Call For Truth Commission in Dominican Republic

The director of the Dominican Republic’s Resistance Memorial Museum has called for the creation of a truth commission to investigate crimes against humanity carried out in the country during the 20^th Century. Luisa de Peña said, ‘we don’t have an official version of what happened. We don’t have a Truth Commission.’ She added it was important for the country ‘to know what happened to the disappeared, because the disappeared are evidence of a failed society.’

The Memorial Museum of Dominican Resistance is dedicated to documenting the years of repressive rule in the Dominican Republic, from the US invasion of 1916 – 1924, the 30 years of dictatorship under Rafael Trujillo until 1961 and subsequent civil war and Joaquín Balaguer governments. The museum estimates 100,000 people were  killed over this period.

Trujiollo’s family have previously announced plans for an alternative museum that would challenge some aspects of the historical record.