Confidential File

Trujillo Jr. No Playboy at Home

It
was just about a year ago, give or take a month, that the Dominican
man-o'-war Angelita steamed into Los Angeles Harbor, dropped anchor and
launched the most lavish fiesta this jaded community has seen since the
days of the Dons.

The luxury yacht had come here to pick up its owner, Gen. Rafael Trujillo Jr., handsome son of the Dominican Republic's ruler.

But the young general wasn't quite ready to be picked up. At least not in that sense of the word.

He wanted to stay awhile.

And his visit burst into international headlines when it became known that he had handed out a couple of Mercedes-Benzes (well, what is the plural of Benz?) to Kim Novak and a Hungarian refugee lady named Zsa Zsa Gabor.

This
gesture of unrestrained esteem, coupled with a series of nightly
champagne and caviar parties aboard the Angelita, quickly established
the general as a playboy without peer in recent Hollywood history.

It
also quickly aroused the ire of three U.S. congressmen who demanded an
investigation to determine if all this largess was being paid for out
of American military aid money.

In an angry denial, Trujillo Jr.
pointed out that the $1,300,000 U.S. military aid to the Dominican
Republic was sent only in the form of equipment, not in cash.

He
also claimed that he didn't need any American spending money. He
revealed that he had made a little cash of his own by "investing" in
his country's real estate, sugar mills and dairy farms.

"The investments," he added modestly, "have prospered."

And that would be a hard claim to challenge. After all, he's a boy not without connections in his home town.

"I
don't understand," he said at the time. "It's my own money I'm spending
on gifts. In my country, we like to have visitors come in and spend
money."

After that furor died down, another one was sparked when
the general, married and the father of six children, publicly announced
he was in love with Kim Novak.

Then, as an afterthought, he added that he was separated from his wife and in the throes of getting a divorce.

Finally, the Angelita got up steam and, to the strains of mambo music, the general left us.

I
saw him in his natural habitat during my recent visit to the Caribbean.
The change was remarkable. He's not the same lad he was in Hollywood.

The
chief of staff of the combined Dominican armed forces may play away
from home, but in his own backyard he maintains a rigorous schedule
with no time for comedy.

Office Neighbor of Dad's

His
office in the government palace is right next door to papa's. And the
lights in both these offices burn late into every night.

Although
Trujillo Sr. is a familiar sight at the races and at the major social
events, Trujillo Jr., with few exceptions, appears only at military
processions and state functions.

I saw quite a bit of social
night life in the capital, but during my entire stay I saw the young
general only once. It was the evening before I left, at an official
reception honoring the birthday of the republic's president.

When I finally got a chance to talk with him, I told him that I was impressed with the Spartan existence he seemed to lead.

"That's not the way you're remembered where I come from," I reminded him.

The general sighed. "I hope you don't say anything about it," he told me. "You'll ruin my reputation in Hollywood."