LUIS, a relative of Trujillo, served as treasurer of the ruling political party, Partido Dominicano (the Dominican Party). However, Trujillo’s political machine was repugnant to Luis, and though he often tried to retire from his post, the dictator refused to allow it.

When Trujillo had two of Luis’ brothers killed, Luis tried twice to assassinate the dictator. However, he was never linked to the attempts. Luis even visited spirit mediums, looking for help to kill this man of whom he said: “He behaved as a beast and considered himself above everyone else.” On a table in the house of one of the spirit mediums, he saw the book “The Truth Shall Make You Free” and began reading it. Luis was so interested in the book that he took it home with him and later concluded that this was the religious truth he was looking for.

 When Luis traveled to Ciudad Trujillo, he attended a meeting of Jehovah’s Witnesses and obtained several books and magazines. He spent all night reading the literature and later asked for a Bible study. As he progressed, Luis decided to leave Trujillo’s regime. When the dictator found out, he offered Luis the prestigious post of Dominican consul in Puerto Rico. But Luis declined the offer, even though he knew that his decision was likely to result in persecution.

“I suffered every type of mistreatment,” recalled Luis, “and the government put before me every kind of trap imaginable. But I had resolved to forgo the pleasures of this world.” Luis became such an outspoken publisher of the good news that local Catholic priests dubbed him “the preacher.” On October 5, 1947, six months after attending his first meeting, Luis was baptized.

After his baptism Luis was hunted down, imprisoned, and put in solitary confinement. Various attempts were made on his life. Yet, whenever he was arrested and taken to court, he used the situation to give a witness. “I fought like a lion defending my faith,” Luis said, “and I recall it with joy.”

Luis’ record as a faithful servant of God did not go unnoticed in the community. In 1994, the Dominican newspaper El Siglo stated regarding Luis: “Mr. Luis Eduardo Montás is known in San Cristobal to be serious-minded. He is a gift of a man, a man with fellow feeling and a mild spirit. Everything that is known about this figure in the history of San Cristobal is related to his vocation as a Christian man.”