Elías Wessin y Wessin (July 22, 1924 – April 18, 2009) was a Dominican

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking ...

and Dominican Air Force

general A general officer is an officer of high rank in the armies, and in some nations' air forces, space forces, and marines or naval infantry. In some usages the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colonel."general, adj. and n.". OED ...

. Wessin led the

military coup A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. It is typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with its members identifiable by their distinct ...

which ousted the government of Dominican President Juan Bosch in 1963, replacing it with a

triumvirate A triumvirate ( la, triumvirātus) or a triarchy is a political institution ruled or dominated by three individuals, known as triumvirs ( la, triumviri). The arrangement can be formal or informal. Though the three leaders in a triumvirate are ...

. Wessin was also a key figure in the ensuing

Dominican Civil War The Dominican Civil War (), also known as the April Revolution (), took place between April 24, 1965, and September 3, 1965, in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. It started when civilian and military supporters of the overthrown democraticall ...

, which led to a United States military intervention into and occupation of the Dominican Republic in 1965.

Early life

General Wessin Street, Dekwaneh, Lebanon

Wessin was born in

Bayaguana Bayaguana is a municipality (''municipio'') of the Monte Plata province in the Dominican Republic. As of the Dominican Republic's 2002 census, the municipality had a total population of 34,786 inhabitants, of which 19,001 resided in urban areas a ...

Monte Plata Province Monte Plata () is an eastern province of the Dominican Republic, and also the name of its capital city. It was split from San Cristóbal in 1992. The province is bordered to the north by the Sánchez Ramírez, Duarte and Samaná provinces, to ...

Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic ( ; es, República Dominicana, ) is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean region. It occupies the eastern five-eighths of the island, which it shares with ...

, on July 22, 1924. His parents were immigrants from the coastal town of Dekwaneh in

Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to Lebanon–Syria border, the north and east and Israel to Blue ...

. The family name in Lebanon as it is used today is spelt ''Wazen'', a phonetic variant of the name in

Lebanese Arabic Lebanese Arabic ( ar, عَرَبِيّ لُبْنَانِيّ ; autonym: ), or simply Lebanese ( ar, لُبْنَانِيّ ; autonym: ), is a variety of North Levantine Arabic, indigenous to and spoken primarily in Lebanon, with significant ...

. Wessin's career in the Dominican Air Force began as a

military pilot An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its directional flight controls. Some other aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are also considered aviators, because they ar ...

Career

Wessin's first intervention in Dominican politics as an air force officer began in 1961, following the assassination of President Rafael Trujillo, a

dictator A dictator is a political leader who possesses absolute power. A dictatorship is a state ruled by one dictator or by a small clique. The word originated as the title of a Roman dictator elected by the Roman Senate to rule the republic in tim ...

. Wessin, who commanded an

infantry battalion A battalion is a military unit, typically consisting of 300 to 1,200 soldiers commanded by a lieutenant colonel, and subdivided into a number of companies (usually each commanded by a major or a captain). In some countries, battalions are ...

at the time of Trujillo's assassination, helped Trujillo's wife and family to flee the country. During the Revolution, Wessin refused to abandon his post because he did not want the rebels, whom he accused of being pro-communist, to take over the country. This was partly why the U.S tended towards the loyalist (Wessin's forces), and not towards

Francisco Caamaño Col. Francisco Alberto Caamaño Deñó (June 11, 1932 – February 16, 1973) was a Dominican soldier and politician who took the constitutional presidency of the Dominican Republic during the Civil War of 1965. During the Dominican Repub ...

, who was acting in the behalf of Juan Bosch. Wessin was allowed to return from exile in 1978 after the government issued a

general amnesty Amnesty (from the Ancient Greek ἀμνηστία, ''amnestia'', "forgetfulness, passing over") is defined as "A pardon extended by the government to a group or class of people, usually for a political offense; the act of a sovereign power offic ...

. He reconciled with his former political rival, President

Joaquín Balaguer Joaquín Antonio Balaguer Ricardo (1 September 1906 – 14 July 2002) was a Dominican politician, scholar, writer, and lawyer. He was President of the Dominican Republic serving three non-consecutive terms for that office from 1960 to 196 ...

, and actively campaigned for Balaguer during the 1986 presidential election. Due to his support for Balaguer, Wessin served as the country's interior minister and, later, as Secretary of the Armed Forces during Balaguer's administrations. Wessin was featured on the cover of ''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, ...

'' magazine on May 7, 1965.

Death

Elías Wessin y Wessin died of a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which ma ...

on April 18, 2009, in Santo Dominigo, Dominican Republic, at the age of 84. He was survived by his wife, Livia Chávez, and their two sons.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wessin Y Wessin, Elias 1924 births 2009 deaths People from Monte Plata Province Dominican Republic people of Lebanese descent Dominican Republic military personnel Dominican Republic politicians History of the Dominican Republic Candidates for President of the Dominican Republic