Word: hispaniola
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David wreaked its greatest havoc on the island of Hispaniola, which is shared jointly by Haiti and the Dominican Republic. In the town of Padre Las Casas, 75 miles west of Santo Domingo, some 400 people who had huddled for safety in a church and a school were killed when floodwaters from the Yaque River swept them away. At least 600 more were killed in the Dominican Republic, while an estimated 150,000 were left homeless, including 90,000 in Santo Domingo alone. President Antonio Guzmán understandably described the storm as "this terrible tragedy of David," and reckoned...
...proved a fateful decision. Roughly 80 miles off the coast of the island of Hispaniola, the wooden ship ground into a coral reef known today as Silver Shoals. The admiral and much of his crew floated to shore on rafts lashed together from the debris, but the ship's rich cargo sank beneath the waves. Just 46 years later, Colonist William Phips, born of a poor Maine family, found the Concepción and hauled up 32 tons of silver from the barnacle-encrusted wreck. In return for one-fifth of the find, a grateful King James...
Haiti's neighbors braced for trouble. The Dominican Republic, which shares the island of Hispaniola with Haiti, put its border troops on a full alert. In Washington, the State Department conceded that the U.S. had increased naval and air surveillance of the sea approaches to Haiti. Since the island's northwestern tip is only 50 miles away from Cuba across the Windward Passage, the U.S. is worried that Fidel Castro, who has been more bellicose than usual in recent weeks, may seize upon Duvalier's death as an opportunity to stir up trouble in Haiti...
...Santo Domingo, while bombs burst and tempers seethed, the elderly diplomat coolly presided over around-the-clock negotiating sessions that ultimately produced not only a stable, non-Communist government but one of the few free elections in Hispaniola's history. Dominicans nicknamed him "El Pato Macho" (the gutsy duck). "He showed up on the palace steps every morning," says Lyndon Johnson with undisguised admiration, "and held that government together with his bare hands...
...forma diplomatic relations. His own people regard him with horror. Yet through murder, terror and voodoo mysticism, Papa Doc has set himself up as "President for life" and wields unshakable control over his tiny country. Unlike the smoldering Dominican Republic, which occupies the other half of the island of Hispaniola, Haiti is filled only with deadening silence as hope drains away and the country lapses deeper into a zombielike trance...