Juan Bosch - Death and Legacy

Death and Legacy

Juan Bosch died on November 1, 2001, in Santo Domingo. As a former President, he received the corresponding honors at the National Palace, and was buried in his hometown of La Vega.

To this day, he is remembered as a man of principles. Over the years, as his luck rose and fell, his political direction oscillated wildly. He described himself as a "non-Communist" and a friend of Fidel Castro, and he told an interviewer in 1988 that he had never been Marxist.

His legacy in politics is more than relevant: his ideals, while mostly forgotten or betrayed by his followers, remain powerful values in public administration. Many believe the Dominican Republic would have flourished both economically and politically without foreign assistance (namely, the U.S.) had Bosch's government been able to fend off the Kennedy administration's overt and covert pressures, and to carry out all of his proposed reforms.

The contributions of Professor Bosch to literature through his narratives, novels, short stories and essays made him a role model for several generations of writers, journalists and historians. At one point, laureate Gabriel García Márquez once said that Bosch had been one of his greatest influences.

In 2009, the writer Evelyn Marte published a book named Los Bosch Gaviño: apuntes y gráficas sobre su historia familiar which details the life of Juan Bosch and the Family.