Santo Domingo, April 30 (teleSUR-RHC)-- A group of about 50 Dominicans sent President Barack Obama and the U.S. Congress a letter asking them to publicly apologized for the U.S. invasion of the Caribbean nation in 1965 and the 8,000 deaths it caused.

"We appeal to your social and political sensitivity, and to your high sense of historical responsibility, to formally request in the name of today's young Dominicans a formal apology from the U.S. for the state crime perpetrated by its Armed Forces by invading our territory, destroying our democracy, vetoing the will of our people, and killing thousands of innocent citizens," the letter reads.

They also ask Washington to apologize "for the harm done to the Dominican people and their right to self-determination in 1965." According to the Spanish news agency EFE, the letter was written and signed by workers, media figures, sociologists, civil rights activists, artists, historians and political leaders.

The signatories also asked for apologies "for the more than 8,000 deaths caused by the 42,000 marines that the U.S. Armed Forces sent to our country on April 28, 1965 to prevent the Dominican armed people from reestablishing the constitutional order interrupted by Trujillistas military, the Catholic Church and part of the business elite in 1963.”

The Dominican Republic's revolution began April 24, 1965, after civilians and soldiers took to the streets demanding the return to power of former President Juan Bosch, who was democratically elected in February 1963 and toppled by the military coup in September of the same year. Following clashes during the first few days and believing the constitutionalists would be victorious, then U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson ordered the invasion.

The group also demanded that Washington order their ambassador to the Dominican Republic, James Brewster, put an end to the “frequent interference" in the country's political affairs.