Dominican Republic
SIR,--Mr. Brian Crozier boldly claims that Roy Perrott's final paragraphs in the Observer of May 16 'confirm as precisely as one could wish the account I wrote' of the Dominican rising. Perrotts dispatch does confirm one important statement: that some Communists played a major part in the rebels' military leadership. But it confirms neither Mr. Crozier's atrocity stories nor his inflated casualty figures. It says the revolt was winning when the marines landed, which contradicts Mr. Crozier's original account. It reports that the famous American list of over fifty Communists included several who were dead, abroad, or liberals and socialists 'whom only a Senator McCarthy would hang with the full Red label.' All this is in the seven final paragraphs which, to Mr. Crozier, confirm his account as precisely as one could wish.
But Perrott had other things to say. 'The really significant thing about the revolution was its spon- taneity and massive backing . . . The people were solidly behind Caamano . . . generally there is a resentful opinion that the Americans are showing too much' favouritism to the reactionary forces of General Wessin, and that their presence is thwarting the popular will . . . he Ilmbert] and the junta have no popular support at all. If the Americans left. they would not last a moment . .
To cite this dispatch in support of the United States Dominican policy, Mr. Crozier must have read it from a peculiar angle. It was unwise of him in the same breath to accuse your correspondent Mr. Kendrick of standing on his head.
Nuffield College, Oxford
PHILIP WILLIAMS
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