One night in the mid-90s, they told me that they would visit President Joaquín Balaguer, a character who would arrive at 8:30 at night, through the main door, with about three briefcases, but they could not reveal his name.
The description was that he was “an American, with blonde hair, tall, about 50 years old, who would arrive in a blue Mercedes Benz Jeep and who did not speak Spanish.”
A little before the hour, I am at the door near the main staircase waiting for the visitor, when I see that the vehicle is going to enter through the main door. I get alert to wait for him to arrive and go up the stairs.
The description of the character was exact and I had to receive him in English and talk for a few minutes, telling me that it was his first time in the Dominican Republic. We immediately headed to the Office, he was loaded with three medium-sized briefcases, which he did not even allow me to help him with.
I immediately informed General Perez Bello of the visitor’s presence, and in less than three minutes he was taken to the presidential office. But I did notice the presence of the translator, Carlos Guerrero, who was in the area and entered directly with the man.
That visitor spent approximately one hour and 20 minutes inside the Office. I was waiting to say goodbye to him. But upon his departure, I did notice that a kind of white cloth was sticking out of one of the briefcases.
But of course, I was not going to be left with the mystery, and I began to investigate who it was. The secrecy was such that the name was not written in the agenda, nor in the entry instructions sent to the presidential guard.
Even when I saw the translator in person, I asked him who that person was and his response warned him that he could not talk about that meeting, nor what was discussed in it.
Curiosity grew and I continued the investigation even with the closest ministers and the waiter, but no one gave a word.
After 10 days, I was reviewing a folder from a trip to Houston and Boston by President Balaguer, prior to the 1986 inauguration. There I discovered the riddle.
In that folder I found a photo of the man I had received. It was none other than the famous Dr. Richard Simmons, one of the best glaucoma and cataract ophthalmologists in the world, who worked at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary.
Then I understood the reason for the secrecy: Dr. Simmons went to examine him and they did not want the press to be informed of this visit to avoid it being published that the president was ill.
Once I found out the unknown man’s details, I closed the folder and did not mention it to anyone, keeping this secret for more than 35 years until today, when I share it with you.
