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The tragic fact was that no one seemed to be in real command any more?not Bosch's people, not the remaining army rebels, not the Communists. At one rebel headquarters in the Ciudad Nueva, a group of young rebels pleadingly told TIME's reporters: "We are not Communists. We are active antiCommunists. We are fighting for the constitution, for Bosch. When the constitution is restored, we will keep the Communists out. We can handle them." Very possibly those youngsters genuinely thought that they were fighting for democracy. But before anyone could talk rationally about restoring anything in the Dominican Republic, there had to be a ceasefire, and at week's end that still seemed beyond any immediate grasp.
Meeting in emergency session in Washington, the Organization of American States asked Msgr. Emanuelle Clarizio, the papal nuncio in Santo Domingo, to negotiate a cease-fire until a five-man truce team could fly down to work out a lasting settlement. Wessin y Wessin and other loyalist commanders and some rebel elements agreed under two conditions: that no one would be punished for any acts during the fighting, and that the OAS would supervise the formation of a provisional government. Even as Msgr. Clarizio reported the hopeful news to Washington, rebel forces captured Ozama Fortress, the police headquarters, with its stocks of weapons and ammunition. The shooting continued throughout Saturday, and the rebels claimed 10,000 armed fighters compared with 3,000 for Wessin y Wessin's loyalist forces.
Driving in Earnest. That was probably a gross exaggeration. However many there were, there was no letup in the bloodbath or in the sniping at U.S. troops. Going into action for the first time in earnest, the 82nd Airborne joined Dominican infantrymen in pushing out from the bridge perimeter, fought their way through the city's heart to link up with a Marine column attacking from the western International Zone. The drive cost another two U.S. dead, at least a dozen wounded?and brought an announcement from Washington that 2,000 more troops were being sent in, bringing the total contingent to 7,000 men.
The likelihood is that some sort of peace, either through force of arms or OAS persuasion, will eventually be imposed. But the dangers of anarchy-fed Castroism will remain for a long while. To prevent that, President Johnson has accepted a clear and unwavering U.S. responsibility. "The United States," said the President, "will never depart from its commitment to the preservation of the right of all of the free people of this hemisphere to choose their own course without falling prey to international conspiracy from any quarter." The meaning was as unmistakable as the presence of U.S. combat troops in Santo Domingo.