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ITALIAN INVESTMENT IN THE MODERN DOMINICAN ECONOMY
sponsible for financing the modern Dominican economy during the governments of Ulises Heureaux. After
his assassination in Moca on July 26, 1899, a period of political instability followed with frequent changes
in government.
51
Little was produced for domestic consumption by 1908, with only 25 factories and 66 craft workshops
operated, manufacturing rum, cigarettes, footwear, and patented pharmaceuticals. Between 1878 and 1900
in Santiago, 28 commercial establishments had been registered, half of which were Dominican-owned, and
in Puerto Plata, 19 businesses were registered, of which seven were Dominican; the rest of the business
owners originally came from Germany, Italy, Spain, Cuba, or Puerto Rico.
52
The limited activity in business and industry explains why, in the first decade of the twentieth century,
the economy grew at an average annual rate of only 2.48%, but it recovered in the second decade with an
annual increase of 10.89% due to investments in sugar milling and exports through U.S.-based corporations
and the Vicini family (between 1900 and 1916).
53
The concentration of capital among Americans subse-
quently shifted in terms of ownership of the then-extant fourteen sugar mills.
54
In 1892, 53,823 acres of agricultural land had been developed, an area that increased to 123,335 acres by
1905.
55
In the first two decades of the twentieth century, the country’s total foreign trade (imports plus ex-
ports) grew at an average annual rate of 9.28%, with an accumulated value of US$115,592,096, or an annual
average of US$4,445,850.
56
The economy went through expansion and contraction cycles in the 1920s, with an overall annual
growth of 3.63%. With the onset of the Great Depression, the rate fell to 1.96% in the 1930s. In 1936, major
business ownership could be summarized as follows: 15 foreign-owned, one of which was Italian, and 85
Dominican-owned.
57
In 1937, there were 11 industrial companies operating, representing a total investment
of US$62,408,322 and 311,956 jobs,
58
while 30,000 businesses had been licensed, 82% of a commercial na-
ture.
59
However, despite an increase in exports, the economy barely grew by 3.95% in the 1940s. Due to
boom-and-bust cycles, economic activity recorded an average annual growth of 4.7% from 1900 to 1949.
During the four decades that followed World War II, economic policy was influenced by the doctrine of the
Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), which was founded in 1948. The
dictator Trujillo took advantage of ECLAC’s import substitution model to venture into different businesses,
capitalizing on funds from the Dominican federal budget.
Trujillo, a rural man by birth, but with a natural talent for business, drew up a plan in early 1930 to cre-
ate domestic trading companies dealing in the production, exporting, and importing of goods.
60
He partici-
pated as an entrepreneur in various businesses and factories, including those involved in the manufacture or
processing of tobacco, flour, bread, meat, salt, hardware stores, vegetable oil, glass, chocolate, nails, coffee,
soap, and footwear, as well as cattle ranches.
61
In order to maintain his majority stake in the largest tobacco producer, he forced Ricardo Sollner and
the Italian businessman Anselmo Copello to sell their shares in the Tabacalera Anonymous Company, C.A.
The former had founded the company and the latter developed it to become the most highly capitalized
concern in the country, with assets estimated at US$1.2 million in 1932.
In addition to the sugar, air, and sea transportation businesses, Trujillo owned the Caribbean Motors
Co., a Chrysler, General Electric, Goodyear, Atlas, and Firestone dealership, and the Atlas Commercial
Co.
62
He took over the assets and representation of General Motors, after accusing Italian businessman
Amadeo Barletta (1894-1975) of conspiracy to eliminate him as a competitor, which was immediately reject-
ed by the governments of Italy and the United States.
63
Barletta was born in San Nicola Arcella, in Calabria, and from Puerto Rico, to which he had immigrated
around 1912, he moved to Santo Domingo in 1920. After settling in the Dominican Republic, he established
the Santo Domingo Motors company and obtained representation from the U.S. giant General Motors to
distribute vehicles, equipment, and spare parts. He also ventured into the cigarette business associated