The Dominican Republic had never had a plantation economy. A plantation economy was on the western side of island, in Haiti. Most common folk in the Dominican Republic were subsistence farmers, and there had been mixing between the races. But Trujillo wanted his fellow Dominicans to think of themselves as white, in contrast to Haiti, which was predominately black. In 1937 Trujillo whipped up anti-Haitian fears and massacred thousands of blacks. Under his leadership history was rewritten, describing the Haitians as villains and the Dominicans as white. Mixed Dominicans were defined as Indians (the Indians, however, having been annihilated long before). And Trujillo purged the use of the African hand drum from merengue bands, and he banned voodoo ceremonies. 

In 1959, Trujillo was blaming Fidel Castro for a rising tide of discontent within the Dominican Republic. In 1960, agents of Trujillo had tried to assassinate Venezuela's President Ramuli Bet an court. Bet an court had denounce Trujillo and Trujillo has been described as having "an obsessive personal hatred" of Bet an court. Venezuela appealed to the Organization of American States. An economic embargo was suggested, and Trujillo clamped down harder on opposition within his country.