1922 Encyclopædia Britannica/Santo Domingo

SANTO DOMINGO (see ).—The decade 1910-20 witnessed a succession of abrupt changes in the political status of Santo Domingo, accompanied by corresponding economic and social developments. The civil security and material well-being ushered in by the Dominican-American Convention of 1907 came to an end with the assassination of President Ramon Caceres on Nov. 19 1911. Gen. Alfredo M. Victoria, the dominant military figure, secured the selection of his uncle Eladio Victoria as president. Revolutionary outbreaks of the traditional type followed, culminating in the appointment of a special commission by the President of the United States, to aid in the reëstablishment of peace and order. Conferences resulted in the resignation of Victoria and the election of Archbishop Adolfo A. Nouel as provisional President. Friction developed, and on March 31 1913, Monsignor Nouel resigned and embarked for Europe. The Dominican Congress selected as provisional successor, Gen. José Bordas Baldez. Revolutionary disturbances again broke out and the United States once more lent its good offices by sending a commission, with whose advisory aid Dr. Ramon Baez was selected as provisional president Aug. 27 1914. Some months later Juan Isidro Jiménez was chosen as constitutional president. A brief period of peace and progress ensued, terminated in April 1916 by an outbreak led by

Gen. Desiderio Arias (a chronic revolutionist from Monte Christi), which President Jiménez, aged and infirm, failed to check. Arias seized the military control of the capital, practically deposed Jiménez and assumed the executive power. With another civil war thus imminent, with its patience strained by the events of the preceding years, and with the international situation developed by the World War threatening foreign intervention, the United States now took definite action. Naval forces were landed. President Jiménez resigned the presidency and retired to Porto Rico, and in May-June 1916 the pacification of the country was effected with nothing more serious than minor encounters with revolutionary forces. On July 25 1916, the Dominican Congress selected Dr. Francisco Henriquez Carvajal as temporary president. The United States, refusing recognition until assured of the non-recurrence of civil disorder, proposed a new treaty based upon the convention just adopted between the United States and Haiti (see ), which should repair the shortcomings of the 1907 convention in providing for the collection of customs under American auspices, the appointment of an American financial adviser and the establishment of a constabulary force officered by Americans. President Henriquez refused to enter into this arrangement, with a resultant deadlock intensified by the withholding by the American authorities of the revenues collected by its officers. Matters came to a head with Henriquez's intention not to retire from the presidency upon the expiration of his provisional term but to present himself as a probable successful candidate for popular election. On Nov. 29 1916 by proclamation of the American commander of the forces of occupation, Santo Domingo was placed under the military administration of the United States. Executive departments were taken over by American naval officers, ex-president Henriquez left the country, order was quickly established, and Santo Domingo entered upon four years of civil quiet and economic improvement. The termination of this status was foreshadowed Dec. 24 1920 by a proclamation of the military government that &ldquo;the time has arrived when it may, with a due sense of its responsibility to the people of the Dominican Republic, inaugurate the simple processes of its rapid withdrawal from the responsibilities assumed in connexion with Dominican affairs.&rdquo; Announcement was made that a commission of representative Dominicans with a technical adviser was to be appointed, entrusted with the formulation of constitutional amendments and the revision of the laws of the republic, such proposals upon approval of the military governor to be submitted to a constitutional convention and to the national congress.

(Author:Jacob H. Hollander)