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Dominican Republic The Infant Republic
Santana's power base lay in the military forces
mustered to
defend the infant republic against Haitian retaliation.
Duarte,
briefly a member of the governing junta, for a time
commanded an
armed force as well. He was temperamentally unsuited to
generalship, however, and the junta eventually replaced
him with
General José María Imbert. Duarte assumed the post of
governor of
the Cibao, the northern farming region administered from
the city
of Santiago de los Caballeros, commonly known as Santiago
(see Dominican Republic -
fig. 2). In July 1844, Mella and a throng of other Duarte
supporters in Santiago urged him to take the title of
president
of the republic. Duarte agreed to do so, but only if free
elections could be arranged. Santana, who felt that only
the
protection of a great power could assure Dominican safety
against
the Haitian threat, did not share Duarte's enthusiasm for
the
electoral process. His forces took Santo Domingo on July
12,
1844, and they proclaimed Santana ruler of the Dominican
Republic. Mella, who attempted to mediate a compromise
government
including both Duarte and Santana, found himself
imprisoned by
the new dictator. Duarte and Sánchez followed Mella into
prison
and subsequently into exile.
Although in 1844 a constituent assembly drafted a
constitution, based on the Haitian and the United States
models,
which established separation of powers and legislative
checks on
the executive, Santana proceeded to emasculate the
document that
same year by demanding the inclusion of Article 210, which
granted him untrammeled power "during the current war"
against
Haiti.
As it turned out, the Dominicans repelled the Haitian
forces,
on both land and sea, by December 1845. Santana's
dictatorial
powers, however, continued throughout his first term
(1844-48).
He consolidated his power by executing anti-Santana
conspirators,
by rewarding his close associates with lucrative positions
in
government, and by printing paper money to cover the
expenses of
a large standing army, a policy that severely devalued the
new
nation's currency. Throughout his term, Santana also
continued to
explore the possibility of an association with a foreign
power.
The governments of the United States, France, and Spain
all
declined the offer.
Santana responded to general discontent, prompted
mainly by
the deteriorating currency and economy, by resigning from
the
presidency in February 1848 and retiring to his ranch in
the
province of El Seibo. The Council of Secretaries of State,
made
up of former cabinet members, selected minister of war
Manuel
Jiménez to replace Santana in August 1848. Jiménez
displayed
little enthusiasm and no aptitude as a ruler. His tenure,
which
would probably have been brief in any case, ended in May
1849.
The violent sequence of events that culminated in
Jiménez's
departure began with a new invasion from Haiti, this time
led by
self-styled emperor Faustin Soulouque
(see Dominican Republic - Decades of Instability, 1843-1915
, ch. 6). Santana returned to
prominence at
the head of the army that checked the Haitian advance at
Las
Carreras in April 1849. As the Haitians retired, Santana
pressed
his advantage against Jiménez. After some brief skirmishes
between his forces and those loyal to the president,
Santana took
control of Santo Domingo and the government on May 30,
1849.
Although Santana once again held the reins of power, he
declined to formalize the situation by standing for
office.
Instead, he renounced the temporary mandate granted him by
the
legislature and called for an election--carried out under
an
electoral college system with limited suffrage--to select
a new
president. Santana favored Santiago Espaillat, who won a
ballot
in the Congress on July 5, 1849; Espaillat declined to
accept the
presidency, however, knowing that he would have to serve
as a
puppet so long as Santana controlled the army. This
cleared the
way for Báez, president of the legislature, to win a
second
ballot, which was held on August 18, 1849.
Báez made even more vigorous overtures to foreign
powers to
establish a Dominican protectorate. Both France (Báez's
personal
preference) and the United States, although still
unwilling to
annex the entire country, expressed interest in acquiring
the bay
and peninsula of Samaná as a naval or commercial port.
Consequently, in order to preserve its lucrative trade
with the
island nation and to deny a strategic asset to its rivals,
Britain became more actively involved in Dominican
affairs. In
1850 the British signed a commercial and maritime treaty
with the
Dominicans. The following year, Britain mediated a peace
treaty
between the Dominican Republic and Haiti.
Báez's first term established the personal rivalry with
Santana that dominated Dominican politics until the
latter's
death in 1864. President Báez purged Santana's followers
(santanistas) from the government and installed his
own
sycophants (baecistas) in their place, pardoned a
number
of Santana's political opponents, reorganized the military
in an
effort to dilute Santana's power base, and apparently
conceived a
plan to create a militia that would serve as a
counterforce to
the army.
Seeing his influence clearly threatened, Santana
returned to
the political arena in February 1853, when he was elected
to
succeed Báez. The general moved quickly to deal with Báez,
who
had once been a colonel under his command. In a public
address on
July 3, 1853, Santana denounced Báez as a collaborator
under the
Haitian occupation (which was true) and a paid agent of
influence
for the Haitians after independence (which may have been
true,
although not to the extent that Santana declared).
Publicly
characterizing Báez's presence in the nation a threat to
security, Santana exercised his authority under Article
210 of
the constitution and expelled the former president from
the
Dominican Republic.
Although he enjoyed considerable popularity, Santana
confronted several crises during his second term. In
February
1854, a constituent assembly promulgated a new, liberal
constitution that eliminated the dictatorial powers
granted by
Article 210. With his control over the army restored,
however,
Santana readily forced the adoption of a new constitution
restoring most of the excised prerogatives of the
executive. On
the international front, renewed annexation talks between
the
Dominican and the United States governments aroused the
concern
of Haitian emperor Soulouque. Motivated, at least in part,
by a
desire to prevent the acquisition of any portion of
Hispaniola by
the slaveholding United States, Soulouque launched a new
invasion
in November 1855. However, Dominican forces decisively
defeated
the Haitians in a number of engagements and forced them
back
across the border by January 1856.
The final crisis of Santana's second term also
originated in
the foreign policy sphere. Shortly after the Haitian
campaign,
the Dominican and the United States governments signed a
commercial treaty that provided for the lease of a small
tract in
Samaná for use as a coaling station. Although Santana
delayed
implementation of the lease, its negotiation provided his
opponents--including baecistas and the government
of
Spain--with an opportunity to decry Yankee imperialism and
to
demand the president's ouster. Pressure built to such an
extent
that Santana felt compelled to resign on May 26, 1856, in
favor
of his vice president, Manuel de la Regla Mota.
Regla Mota's rule lasted almost five months. An empty
treasury forced the new president to discharge most of the
army.
Thus deprived of the Dominican rulers' traditional source
of
power, his government all but invited the return of Báez.
With
the support of the Spanish, Báez was named vice president
by
Regla Mota, who then resigned in Báez's favor. Not a
forgiving
man by nature, Báez lost little time before denouncing ex-
president Santana and expelling him from the country. Once
again,
Báez purged santanistas from the government and
replaced
them with his own men.
Báez had little time in which to savor his triumph over
his
rival, however. Reverting to the policies of his first
term, the
government flooded the country with what rapidly became
all but
worthless paper money. Farmers in the Cibao, who objected
strongly to the purchase of their crops with this devalued
currency, rose against Báez in what came to be known as
the
Revolution of 1857. Their standard-bearer, not
surprisingly, was
Santana.
Pardoned by a provisional government established at
Santiago
de los Caballeros, Santana returned in August 1857 to join
the
revolution. He raised his own personal army and soon
dominated
the movement. A year of bloody conflict between the
governments
of Santiago and Santo Domingo took a heavy toll in lives
and
money. Under the terms of a June 1857 armistice, Báez once
again
fled to Curaçao with all the government funds that he
could
carry. Santana proceeded to betray the aspirations of some
of his
liberal revolutionary followers by restoring the
dictatorial
constitution of 1854. Santanismo again replaced
baecismo; only a small group of loyalists realized
any
benefit from the exchange, however. Politically, the
country
continued to walk a treadmill. Economically, conditions
had
become almost unbearable for many Dominicans. The general
climate
of despair ensured the inevitable success of Santana's
renewed
efforts to secure a protector for his country.
Data as of December 1989
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