In Chapter 8, Yunior recalls Lola using a metaphor to compare the two of them to Trujillo: 

On one of our last nights as novios she said, Ten million Trujillos is all we are.

At this moment, Oscar has died, and Yunior and Lola are falling apart from each other. In this period of tragedy, Lola has an incisive view of the dynamics at play. She can see that their relationships fall apart because they are replicating the dynamics of dictatorship. 

This theme of political violence being replicated on a personal level recurs throughout The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. Other characters, too, are compared to Trujillo—most notably, Beli’s boyfriend Jack Pujols evokes the dictator when he is violently taking advantage of Beli.

Here, Lola herself is aware of how this continues to occur, even late into the 20th century. Unlike other characters, Lola doesn’t see this persistent bad fortune as fukú. Instead, she sees it as humans consciously replicating the same dynamics as dictatorship. This makes the pain of the Trujillo regime even more insidious, as it makes characters themselves actors of the curse. This metaphor offers a clear glimpse into Lola’s worldview, which is pragmatic and perceptive.