Project Camelot in the Dominica Republic
NACLA
In 1969, a powerful coalition of U.S. and Canadian financial interests put up $200 million for an investment by Falconbridge Nickel Mines, Ltd. in the Dominican Republic. To attract such a large...
...1972) p. 26...
...In 1958, he transferred to the State Department and worked as political officer in the U.S...
...It thus became imperative for Falconbridge to prepare itself for the possible repurcussions of its venture...
...If you had some problem with the police, for example, if you were accused of some small offense, do you think you would be treated the same as anybody else...
...The armed forces seized the city, but despite government terror and anti-guerrilla propaganda, the townspeople withheld their active support for the regime's military operations...
...National Executive Committee...
...What is more, the training of Third World students in bourgeois social science theory inculcates local intellectuals, who otherwise might question the entire basis of a society which oppresses poor and working class people, with an ideology that either is totally irrelevant to their situation, or is based on the continuation of a society rooted in dependency and imperialist oppression...
...Foremost in the minds of the financial backers was the question of social and political stability...
...The Church...
...In 1961, after Trujillo's assassination, Petan fled, leaving Bonao a legacy of terror, misery and corruption...
...Jose Arismendi, one of Trujillo's two brothers and commonly known as "Petan," "set out to repeat on a local scale what his brother in the Presidency was doing on a national scale...
...How many members do you have...
...7 In spite of Christopher's academic background, professional anomalies do appear in his biography...
...Immediately we realized that this would open up a series of new opportunities...
...Emphasis added)is How much of a chance do you have to participate in the decisions at your workplace...
...For a person of the popular sector (the lower class), it is very easy, easy, difficult, impossible, other, to rise to a higher social group...
...The town of Bonao, the projected location for Falconbridge's mining venture, did not escape this pattern...
...It now behooved the sponsors of the project to put these energies to good use and produce the information which was essential to the U.S...
...6 Between 1942 and 1945, he served in the U.S...
...Vote against those who proposed it...
...Could they be divided, co-opted, bought off...
...Army...
...These responses serve as a prelude to the people's real answer to Falconbridge's new investment...
...Falconbridge would cover all the costs of the study, except for salaries which were paid out of the AID grant...
...In their own words: While some would like to accept these scholars' naive version of history as a series of coincidences, few would admit that two such accomplished intelligence operatives as Christopher and Saudade would not have seen the confluence of interests between the U.S...
...What is your opinion of the following...
...Are you a member of a union, a peasant organization, a civic club (e.g...
...One must remember that the 35 percent answering "yes" were risking jail terms...
...What are your areas of influence...
...government, the Dominican bourgeoisie and, as we will see, to potential investors in the island...
...more than half the families received a monthly income of less than $50...
...Louis, a Jesuit school, to set up a training program for Dominican social scientists and students from the Catholic University of Santiago...
...Thus, Falconbridge sponsored possibly the most extensive and detailed social-science research project in the history of this small country...
...This results in a distortion of the conclusions which tend to downplay the level of alienation, protest and readiness to resist oppressive authorities...
...they retard the country's progress...
...It is the task of scholars who understand these problems to attack the uses of social science research...
...VI, No.6 (July-Aug...
...Make personal contact with government functionaries...
...The company was then prepared to predict and counteract any opposition to its operations...
...The 1965 U.S...
...What this says about Henry Christopher and about the University of St...
...He recreated the small town of Bonao, making it the headquarters of a personal domain that was feudal in every respect except land tenure...
...Is it true that in this country the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer...
...How would you achieve it...
...government...
...1) The socio-economic questions sought to define people's attitudes towards work, evaluate the degree and characteristics of absenteeism, judge skill levels and analyze consumption patterns...
...On the basis of these results, Falconbridge was able to draw up a hiring policy which would provide a stable and reliable work force...
...For all practical purposes, the questions can be grouped according to two main categories: 1( socioeconomic and, 2) political...
...What is its philosophy...
...What is your objective...
...9. All questionaires are listed in the second vol...
...What is your evaluation of other parties...
...What type of political propaganda do you use...
...In the midst of this scholarly discussion over the direction of their work, the academics "heard" about Falconbridge's $200 million investment...
...2. All the statistics pn social conditions in Bonao were taken from Falconbridge's funded study, Bonao: Una Ciudad Dominicana (Santiago, Dom...
...El Caribe...
...At the same time we were having these discussions without any certainty of accomplishing the projected research, we learned that a Canadian mining company (sic) was planning a $150 million pesos (sic) investment in the city of Bonao...
...In 1946 he joined the War Department...
...Where do party funds come from...
...and Dominican governments...
...Are you a member of a political party...
...His research on Latin America, combined with his experience in analyzing intelligence for the U.S...
...For example, 60 percent believed it was difficult or impossible to move to a higher social class, and nearly 75 percent believed that in the Dominican Republic the rich get richer and the poor get poorer...
...The mortality rate for children under four was a phenomenal 60 percent...
...The data gathered through this research-although often the work of well-meaning scholars-finds its way into U.S...
...In 1959, Bonao became the center of national attention when a guerrilla foco was established in nearby mountains to fight the Trujillo regime...
...Local...
...Fortunately the popular classes in underdeveloped countries have learned to beware of sociologists and census takers...
...Agency for International Development, AID-Financed University Contracts, (Washington: Government Printing Office, June30, 1969) p. 5. 5. UCMM's Board of Directors includes members from the following oligarchic families: Espaillat Mera, Franco, Bisono, Alvarez, Grullon, Bermudez and Cabral...
...2) The questions relating to political issues were drawn up by the intelligence minded Christopher...
...and local governments...
...Years after Petan's rule, the city had some of the worst living conditions on the island...
...armed intervention...
...invasion as damaging for the country, while only 34 percent thought it beneficial...
...And, second, there might be funding for the study...
...5 This university was accustomed to dealing with large North American institutions, having received a $69,400 grant from the Ford Foundation in 1964 for research into Dominican agriculture...
...86 percent less than $100 and only two families received a monthly income of $500 or more...
...8. Bonao: Una Ciudad Dominicana, p. 11...
...Between the years 1967 and 1969, however, he was in residence at the University of Santiago in the Dominican Republic...
...They neither contribute to nor retard the progress of the country...
...He also asserted the right to rape any woman in the town before her marriage...
...Even if the term unemployment is narrowly defined as "those actively seeking a job" the resulting figure was 46 percent...
...I & II...
...What relationships exist between political parties...
...Department of Defense from 1951 to 1955, and in 1955 moved to the Department of State to work as political officer in the U.S...
...defense establishment, but on North American students and academics who recognized their educational institutions as think tanks for the most repressive branch of the U.S...
...It could pinpoint its potential allies and enemies, elaborate a strategy of community relations and develop the town's infrastructure to channel the political energies into manageable directions...
...they contribute a little bit to the country's progress...
...3 The public disclosure of Project Camelot16 had a tremendous impact not only on Latin Americans who were able to identify social science research as an arm of the U.S...
...Financed by the U.S...
...Do you know the leaders of other parties...
...Questions about political views and opinions of social problems are frequently answered to accomodate the interviewer rather than reveal their true beliefs...
...How could the company best structure its operations to control or limit class conflict, maintain good labor and public relations, as well as extract all the nickel in the shortest time and at minimal cost...
...Thus, Gil Medeiro Saudade was appointed project coordinator at the University of St...
...of the Bonao study...
...While Saudade's academic credentials leave much to be desired, his intelligence credentials are most impressive...
...The illiteracy rate was 24 percent in the urban area and 70 percent in the countryside...
...To attract such a large financial commitment for a project in a politically unstable country, the owners of this U.S.-controlled mining company had to satisfy all the basic requirements of a "sound investment...
...Two years is a rather long sebatical for a man who has just been appointed to positions of such academic responsibility...
...Conclusion This exhaustive study allowed the Falconbridge Nickel company to map out a strategy for controlling the class contradictions exacerbated by its massive capital investment...
...Nearly 90 percent agreed that the United States should stop fighting in Viet Nam, while 35 percent believed Cuba was as well off or better today than it was under Batista...
...The connections between Third World oppression and social science research was best exemplified by Project Camelot...
...A list of such questions sheds some light on the degree of perfection reached by present-day social science/ counterinsurgency operations...
...If you disagree with decisions there do you feel free to protest...
...capitalism has developed this art to a high degree of "excellence...
...Could you tell us to which you think you belong...
...Armed with this information Falconbridge could literally maintain a dossier on the political consciousness of the workers, family heads and political leaders of Bonao...
...committing troops, a recourse that is at best only a temporary solution, a popular Dominican movement for independence would become a full-scale revolution...
...For a description of similar project in Colombia see "Scholarly Espionage in Colom- bia," NACLA Report, vol...
...After the fall of the Trujillo dictatorship and under the impact of the Cuban Revolutionary example, the Dominican struggle for liberation had reached heights that frightened many potential investors...
...Only 21 percent of the population wore shoes...
...Up to 22 percent were willing to state that it is justified to use violence to overthrow a tyrannical regime and 75 percent said it was better to overthrow a bad government...
...Private individuals...
...Footnotes 1. Robert D. Crassweller, Trujillo: The Life and Times of a Caribbean Dictator (New York: MacMillan, 1966) p. 140...
...If you were to try to change some national or local law you felt was unjust or bad, would you: organize your friends and neighbors to sign petitions or write letters of protest...
...The cells of the Party...
...Most households lacked basic sanitary facilities: only 69 percent had bathrooms, 11 percent refrigerators and 9 percent gas stoves...
...It is, in effect, the art of social counter-insurgency by which the bourgeoisie can best understand, act upon and preserve the existing social and economic system...
...We must continue to expose the nature of social science research in the countries of the Third World...
...They must, on the other hand, encourage the study of those in...
...stitutions which have lead to these conditions of oppression: multinational corporations and the agencies of the U.S...
...Other...
...Take some violent action...
...Between 1946 and 1958 he worked for the U.S...
...March 29, 1973, p. 17...
...9 Many of these were of a structural nature, soliciting seemingly inocuous information, and were intended to break down the local suspicion and resistance which such a study was bound to provoke...
...Peasant Associations...
...What is your Party's program at the local level...
...Was it damaging for the country, indifferent, or beneficial...
...The questions would have been highly inflammatory if asked by officials of the company or agents of the U.S...
...or Dominican governments...
...By 1968, the program had established a basic infrastructure for social science research...
...The company knew amassive investment of $200 million was bound to produce severe disruption in a community that had endured such explosive living conditions...
...The Falconbridge investors had to remedy this weakness, so they organized a "Camelot Project" for Bonao, to improve their understanding of the contending social forces and strengthen their hold over the city...
...Do you think the police have the right to torture an agitator to force him to tell where he hides arms...
...Setting up the program was not a simple operation, however, that could be accomplished by the mere interchange of educational personnel and money...
...In this respect, Falconbridge relied heavily on a conclusion of the study which stated that "given the difficulty of getting a job, people who get one will do everything possible not to lose it, even if they do not agree with their salaries...
...That social science academics do not recognize such a definition of their "profession", but claim allegiance to the highest standards of "objectivity" and "independent analysis" is a natural function of their financial support from the ruling class, compounded by a petit-bourgeois yearning for "personal independence...
...d) Foreign investment: -What is your opinion regarding the foreigners who come to live in the country...
...3. NACLA, Sublimal Warfare, The Role of Latin American Studies, p. 51...
...Do you believe the United States should continue fighting in Viet Nam...
...This spirit of resistance to imperialism was dearly paid for under the Trujillo dictatorship (1930-1961...
...government, made him a perfect choice for on-site director of the Dominican study...
...6. AID, Contracts, and for biographical data, Julius Mader, Who's Who in the CIA (Berlin: Julius Mader...
...government files...
...bourgeoisie that it was ill prepared to "deal effectively with problems of insurgency...
...Only with the continuing mystification of social science research could this quality of social counterinsurgency find its way into the files of multinational corporations, U.S...
...7. National Directory of Latin Americanists, (Washington: Library of Congress, 1971) Second Edition, p. 111...
...Christopher served as a political analyst to the U.S...
...managerial skills to administer such an operation...
...4 The target of this "technical assistance" grant, the Catholic University of Santiago, is the higher educational center for the Santiago bourgeoisie, some of whose wealthiest members sit on its executive council...
...Army Military Intelligence Service...
...Do you regard the installation of a North American factory or industry in Bonao as beneficial, prejudicial, or indifferent for the country...
...Bonao: Una Ciudad Dominicana, p. 247...
...Rotary), a cultural society...
...It required an administrator well versed in the gathering of intelligence and capable of directing the program's work according to the needs of the American bourgeoisie...
...The training program catered to both the academic aspirations of the University's faculty and students, as well as the class interests of the local bourgeoisie...
...The United States had already learned something about the value of a low profile...
...Louis we will leave open to conjecture.An examination of Christopher's pre-academic career, however, does shed some light upon his prolonged absence from St...
...government, the Texas-controlled Falconbridge and these research-hungry social scientists...
...The military...
...Other...
...bourgeoisie has promoted a variety of research programs in Latin America, luring into its services the most promising social scientists...
...e) Particular questions to political leaders: -What is the formal and real organization of your party...
...Living standards were miserably low...
...10 Moreover, the company could accurately predict the use to which additional income would be put (savings, consumer goods, services, etc...
...intervention of April, 1965...
...What type of government do you prefer, one with freedom but with hunger, or one without freedom but without hunger...
...Tell your story to the press...
...It would have betrayed a tremendous ignorance of the lessons learned from prior social science research to have sent Saudade to the Dominican Republic to officially direct the program...
...Which groups would resist foreign penetration...
...The questions elicited their attitudes toward imperialism, socialism, the United States, foreign investment, local politics and government, trade unions and parties, armed struggle, etc...
...2 Unemployment in 1968 was 71.8 percent...
...Yet within this myriad of obvious "social science" inquiries, there was a set of very pointed questions which tapped the consciousness of the people of Bonao...
...Social Science Research in the Dominican Republic "Social-science research" is the sanctimonious terminology given by bourgeois academics to the intellectual skill of collecting and analyzing data on social situations...
...Louis...
...4. U.S...
...Lengthy questionaires were drawn up, tested and refined, the most important of which was designed as a general survey of the population and included almost 100 questions...
...Decades of imperialist exploitation and a brutal dictatorship had left a legacy which foretold social and political tensions...
...Trade unions...
...His "academic" background obviously underscores the direction of purpose of his commitment to "independent objective scholarship...
...As early as 1916, young people in this town formed a Patriotic Association to protest U.S...
...Without the U.S...
...What is your party...
...c) Political participation: Do you think private associations such as trade unions, peasant associations or owner organizations are important in the life of the community...
...We must continue to condemn the export of social science research techniques and theory to dependent countries...
...Forty-one percent regarded the 1965 U.S...
...invasion of the Dominican Republic demonstrated to the U.S...
...b) Political consciousness: Do you think it is just to use bombs to overthrow a tyrant (dictator...
...What is your process of political recruiting...
...The questions were endless and the old British colonial principle of "divide and conquer" required an intimate and precise knowledge of the social, economic and political fabric of Bonao...
...speak with union leaders, church officials or the leaders of any other group you belong to...
...What is their level of conflict...
...Despite this tendency, the Bonao study reveals a striking current of protest running beneath the surface...
...Medical and educational facilities were practically non-existent...
...embassies in Santiago (Chile), Quito (Ecuador) and Sao Paulo (Brazil), as well as consul in Curitiba (Brazil...
...The Agency for International Development contracted with the University of St...
...l Protected by a private army, using terror, bribery and intrigue, Arismendi accumulated most of the city's wealth...
...Army and administered by the Special Operations Research Office of American Uniersity, this project intended to research the "social processes" in order to deal effectively with problems of insurgency...
...Which groups or individuals were potential allies and how could they be used to lower the company's profile in community affairs...
...Embassy in Madrid...
...The Agency provided $750,000 to develop a capability to perform advanced social science investigation-interviewing, data analysis and the Pelan, the brother of'dictator Trujillo...
...What do you think of the U.S...
...Through the maze of foundations, universities, associations and government organizations which it controls and manipulates, the U.S...
...First, in addition to studying a Dominican city, we could also study how this city changed as a result of a massive capital in- vestment...
...What is your opinion regarding the Americans who come to live in the country...
...agencies, and the repressive police and military apparatuses of the U.S...
...During the following years, 130 professors, students and assistants overran the city of Bonao, collecting information on all facets of life and providing their mentors with an encyclopedic description of the community on IBM cards...
...Faculty had been trained, courses were on-going, student and faculty exchanges had strengthened the relationship between the two universities and the Dominican social scientists were17 discussing the future orientation of their research...
...Christopher was appointed chairman of the department in 1966 and director of Latin American Area studies in 1967...
...In 1966, one year after the invasion, the Bonao study was hatched...
...Of course, a bargain was struck...
...Bonao is a city of 20,000 stragegically located between the two largest cities of the Dominican Republic, Santo Domingo and Santiago...
...Louis...
...Which is better, to continue under a bad government or overthrow it...
...To glorify himself, he showered the city with his "benevolence": sumptuous avenues, public buildings and parks-tribute to a dynasty built on massive poverty and oppression...
...1968) p. 459...
...Appointed to administer the Dominican end of the project was Henry Anthony Christopher, a Ph.D in political science who also happened to be chairman of the political science department and director of Latin American Area Studies at the University of St...
...Louis...
...8 The Bonao Study The stated purpose of the research was to study the town of Bonao and observe the changes in its social, economic and political structure under the impact of massive foreign investment...
...It also decided on a wage policy which would sufficiently raise the living standards of its workers and thereby create a conservative labor aristocracy, keeping wages within limits so as not to disrupt the pattern in the rest of the country...
...Rep.: Colecclon "Estudios" UCMM, 1972) vol...
...and therefore guarantee the expected "goods" so as not to frustrate the immediate expectations of its own workers...
...Do you believe Cuba today is better off, the same, or worse off than it was under Batista...
...The questions include the following: a) Class consciousness: As you know, the whole country is made up of distinct social groups-the upper class, upper middle class, lower middle class and popular (or lower) class...
...Its functionaries...
Vol. 8 • April 1974 • No. 4
