The Feast of the Goat (Spanish title: La Fiesta del Chivo) (1996) is a novel by the Peruvian novelist, Mario Vargas Llosa. The book, like the forthcoming movie, starring Isabella Rosselini as Urania Cabral, is set in the regime of Rafael Leónidas Trujillo in the Dominican Republic. The novel follows two interwoven storylines, both revealing of the political and social environment in the Dominican Republic, past and present. Mario Vargas Llosa (birth name: Jorge Mario Pedro Vargas Llosa) (born March 28, 1936) is a Peruvian writer who is one of Latin Americas leading novelists and essayists. ... General Rafael L. Trujillo General Rafael Leónidas Trujillo Molina (October 24, 1891 – May 30, 1961) was the ruler of the Dominican Republic from 1930 until 1961, ruling as president (1930–1938, 1942–1952) and as essentially an unelected dictator. ...

The first story is that of the present-day return of Urania, the daughter of a disgraced crony of Trujillo to the city of her birth, Santo Domingo. It narrates Urania's odyssey in the present tense through the city she last saw as Ciudad Trujillo, named in honor of the Generalísimo Rafael Leónidas Trujillo Molina, nicknamed "El Chivo" ("The Goat"). Urania's return to the homeland and family, which she had sworn off forever is symbolic of the Dominican (and Latin American) political reality — the desire to confront the past and the complicity which made the horrors of Trujillo's reign possible. With each step, Urania remembers more of her past; with each person she encounters, the reader gains a window into the mentality of a people who have tried all but to wipe thirty-one years of tyranny from their collective memories. Santo Domingo from space, May 1992 Plaza Colón Santo Domingo, population 2,061,200 (2003), is the capital of the Dominican Republic. ... REDIRECT Rafael_Le�nidas_Trujillo ... Latin America consists of the countries of South America and some of North America (including Central America and some the islands of the Caribbean) whose inhabitants mostly speak Romance languages, although Native American languages are also spoken. ...

The second story is set in the days and months surrounding Trujillo's 1961 assassination. Vargas Llosa uses this segment to meticulously examine the thoughts and lives of the most important political actors of the era: Trujillo himself, then-figurehead president Joaquín Balaguer, intelligence chief Johnny Abbes García, and each of the General's assassins, as well as a variety of fictional and composite characters. Each of these figures makes for a fascinating character study; the motivations and philosophy of the Goat and his cronies provide valuable insight into the mind of a dictatorship. The moral and rational justifications presented for the iron-fisted governance of Trujillo, the torture and persecution, the terror and assassination campaigns against Dominican exiles, and Trujillo's 1937 massacre of tens of thousands of Haitians on the Haitian-Dominican border are as informative as they are shocking. The story furnishes a real perspective on the mind of the Dominican people, and indeed, any people living under oppression, as well as allowing a glimpse into the machinations of global and hemispheric politics during the Cold War. Vargas Llosa examines Trujillo's attitudes towards communist Cuba's Castro, Venezuela's Betancourt, and of course John F. Kennedy and the "Yanqui meddlers" who eventually brought him down. 1961 (MCMLXI) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... It has been suggested that Targeted killing be merged into this article or section. ... Joaquín Antonio Balaguer Ricardo (September 1, 1906 – July 14, 2002) was the President of the Dominican Republic from 1960 to 1962,from 1966 to 1978, and again from 1986 to 1996. ... This is just a test. ... The Iron Maiden of Nuremberg was an infamous and rarely used torture device. ... 1937 (MCMXXXVII) was a common year starting on Friday (link will take you to calendar). ... For the generic term for a high-tension struggle between countries, see cold war (war). ... Fidel Castro Ruz (born August 13, 1926) has been the leader of Cuba since 1959, when, leading the 26th of July Movement, he overthrew the regime of Fulgencio Batista, and transformed Cuba into the first Communist state in the Western Hemisphere. ... Rómulo Ernesto Betancourt Bello (February 22, 1908 – September 28, 1981), the father of Venezuelan democracy, was President of Venezuela from 1945 to 1948 and again from 1959 to 1964. ... John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to as John F Kennedy, JFK, or Jack Kennedy, was the 35th President of the United States. ...

Vargas Llosa dedicates a large portion of the novel to narrating the eventual sad fates of Trujillo's assassins. Principal among these stories is that of the ex-Secretary of the Armed Forces José René "Pupo" Román, who had a minor role in the conspiracy to kill the dictator. Román was tortured in the most brutal and horrendous manner possible for several months before dying at the hand of Trujillo's son Ramfis. Some of the tortures described in The Feast of the Goat are horrific to the point of incrediblity; nevertheless, the writer insists that he had to tone down descriptions of some of the procedures used in the La Cuarenta prison in order to make them more believable, which is not to say more palatable.

The title of the novel is taken from the popular Dominican merengue Mataron al Chivo ("They Killed the Goat") which has its roots in the assassination of May 30, 1961. It is cited at the beginning of the novel: Merengue can mean either: A style of music originating in the Dominican Republic; see merengue (music) A related style of dance; see merengue (dance) See also meringue, a type of dessert. ... May 30 is the 150th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (151st in leap years). ... 1961 (MCMLXI) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ...

El pueblo celebra

con gran entusiasmo

la fiesta del Chivo

el treinta de mayo

"The people celebrate

With great enthusiasm

the feast of the Goat

the thirtieth of May"

English translation: Farrar, Straus, & Giroux, translated by Edith Grossman, 2001. Edith Grossman has ably translated Peruvian writer Mario Vargas Llosas novel Feast of a Goat that is set in the Dominican Republic. ...