The countless cases of death and massacres mark the history of humanity, and more specifically, the experiences of many Latin American nations. Many of these cases were motivated by political and racial issues long before the word genocide was known to the world. The Holocaust traumatized the world after revealing the vital role race and prejudice played in executing a massive extermination process. However, while many classify the Holocaust as the first modern genocide, few know that one of the first genocides of the twentieth century on racial grounds happened on a small island known as America's first city. Ironically, such a small island was also the first to receive captured black Africans who would later be enslaved on sugar cane plantations.…show more content… The attack against the population came as a surprise, hitting children, women, and men indiscriminately. It is common to assume that no previous event warned Haitians that something of this magnitude could happen. Nonetheless, after examining the trajectory of racism against Haitians and the constant battle between the nations as to which one should control the island, it was conspicuous that Trujillo could execute one of the most heinous genocides in Latin American history. The myth and anti-Haitian ideology made it easier for Trujillo to envision himself as a defender of the nation by ordering his soldiers to kill Haitians with machetes and not with weapons, brutality expressed by the name given in Spanish, el Corte. The massacre, like the colony, was part of the Dominicanization program on the border where a large quantity of the Haitian population recited and a place where racial, cultural, and religious miscegenation could more easily…show more content… It is believed that Trujillo decided to support Jews because of the substandard image the massacre had imposed on his behalf and, therefore, on the Dominican nation. International public opinion, including the United States, condemned the killings. The resilient dictator soon sought to ease the situation by welcoming German and Austrian Jews into the Dominican Republic. Although Trujillo’s invitation also came amid tensions between Haiti and the Dominican Republic, accepting Jews should also be understood as a plan to re-establish diplomatic relations with the American government. Since the United States decided to occupy the island to regulate and improve the ports in 1916, the relationship between the two has been embittered by socio-political and economic disagreements. It was not until 1940, when the Trujillo-Hull Treaty was signed, whereby the American government abandoned control over collecting and applying national customs revenues, that the relationship took a new form. Nevertheless, the fragmented relationship did not stop the United States from blaming the dictator for the systemic killings right below the good neighbor. Roosevelt and his advisers soon understood who was responsible for the slaughter of thousands of Haitians. Therefore, soon after the international community blamed Trujillo, a confidential U.S. intelligence report stated that “it is difficult to conceive that under a
