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| 1973 |
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| Col. Francisco Camano, leader of the 1965 pro-Bosch forces, headed a guerrilla landing in the Dominican Republic. He was hunted down and executed, and in the aftermath some 1,400 people were detained. This incident and the subsequent repression resulted in a massive boycott of the 1974 elections. | 1 |
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| 1974, May 16 |
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| Balaguer was reelected president over Juan Bosch amid a widespread electoral boycott. | 2 |
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| 1978, May 16 |
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| Antonio Guzmán, a wealthy rancher and candidate of the Dominican Revolutionary Party (PRD), won heavily contested presidential elections. Results were held back for seven weeks while Balaguer and the military considered intervening. Only when U.S. president Jimmy Carter threatened to cut off U.S. aid was Guzmán declared the winner. | 3 |
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| 1982, May 16 |
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| Salvador Jorge-Blanco, candidate of the PRD, won presidential elections over Balaguer and Bosch. Faced with IMF-imposed austerity programs in 1984, he was forced to walk a tightrope between demands for reform and IMF-required wage freezes and price hikes. | 4 |
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| 1983 |
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| Dissatisfied with the pace of agrarian reform, peasants briefly occupied the Ministry of Agriculture. | 5 |
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| 1984, Jan |
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| Fearing unrest if he complied with aid-related demands from the IMF and the U.S., Pres. Jorge-Blanco appealed to U.S. president Ronald Reagan for help. He received none and was forced to meet the IMF requirements in April. Popular protests led to clashes with the police, who killed over 100 people. | 6 |
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| 1986, May 16 |
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| With unemployment over 30 percent, Balaguer was reelected. He faced an economy in severe crisis. Sugar, accounting for one-third of Dominican exports, had fallen from almost 80 cents per pound in the mid-1970s to less than 10 cents by the mid-1980s. This led to huge deficits and an escalating debt. By 1986, nearly 1 million Dominicans had migrated to the U.S. | 7 |
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| 1989 |
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| The population of the Dominican Republic reached 7 million. | 8 |
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| 1990, May 16 |
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| Balaguer, now age 83 and blind, was reelected over Juan Bosch. | 9 |
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| Nov. 20–21 |
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| Labor launched its third general strike since Balaguer's reelection, protesting government austerity measures and demanding his resignation. | 10 |
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