The island of Hispaniola includes Haiti and the Dominican Republic, both of which have a history of violent dictatorships.
In Haiti, Francois Duvalier came to power in 1957. He ruled the country through brutality and violence. His private force tortured or assassinated any opposition. He declared himself president for life. Meanwhile, his people suffered in poverty, and his brutal reign saw the killing of over 30,000 people. Upon his death, his son Jean-Claude Duvalier, nicknamed 'Baby Doc', continued to rule with violence. However, in the mid-80s a successful coup finally ended the Duvalier regime. The story of the Dominican Republic is much the same. After the U.S. pulled out of the Dominican Republic in the 1920s, Rafael Leónidas Trujillo seized control in the 1930s. As a ruthless dictator, he massacred innocent Haitians and Dominicans alike. Using the army and a network of spies, he terrorized the land. Despite all of this, he used his wealth and his dislike of communism to keep in the good graces of the U.S. However, when he began to seize US sugar companies, it began Trujillo's alienated himself from most of the world powers. Then he tried to assassinate the Venezuelan president and world leaders seemed to have taken all they would. Trujillo was ambushed and killed in 1961.