Thin & Pinched

The colony of embittered Dominican Republic exiles who cluster around the newsstands in Puerto Rico to snap up exported copies of their home-town newspaper, El Caribe, took fresh heart last week. The 92 pictures of Dominican Dictator Rafael Leonidas Trujillo, published on the occasion of his 68th birthday, showed an unsmiling man grey and haggard with age. Trujillo has lost 20 lbs. lately--whether intentionally or not is his own secret. In his 29th year as boss, the dictator has had to cut back on his old candle-burning office schedule at a time when his regime faces mounting problems.

Out of fear of Cuba's Fidel Castro, Trujillo has spent $50 million abroad for arms, including French tanks and Mystere jet fighters, and his usually solvent budget is under strain. Vice President Joaquin Balaguer admits that commercial credits against next year's sugar crop are high (reportedly $40 million). Two prime sources: the local branches of The Royal Bank of Canada and The Bank of Nova Scotia. The cost of living, long stable, jumped 20% from July to October.

As the pinch increased, Trujillo's brother Hector, who is the puppet President, wrote to the "Father of the New Fatherland" and "Financial Emancipator of the Nation" that it would be a "patriotic duty" for the bureaucracy to donate their December salaries to the cause. Lieut. General Rafael ("Ramfis") Trujillo Jr. permanently renounced his $3,000 monthly, salary as chairman of the joint chiefs of staff. Soon El Caribe blossomed with a solid page of names of army officers, cops and party hacks who hastened to say that they were delighted to kick in. But when the government proposed canceling Christmas bonuses for public employees, such grumbling followed that the dictator announced he would personally donate $1,000,000 toward the cause of bonuses as usual.

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