Ramfis Trujillo

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
For his nephew, see
Spanish name, the first or paternal surname
is Trujillo and the second or maternal family name is Martínez.

Ramfis Trujillo
Trujillo in the mid-1950s.
Trujillo in the mid-1950s.
Generalissimo of the Dominican Republic
In office
1 June 1961 – 17 November 1961
Preceded byRafael Trujillo
Succeeded byPosition abolished, succeeded by President Joaquín Balaguer
Personal details
Born
Rafael Leónidas Trujillo Martínez

5 June 1929
Dominican Republic
Died27 December 1969(1969-12-27) (aged 40)
Madrid, Spain
RelationsRafael Trujillo (father)
Porfirio Rubirosa (brother-in-law)
Ramfis Domínguez-Trujillo (nephew)
Military service
Allegiance Dominican Republic
Branch/service Dominican Army
Rank General

Rafael Leónidas Trujillo Martínez (5 June 1929 – 27 December 1969), better known as Ramfis Trujillo Martínez, was the son of

playboy like his friend and sometime brother-in-law Porfirio Rubirosa
. Remembered for his ruthlessness and cruelty, he went into exile in Spain, where he died of wounds ten days after crashing a sports car.

Early life

Ramfis Bridge, named in honor of not yet 5-year-old Ramfis Trujillo.

Ramfis was born in 1929, his mother was María de los Angeles Martínez Alba, nicknamed La Españolita "the little Spaniard" as her parents were from Spain.[1] By the age 14, his father Rafael Trujillo had made him a colonel, with equivalent pay and privileges. Some say he received this appointment aged just four and that he had become a brigadier general by the age of nine.[2] He was nicknamed Ramfis after the high priest in Giuseppe Verdi's opera Aida.[3]

In the early 1950s, he married his first wife, Octavia Ricart, they had six children.

In the mid-1950s, he was sent to study at the United States Army Command and General Staff College in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. While there, and with Rubirosa as his liaison, Trujillo skipped class and took off for Hollywood, eventually embarking on an affair with actress Kim Novak. Trujillo became notorious for buying luxury cars, mink coats, and jewelry for beautiful girls during his stay. Trujillo's flashy gift-giving made the national news and members of the United States Congress were openly questioned by the press about what real use was being made of foreign aid given to the Dominican Republic. At one point a bumper sticker began appearing on the cars of girls in Los Angeles that read: "THIS CAR WAS NOT A GIFT FROM RAMFIS TRUJILLO".[citation needed]

Since his attendance at the military school was erratic at best, he was denied his diploma after completion. This fact greatly infuriated, and at the same time, humiliated his father.

When he returned home, his wife Octavia filed for divorce. His unruly behavior, including

electroshock
treatments in Belgium as early as 1958; there were also stays in mental hospitals after that.

Not long after all this, he moved to Paris to resume his socialite lifestyle. Many of these actions have most historians convinced that Trujillo never wanted to be a ruler like his father and that he just wanted to live the carefree and bon vivant life of a playboy, shunning any sort of responsibility.

Hungarian immigrant parents, who had a short but relatively successful film career in Hollywood, most notably in The Left Handed Gun, opposite Paul Newman. They had two children.[4]

Influential years

On 30 May 1961, Rafael Trujillo was assassinated in a plot to end his 31-year rule. Ramfis quickly returned to the country and, with the help of Johnny Abbes García, the ruthless intelligence chief, brutally repressed any elements believed to be connected with his father's death, murdering many of the suspects himself.

Afterward, he and

1911—12 & 1914, U.S. occupation in 1916–1924).[5] At the same time, even these meager reforms were opposed by the hardline trujilistas gathered around Ramfis' uncles.[5]

Both internal and external pressures forced him into exile late in 1961, when he fled back to France, along with all of the surviving Trujillos, aboard the famed yacht Angelita (still sailing today as the cruise ship

Sea Cloud
), with his father's casket, which was allegedly lined with $4 million (equivalent to $31 million in 2023) in cash, jewels and important papers.

In 1962, he settled down in Spain where he was protected by Generalisimo

jet-set
lifestyle, which included flying planes as a hobby (also one of the passions of Rubirosa).

He died on 27 December 1969 in a Spanish hospital due to complications from

Duchess-consort of Alburquerque, died instantly.[2]
Trujillo was initially buried in Madrid's Almudena cemetery, but his remains were subsequently moved to Mingorrubio Cemetery in El Pardo to accompany his father's remains.[7] Trujillo was driving a Ferrari 330GT sports car (s/n 9151), a blue 2-door purchased in 1966. The car sat unrestored in Spain from 1969 and finally was offered for sale in early 2013 for £50,000.[8][9]

Ramfis Trujillo's children and grandchildren are still alive, some of them living in Spain.

References

  1. ^ Edwin Rafael Espinal Hernández (21 February 2009). "Descendencias Presidenciales: Trujillo". Santo Domingo: Instituto Dominicano de Genealogía. Archived from the original on 2 May 2014. Retrieved 2 May 2014.
  2. ^
    ISBN 978-1-59448-958-7
    .
  3. ISBN 9781101186862
    .
  4. ^ Nast, Condé (31 March 2019). "Lita Trujillo, luces y sombras de un personaje único". Vanity Fair (in European Spanish). Retrieved 20 April 2024.
  5. ^ a b Dominican Republic
  6. ^ "S/N 9151 Detail". www.330gt.com. Retrieved 20 April 2024.
  7. ^ Castellanos, Eddy (11 April 2008). "Solitaria, en cementerio poco importante, está la tumba de Trujillo" (in Spanish). Almomento.net. Archived from the original on 2 April 2012. Retrieved 14 November 2011.
  8. ^ "330GT Registry". 31 March 2013. Retrieved 31 March 2013.
  9. ^ "Stored Since 1971: Post-Accident 1966 Ferrari 330GT". 30 March 2013.

External links

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