He came to rule at a time of crisis. However, exports of cacao, sugar and tobacco boomed under the rule of Trujillo. The Dominican government encouraged tourism, built hotels, airports, railways, new roads, and public buildings. By 1938, the economic condition was almost diminished. Dictator Raphael Leonidas Trujillo was able to build a fortune of almost $500 million and "owned companies controlling sixty percent of the nation's assets and workers." Although the economy was improving, "Trujillo ran the country as a ruthless dictatorship, freely using torture and murder to suppress possible enemies," (Rogozinski 236).
Universal poverty very much existed. Only the middle class and Trujillo's family benefited from Trujillo's wealth and economic stability. However by the 1940's, political parties such as the Partido Democratico Revolucionario Dominicano, were formed in order to attempt to overthrow the dictator. Many Dominicans were dissatisfied with Trujillo's leadership and by the 1960's, "Trujillo's downfall was a certainty". "The government, in order to finance its repression, instituted new and steep taxes including the requirements that each citizen carry an identification card on his person." Much like the Jewish star the Jews had to wear during the Holocaust. "The economy was doing badly and the foreign debt began to rise- (Brown 36). On May 30, 1961, Trujillo was assassinated by officers for their own personal reasons (Rogozinski 237). .
Before the 1960's, Dominicans nearly did not exist in the United States (Novas, 224). Their swarm of immigration into the United States did not begin until after the assassination of Raphael Leonidas Trujillo Molina. In her book entitled Everything You Need to Know about Latino History, Himilce Novas states, "the influx of Dominicans was made possible by a complex of factors which included the aftereffects of political turmoil and civil war, the never-ending search for cheaper labor in New York, and the relaxation of Trujillo-era restrictions on emigration.
