SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic — One of the last strongmen in Latin America, Joaquin Balaguer, who ruled the Dominican Republic for 22 years and dominated its politics long afterward, died Sunday. He was 95.
The former president died of heart failure about 4:30 a.m. at Santo Domingo's Abreu Clinic, where he had been hospitalized since July 4 for a bleeding ulcer, said Rafael Bello Andino, his closest aide and vice president of Balaguer's Reformist Social Christian Party.
"Balaguer lives! Balaguer lives!" hundreds of supporters shouted outside his modest home, where his body was taken. "Balaguer, without you this island will sink!" cried one man.
Inside, mourners, some clasping rosaries, quietly filed past the bed where his body lay, dressed in a dark suit with a presidential sash across his chest. The government declared three days of national mourning. The funeral was set for Wednesday.
President Hipolito Mejia praised Balaguer as "one of the most distinguished political leaders in all of Dominican history" and as a "keeper of our democracy."
One of Latin America's last "caudillos," or strongmen, Balaguer presented more the image of kindly country doctor — standing little more than 5 feet tall, lame and squinting from behind thick-framed glasses.
But his power was as pervasive as that of his mentor, dictator Rafael Trujillo, who ruled this Caribbean nation from 1930 until he was assassinated in 1961.
Brought to power after a U.S. invasion put down a leftist revolt, Balaguer held the presidency from 1966-1978 and 1986-1996 — and was accused of persecuting political opponents and election fraud.
Under Balaguer, the Dominican Republic was one of the biggest U.S. aid recipients in the Caribbean. Still, more than half of the country's 8 million people lived in poverty, and thousands fled hardship for the United States.
He was revered by many and reviled by others. But he largely escaped blame for the killings and torture of opponents during Trujillo's rule. Balaguer took a philosophical approach on the abuses of the era.
"Is there a valid morality for actions in political life and another very different one for private life? I don't know." he wrote in his 1988 book "A Courtier's Memories During the Trujillo Era." "But what is certain is that politics puts blinders on men and converts them into docile instruments of causes which we intimately reject."
Even after leaving office, he remained the pole around which all Dominican politics revolved.
He helped engineer the election of his successor, Leonel Fernandez, and then of Mejia. In 2000, at the age of 92, he ran again for the presidency, coming in third.
He last appeared in public in July 2001. Still, from his home office and bedroom, Balaguer continued to influence the country's politics, with even opponents coming to him for advice. His party has held the presidency of the House of Representatives for the last three years and in May became the second largest party in the Senate.
Few people had access to Balaguer. He never married or had children, confining his passions to politics, collies and antique cars. He was nearly blinded by glaucoma in the 1970s.
Joaquin Antonio Balaguer Ricardo was born Sept. 1, 1906, the northwestern town of Navarrete, now called Villa Bosono.
After studying law and political science at the Sorbonne in Paris, Balaguer began his long association with Trujillo by working in the then-army chief's 1930 election campaign. He was a foreign ministry official when Trujillo ordered the massacre of an estimated 18,000 Haitians along the Haitian-Dominican border in 1937.
In 1956, Trujillo named Balaguer vice president, then four years later elevated him to president.
After Trujillo's assassination, Balaguer fled to New York City. His successor, leftist Juan Bosch, worried the United States with his fiery support for land reform and nationalizing businesses, and he, too, was ousted in a military coup.
Leftists in the army revolted in 1965 and tried to restore Bosch. President Lyndon B. Johnson sent 20,000 Marines to stifle the revolt. Balaguer returned and, with U.S. backing, was elected president in 1966.
Early in his rule, hundreds of people were kidnapped or disappeared, and many critics went into exile. Later, his human rights record improved, but he kept a tight rein on government.
He was defeated in 1978, then regained the presidency in 1986 elections. After 1990 and 1994 elections marred by fraud accusations, Balaguer reluctantly allowed a new vote in 1996 in which he could not run because of new laws limiting the president to one term.
Just hours before Balaguer died, legislators Saturday night approved constitutional changes allowing presidents to serve two consecutive four-terms.
Balaguer is survived by his sister.