The Seventh Party System: Part XXI
Part I - Metropotamia
Part II - Alta California
Part III - North Carolina
Part IV - New Jersey
Part V - Adams
Part VI - Alabama
Part VII - Rhode Island
Part VIII - Sequoyah
Part IX - Assenisipia
Part X - East Florida
Part XI - Tennessee
Part XII - Kansas
Part XIII - Dakota
Part XIV - Arizona
Part XV - Delaware
Part XVI - Oregon
Part XVII - Ozark
Part XVIII - New Hampshire
Part XIX - Western Connecticut
Part XX - New York
Santo Domingo is a state with a troubled history, being annexed into the Union in 1865 after the country suffered decades of civil wars and spiraling debt. While remaining a mere territory until 1890, US development helped the region immensely as it standards of living soon approached those of the Deep South. However, the state would again be through into turmoil in the 70s when war returned to the island of Hispaniola.
Despite being annexed as another destination for freed slaves, during the Great Depression of the 1930s white supremacy began its rise in the state. Despite the fact that nearly every Dominican possessed African heritage, many of them blamed the Great Depression on black people, specifically Haitian immigrants who had become a significant minority in the state during the early 1900s. With support from the governor of Santo Domingo, Leonidas Trujillo, a paramilitary group called "The Patriotic Coalition of Citizens" was formed to rid the state of "job stealing" Haitians, using intimidation, violence, and out right murder to kick out Haitians. This effort culminated in the infamous Kout Kouto-a massacre where tens of thousands of Haitians were ethnically cleansed from all the major cities of Santo Domingo in less than a week. While Trujillo himself was later convicted and sentenced to death for his crimes most PCC members escaped punishment by simply disavowing themselves from the group and went on to play prominent roles in the state's government.
This racial discrimination against Haitians would resurface in the 60s as the Civil Rights movement began to gain steam. Santo Domingo itself having restricted the vote of Haitians ever since the 1930s saw the Civil Rights Act as sympathetic to Haitians would lead to the state voting overwhelming for the Conservative coalition in 1972. What they did not expect was wave of violence which would be unleashed after the repeal of the Civil Rights Act in 1973 as Haitians first the first time started to fight back.
On the night of August 21st, 1973, an insurgent group known as the Cagoulards began its assault on the capital of Grantsville, attacking the city with crude assault rifles and rocket launchers under the cover of darkness. While the attack was eventually repulsed by morning, thousands of innocent Dominicans lay dead, especially those of the poorer western slums. With the governor Johnny Abbes declaring a state of emergency the national guard was mobilized and thousands of troops were deployed deep into the Dominican jungle to search and destroy the Cagoulards. All persons of Haitian descent were also interned into military prison camps along the coast to ensure that they did not harbor militants in their homes. By the year the state was declared free of insurgents, with thousands of Cagoulards being killed and thousands more arrested.
The most shocking revelation, however, came on December 15th, when conclusive evidence of the Cagoulards being supported by the Haitian government was found. With Haiti being under the rule of black nationalist Francois Duvalier most Americans suspected that he did fund them, but Nixon was hesitant to invade, remembering how Duvalier's troops had proved instrumentally in defeating the communist revolution on Jamaica. Nevertheless, with conclusive evidence that his Cagoulards were the ones responsible for thousands of dead Americans, on December 26th America declared war on its former ally and began a full scale invasion of Haiti.
In what would become known as the Day after Christmas War a coordinated aerial, naval, and land invasion of Haiti occurred as the US used overwhelming force to topple the Duvalier government. In less than two weeks, the entire country was placed under US occupation, with the entirety of the Haitian army having been annihilated. On January 13th, Duvalier was found and killed in a small bunker outside of Port-au-Prince, where US soldiers discovered a secret demonic altar were young children were sacrificed in an attempt to curse the US with black magic.
Ever since the Day after Christmas War Haiti has been ruled by various puppet governments that the US government claim are democratically elected, but which international observers from the European Union and East Asian Prosperity Sphere have found to be consistently rigged after the first free election resulted in the "wrong" party gaining power. This party, called the Struggling People's Organization, which campaigned on the removal of the US occupying troops, was conveniently declared a terrorist organization mere hours after their election victory leading to the first of five Haitian Uprisings. The most recent and deadliest of these uprisings occurred in 2010 after an earthquake struck the nation and the US government, too embroiled in the Second Great Depression, refused to help send food or medical aid. With countless Haitians dying of starvation alone, by the time the uprising was declared suppressed in 2014 the death toll in the country was estimated to be around 316,000 by US sources and over 800,000 by independent sources, who accused the US government of using chemical weapons during the establishment the 20 mile thick and 224 mile long "Safe Zone" to protect Santo Domingo from Haitian militants.
Politically Santo Domingo has long been ruled by Liberacion Dominicana, a populist party with an undisguised hatred of Haitians and fervent patriotism towards the mainland US. Often getting an absolute majority by itself, on all other occasions it has managed to retain power by entering into coalition with the devoutly religious Union Democrata Cristiana. And while the state has been improving the rights of Haitians in recent years they still remain an untouchable lower class, perpetuated by their racial classification as Negros.
Government:
Liberacion Dominicana - A left wing populist party which is socially conservative their hatred of Haitians still continues to this day. Denounced by their rivals as corrupt and racist the party has never been out of government since their founding due to their massive support in the Western half of the state. With even the Democrats finding Liberacion Dominicana too racist for their tastes the party had always been a pariah nationally until it recently began moderating its racism towards Haitians.
Union Democrata Cristiana - The party for conservative and Catholic Hispanics they find their base of support among rural citizens of the eastern half of the state. And while they rarely get over 10% of the voteshare their influence is still significant as the party often forms coalitions with Liberacion Dominicana.
Opposition:
Republicans - The only English language party in the overwhelming Hispanic state, the Republicans find support among the descendants of white carpetbaggers and black southerners. While they are economically the most right wing party due to their base's history as landowners and business owners the party is socially more in line with those of New England Republicans and thus more socially liberal than both Liberacion Dominicana and Union Democrata Cristiana.
Partido Revolucionario - The main left wing opposition to Liberacion Dominicana they have become the party of Afro-Dominicans, who are still mistakenly discriminated against as Haitians. In the 1990s, as an effort to try and gain the votes of these Afro-Dominicans Liberacion Dominicana splitting off non-Haitian blacks from the Negro group and creating the Moreno classification. However this move backfired, as everyone saw through their plan and the Partido Revolucionario responded by demanding that the Moreno category be merged into the Mulatto group, which currently serves as the racial classification for most Dominicans.
Ciudadanos - A left of center liberal party, the party represents the interests of Santo Domingo's non-Anglo middle class. With their largest base of support in Santo Domingo city, Ciudadanos has the distinction of being the only party in Santo Domingo to express opposition to the US police actions in Haiti, besides Parti Haitien itself. The party's critics remark that if the city of Santo Domingo was in range of Haitian rockets, then their position might be different.
Parti Haitien - The party of Haitians who were born in Santo Domingo they remain firmly against the US occupation of Haiti and appalled at the atrocities that American soldiers, especially those of Dominican origin, have committed against the people of Haiti. While the party has been banned several times due to suspected links to the Struggling People's Organization each time these suspicions were struck down in a court of law.