Dominican Republic: Exile of the General

The man most responsible for bringing the U.S. into the Dominican civil war was forcibly packed off to exile last week—and most of the force came from the U.S. The hasty departure of General Elias Wessin y Wessin was intended to preserve and strengthen the precarious truce between loyalists and rebels on which the country's newly installed provisional government depends. Yet at week's end it was not at all certain that the maneuver had accomplished its purpose—indeed, it may even have heightened the tensions.

A tough brigadier who commanded with virtual autonomy the 1,700...