanism does not prevent the government from unqualifiedly espousing the American cause.

The southern arrows bend northward just east of the Dominican Republic before straightening out again.

Countries where ASL or a derivative of ASL is the national or a widespread language include Barbados, Belize, Benin, Bolivia, Botswana ( with BSL ), Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Canada, the Central African Republic, Chad, Côte d ' Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Kenya ( minority use ), Liberia, Madagascar ( minority use ), Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Philippines ( L2 use ), Puerto Rico, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Trinidad and Tobago, Togo, and Zimbabwe ( with ZSL ).

Worry beads ( masbaha ) made of Dominican Republic blue amber.

Amber jewellery from Dominican Republic

* Adrián Beltré, Dominican Republic baseball player

* Restoration Day ( Dominican Republic )

* 1965 – United States occupation of the Dominican Republic: American troops land in the Dominican Republic to " forestall establishment of a Communist dictatorship " and to evacuate U. S. Army troops.

* 1946 – An earthquake of magnitude 8. 0 hits northern Dominican Republic.

* Alexandra Caso ( born 1987 ), Dominican Republic volleyball player

* 1965 – Civil war breaks out in the Dominican Republic when Colonel Francisco Caamaño, overthrows the triumvirate that had been in power since the coup d ' état against Juan Bosch.

ARIN formerly covered Argentina, Aruba, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Dutch West Indies, Ecuador, El Salvador, Falkland Islands ( UK ), French Guiana, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, Uruguay, and Venezuela until LACNIC was formed.

About 5 % of the population is of Hispanic origin, regardless of race, primarily from Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic.

With a $ 1. 92-billion-a-year tourism industry, Costa Rica stands as the most visited nation in the Central American region, with 1. 9 million foreign visitors in 2007, thus reaching a rate of foreign tourists per capita of 0. 46, one of the highest in the Caribbean Basin, and above other popular destinations such as Mexico ( 0. 21 ), Dominican Republic ( 0. 38 ), and Brazil ( 0. 03 ).

Costa Rica joined other Central American countries, plus the Dominican Republic, in establishing a Trade and Investment Council with the United States in March 1998.

Cable television in the Dominican Republic is provided by a variety of companies.

Dr. Rafael José Diaz ( born April 22, 1955 ) is a Puerto Rican television show host born in Manatí, Puerto Rico, where his father, a physician born in the Dominican Republic, was the medical director of the local hospital.

Charytín Goyco ( born 23 May 1949 ), better known in the show business plainly as Charytín, is a singer, television presenter and actress from the Dominican Republic.

* List of television presenters / Dominican Republic

In Dominican Republic, Wind Telecom started operations using MMDS technology in 2008, at that time and ever since it became a pioneer taking advantage of such implementations. The company uses the DVB standard for its digital television transmissions.

Until fairly recently, bachata was informally banned from Dominican radio and television.

Endemol is an international television production and distribution company based in the Netherlands, with subsidiaries and joint ventures in 23 countries, including Albania, United Kingdom, the United States, France, Mexico, Spain, Italy, Germany, Brazil, Peru, Chile, Argentina, Dominican Republic, Poland, Portugal, Russia, India, South Africa, Lebanon, Morocco, Philippines, Belgium, Turkey and Australia.

He is the eldest son of Puerto Rican entertainer Elin Ortiz and his wife, the Dominican singer, television presenter, and actress Charytín Goyco.

Forming a small company, " El Ballet Negro de Walter Nicks ," in Mexico, he performed at the Insurgentes Theatre in Mexico City in a production starring Cantinflas ; at the Sans Souci in Havana ; on television in the Dominican Republic, and at the Condado Beach Hotel in San Juan.

La Voz Dominicana was the official radio and television station of the Dominican Republic during the regime of Rafael Leónidas Trujillo.

* SKY México, a subscription television service in Mexico, Central America, and Dominican Republic

The project is an outgrowth of a broadcasting plane used by the Navy during the Cuban and Dominican Republic crises when both radio and television were beamed to home in those countries.

In the Dominican Republic, videos of dead bodies on the water are shown on television to try to deter people from travelling to Puerto Rico on yolas.

Color Visión is a television network based in the Dominican Republic.

Color Visión is channel 9 in the Dominican Republic's television dial.

The 1970s were times of growth for the company, as many locally produced programs were shown, and people such as Jack Veneno found work at the station, and a niche among Dominican television viewers.

She made her screen debut in the Dominican film Un Macho de Mujer ( 2006 ), which starred Venezuelan television host Daniel Sarcos.

Had U.S. warships not appeared off the Dominican coast, there is every possibility that the country would now be wracked by civil war.

But there was no complaint from the Dominican crowds which lined Ciudad Trujillo's waterfront shouting, `` Vive Yankees ''!!

Most tourists visit the Dominican Republic on account of its beaches, but there is an expanding eco-tourism and outdoor activity sector, focused on the country's mountains and wildlife.

The Dominican Republic and Cuba recently established consular relations, and there is contact in fields such as commerce, culture, and sports.

Although Dominican relations with its closest neighbor, the Republic of Haiti, have never been extensive, there are signs this would have changed with the government of President Hipólito Mejía.

In the year 2000, there were 5, 171 Dominican friars in solemn vows, 917 student brothers, and 237 novices.

By the year 2010 there were 5, 906 Dominican friars, including 4, 456 priests.

In 2001 there were 51 weekly direct flights between New York City and the Dominican Republic, with additional flights offered in December.

One day, on the occasion of an ordination, a great many visiting Dominican friars were present, and there was some misunderstanding over who should preach.

The next largest groups were Salvadoran immigrants numbering 4, 043, Peruvians 3, 591 and Dominican immigrants of whom there were 3, 492.

" But ," adds the historian of the Dominican order Jacques Échard, " if he did so, the version lies so closely hid that there is no recollection of it ," and it may be added that it is highly improbable that the man who compiled the Golden Legend ever conceived the necessity of having the Scriptures in the vernacular.

It is reported frequently in the Dominican Republic, but exact prevalence there is not known.

Recent arrivals in the pageant include China ( 2002 ), Albania ( 2002 ), Vietnam ( 2004 ), Georgia ( 2004 ), Ethiopia ( 2004 ), Latvia ( 2005 ), Kazakhstan ( 2006 ), Tanzania ( 2007 ), and Kosovo ( 2008 ); there have also been efforts to revive strong national pageants in South Africa, Canada, Spain, Japan ; Latin America ( especially Venezuela, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Mexico, Colombia, Ecuador and Brazil ) among other regions.

On 21 December 1833, the Holy Office declared that there was nothing contrary to the Catholic faith in the revelations that Sister Maria Luisa di Gesù ( 1799 – 1875 ), a Dominican tertiary from Naples, claimed to have received from the Saint herself.

While there was no military participation, the Dominican Republic thus became a founding member of the United Nations.

Similarly, in the Dominican Republic, a person is told to ask for a " tenteallá " ( tente allá, translated to " keep you there ").

However, there was initial skepticism and Pope Sixtus IV sent Bishop of Ventimiglia, a learned Dominican, to investigate.

Slugger Manny Ramírez grew up in the neighborhood, moving there from the Dominican Republic when he was thirteen years old and attending George Washington High School, where he was one of the nation's top prospects.

On the other hand, there exists a feather enclosed in fossil amber from the Dominican Republic, dated to about 25 mya, which seems to indicate that the Nesoctitinae were already a distinct lineage by then.

* 1991: Popular acquired the deposits and one branch of New York Capital Bank in upper Manhattan, an unsuccessful attempt to revive the failed Capital National Bank, which had served most of the Dominican small businesses there.

In addition, there are eight other members, each of whom serve three-year terms ; four are Dominican friars and four are lay persons.

Since then, there have been over 70 Dominican rock bands, the most successful being Toque Profundo, Tabu Tek, Al-Jadaqui Tribu del Sol, Top 40, TKR, Poket, La Siembra, La Reforma and others.

Hayes had a summer house in the Catskills, maintained by Dominican nuns ; he once encountered a group of Klansmen there.