DOMINICAN REPUBLIC: Gaudiest Dictator

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Petan & Pipi. Many of the dictator's enterprises are divided among his brothers. Swarthy Hector ("El Negro") is Secretary of State for War and Navy, with real estate on the side. Petan specializes in fruit and protection, operates a radio station. Pipi regulates prostitution. Prostitutes in the Dominican Republic are called cueros (hides).

Once Petan slapped a levy on exports of cattle hides. Pipi objected. Their mother, one of the First Ladies of the Land, decided the case. "None of that, Petan," she admonished. "You know the cueros belong to Pipi."

Jitters. Despite his wealth and power. Dictator Trujillo is worried. The news from Washington increased his jitters. Assistant Secretary of State Spruille Braden, no friend of dictatorial bullies, had installed an old foe of Trujillo as the State Department's new chief of the Office of American Republic Affairs. The new man: able, forthright Ellis Briggs, who had been U.S. Ambassador to the Dominican Republic, and openly hostile to the Dictator.