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Dominican Republic The Contest for Power, 1865-82
After a successful uprising that forced Báez to flee
the
country in May 1866, a triumvirate of Cibaeño military
leaders,
the most prominent of whom was Gregorio Luperón, assumed
provisional power. General José María Cabral Luna, who had
served
briefly as president in 1865, was reelected to that post
on
September 29, 1866. The baecistas, however, were
still a
potent force in the republic; they forced Cabral out and
reinstalled Báez on May 2, 1868. Once again, his rule was
marked
by peculation and efforts to sell or to lease portions of
the
country to foreign interests. These included an
intermittent
campaign to have the entire country annexed by the United
States.
He was once again overthrown by rebellious Blues in
January 1874.
After a period of infighting among the Blues, backing
from
Luperón helped Ulises Francisco Espaillat Quiñones to win
election as president on March 24, 1876. Espaillat, a
political
and economic liberal, apparently intended to broaden
personal
freedoms and to set the nation's economy on a firmer
footing. He
never had the opportunity to do either, however.
Rebellions in
the south and the east forced Espaillat to resign on
December 20,
1876. Ever the opportunist, Báez returned once more to
power. The
most effective opposition to his rule came from guerrilla
forces
led by a politically active priest, Fernando Arturo de
Meriño
Ramírez. In February 1878, the unpopular Báez left his
country
for the last time; he died in exile in 1882.
Both Santana and Báez had now passed from the scene.
They had
helped to create a nation where violence prevailed in the
quest
for power, where economic growth and financial stability
fell
victim to a seemingly endless political contest, and where
foreign interests still perceived parts of the national
territory
as available to the highest bidder. This divisive, chaotic
situation invited the emergence of a Machiavellian figure
who
would "unite" the republic.
Data as of December 1989
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