Juan Pablo Duarte
Juan Pablo Duarte y Díez (Santo Domingo, January 26, 1813-Caracas, July 15, 1876), was a soldier, politician, activist and founder of the Dominican Republic.
Together with Francisco del Rosario Sánchez and Matías Ramón Mella, he is one of the Fathers of the Nation and founders of the Dominican Republic. He devised and presided over the struggle of several clandestine civil-political-military organizations such as La Dramática, La Filantrópica and La Trinitaria, created to fight against the Haitian invasion and for the independence of the Dominican Republic.
Duarte, even while in exile, supervised and largely financed the war of independence carried out by his fellow fighters, which led to his financial ruin and that of his family, possessing vast wealth from trade businesses that his father carried out. His liberal vision was undermined by the afrancesados, who wanted to make the newly founded nation become a French protectorate, while the conservatives wanted to reincorporate the territory to Spain. However, his democratic ideals have served as guiding principles for most Dominican governments. His initiative made him a political martyr in the eyes of later generations.
In 1829, Duarte became an officer in the Haitian National Guard. In 1839 he participated in the "Reformist Revolution" against the government of Jean Pierre Boyer, who threatened to invade the western part of the island with the intention of unifying it. After the defeat of Haitian President Charles Herard and the proclamation of Dominican independence in 1844, the Junta formed to designate the first ruler of the nation elected Duarte by majority to preside over it but he declined the proposal, taking the position in his place Tomás Bobadilla.
Duarte had strong disagreements with conservative sectors, especially with landowner Pedro Santana. From these struggles, Santana emerged temporarily strengthened while Duarte, on the other hand, suffered several exiles. In the end, however, his liberal ideals prevailed.
Duarte lived in exile in Venezuela due to the political and military conflicts that existed in the Dominican Republic, which constituted a serious danger to his life. In Venezuela he was received and welcomed making this land his second home, he lived for approximately 4 years in the Venezuelan plains, specifically in what is now Apure State, being the only municipality where there is evidence of his existence, the Achaguas municipality where he lived for 3 years. Later he returned to Caracas in 1849 to raise funds and return to the Dominican Republic, which had been annexed to Spain by Pedro Santana, he returned to his homeland but the restorative government of President Salcedo asked him to return to Venezuela on a diplomatic mission as Minister Plenipotentiary to request the support of the government of Mariscal Falcon to the cause of the Restoration of Dominican Independence. Although Duarte did not agree with the mission, he returned to Caracas and complied as far as possible. After his diplomatic mission was over, he stayed to live in this country where he died in Caracas on July 15, 1876.
History
He was born on January 26, 1813 in the City of Santo Domingo during the period known as España Boba, in an upper-middle-class family that was dedicated to the trade of items and hardware store in the port area of Santo Domingo. In his memoirs, Trinidadian José María Serra de Castro described him as a man with a pinkish complexion, thin lips, blue eyes, and blond hair that contrasted with his thick black mustache. Legitimate son of Juan José Duarte Rodríguez (prosperous peninsular merchant from Vejer de la Frontera, Cádiz, Iberian Peninsula) and Manuela Díez Jiménez, (a native of Santa Cruz de El Seybo, daughter of the Spanish settler Antonio Díez Baillo, born in Osorno and the Creole Rufina Jiménez Benítez). Duarte was the fourth of eleven siblings, the best known being Vicente Celestino, a wood merchant, and Rosa Protomártir, who worked as a journalist and teacher. Both had an active participation in the independence cause of his brother.
In 1801, Duarte's parents emigrated from French-occupied Santo Domingo to Mayagüez in the Captaincy General of Puerto Rico, avoiding the imposition of the French state on the eastern side of the island. This transformation of the Spanish part of the island became apparent the previous year, when Toussaint Louverture, the governor of Saint-Domingue (present-day Haiti), a French colony located in the western third of Hispaniola, seized control of Santo Domingo., located in the eastern part of it. At the time, France and Saint Domingue were going through exhaustive social movements, namely the French Revolution and the Haitian Revolution. In the occupation of the Spanish part of the island, the governor Toussaint Louverture, was following the indications given by the governments of France and Spain in the Treaty of the Peace of Basel, signed in 1795, in which Spain had ceded the part Spanish to France.
Upon his arrival in Santo Domingo, Louverture tried to abolish slavery, which in the Spanish part had patriarchal characteristics. In 1822 after the Haitian occupation their leader Jean Pierre Boyer, he also tried to abolish slavery but the only slaves he found were domestic and lived with their masters as family. Louverture wanted to convert the old Spanish institutions to French and re-establish the plantation economy on both sides of the island. The Captaincy General of Puerto Rico was still part of Spain, and since Mayagüez was so close to Hispaniola, on the other side of the Mona Channel, it had become a refuge for those who, like the Duartes, did not accept the French government. Most historians assume that the Duarte's first child, Vicente Celestino, was born there, in Mayagüez. The family returned to the Captaincy General of Santo Domingo in 1809, after the War of the Reconquest led by the criollo Juan Sánchez Ramírez, restoring Spanish sovereignty in Santo Domingo.
In 1819, Duarte enrolled in Manuel Aybar's school where he learned reading, writing, grammar, and arithmetic. He was a disciple of Dr. Juan Vicente Moscoso with whom he completed higher studies in Latin, philosophy and law, due to the closure of the university by the Haitian authorities. After the exile of Dr. Moscoso to the Captaincy General of Cuba, his role was continued by the priest Gaspar Hernández from the Viceroyalty of Peru.
Ephemeral independence and its context
On December 1, 1821, Duarte was barely eight years old when the writer and liberal politician José Núñez de Cáceres briefly declared the separation of the Spanish Province of Santo Domingo from Spain and changed the name of the former Spanish province to that of the Independent State of Spanish Haiti. Núñez de Cáceres represented a select and privileged group of bourgeois men tired of being ignored by the Crown and also concerned about the new liberal turn in Madrid. The process led by Cáceres was not an isolated event. The 1820s were a time of profound political changes throughout the Spanish Atlantic World and that influenced the way of thinking of sectors of the petty bourgeoisie such as the Duartes...
In Spain, it all began with a demoralizing conflict between royalists and liberals in the Iberian Peninsula, what is now known as the Liberal Triennium, 1820-1823. However, the events of the 1821 separation in Santo Domingo were different from those in the rest of the continent, as they were short-lived. Although the government of Núñez de Cáceres requested support from the new republican government of Simón Bolívar, his request was ignored, given the internal conflicts in Gran Colombia.
Historians have called this brief episode in Dominican history the Ephemeral Independence. This event culminated in the almost immediate Haitian occupation by the army of Haitian President Jean Pierre Boyer on February 9, 1822.
Haitian occupation
Occupancy period
Haitian President Jean Pierre Boyer sent an invading army that occupied the eastern part of Hispaniola. Haitians abolished slavery once and for all, officially occupying Santo Domingo and uniting it with Haiti. The struggles between Boyer and the elite of the old Spanish province caused the massive migration of many sectors, among them the settlers. Some sectors of the eastern part aspired to keep the eastern part of the island in the hands of the European imperial powers as a way of safeguarding themselves from the danger that the Haitian presence represented for them. The occupation caused the weakening of the provincial elite and the bourgeois sectors that entered into compromise with the Haitian authorities became the new ruling class.
On the other hand, on January 6, 1823, Boyer decreed the recruitment into the Haitian army of all young people between the ages of 16 and 25. This measure caused the Santo Tomás de Aquino University to lose its students and therefore had to close its doors. On November 14, 1824, Boyer established French as the official, sole and obligatory language in the acts of the courts, civil status and public notaries throughout the island.
After having traveled much of Europe for academic reasons between 1828 and 1831, and having come into contact with the July Revolution, Duarte returned to Santo Domingo determined to start a revolutionary movement.
Fight for independence
Foundation of La Trinitaria
On July 16, 1838, Duarte founded a secret society he called La Trinitaria, which helped undermine the Haitian occupation. Some of its early members included: Juan Isidro Pérez, Pedro Alejandro Pina, Jacinto de la Concha, Félix María Ruiz, José María Serra de Castro, Benito González, Felipe Alfáu and Juan Nepomuceno Ravelo (later Francisco del Rosario Sánchez and Matías would join Ramón Mella, acquiring a leading role with Duarte).
The Trinidadians did their political work from a clandestine cell structure that functioned similar to a Masonic lodge. The initiates took the oath to fight for the independence of the Dominican Republic under the motto "God, Country and Freedom".
In 1840 for their public activities they formed another society called La Filantrópica
which he carried for a motto "Peace.union and friendship"and had a more public presence, trying to spread the veiled ideas of liberation through theatrical scenarios. Among the works that came to represent are: "Rome Free" of the Italian playwright Vittorio Alfieri, "The widow of Padilla" by Francisco Martínez de la Rosa, "A day of the year 23 in Cadiz"from Eugenio de Ochoa, among others. After several failed attempts, the trinitarians did not feel satisfied and founded Dramatic.. In this third society, all trinitarians engaged in action.
In 1842, Duarte became a high-ranking officer in the Haitian National Guard. At that time, the regime imposed by Boyer had gone from being a liberal and progressive government to becoming an absolutist one in the midst of serious economic problems and strong internal resistance in the western part of the island. The Trinidadians joined the Haitian reformist revolutionary movement called La Reforma that ended up overthrowing the Boyer dictatorship in February 1843, placing Charles Hérard in the presidency of Haiti.
Duarte led this movement in the City of Santo Domingo, becoming the main political leader at that time. However, the separatist activities of the Trinidadians were exposed and the new president Charles Hérard led the military occupation of the departments of Cibao and Ozama with the aim of dismantling the separatist movement.
First exile and declaration of independence
In 1843, in full preparation to organize the separation movement, Duarte had to leave Haiti clandestinely for Curacao due to his insurgent conduct, where he was surprised by the news of his father's death on November 25 of that year. Then, Duarte tells his mother to sell the family business to finance the separatist revolution, to which his mother is opposed at first.
In his absence, Francisco del Rosario Sánchez had to take the reins of the separatist movement and make an alliance with the conservative sector headed by Tomás Bobadilla, Briones and Buenaventura Báez, giving rise to the Manifesto of January 16, 1844. All this, along with the help of many who wanted to get rid of the Haitians ruling over the Dominicans led to the proclamation of independence on February 27, 1844.
Return: First Dominican Constitution
Juan Pablo Duarte returned to Santo Domingo on March 15, 1844, days after the country's separation was declared, loaded with the weapons he had bought in Curaçao with his own family's money and being received tremendously as Father of the Nation. Immediately, he was appointed general of the army and a member of the Central Board that governed the nascent republic. This board also had the purpose of designating the first ruler of the nation. Although Duarte was supported by many as a candidate for the presidency and Mella even declared him president, Duarte declined arguing that he would only accept the position because of the majority election of the Dominicans, which determined that Tomás Bobadilla later took office.
Differences with Santana: second exile.
On May 26, 1844, Tomás Bobadilla, a jurist, first governor of the new Junta, and a powerful representative of the interests of the bourgeois majority that supported separation, proposed converting the newly created republic into a protectorate of France. The Frenchified sector led by Bobadilla had seized power and had a majority in the recently created Central Government Board. On June 9, Duarte led, together with Francisco del Rosario Sánchez, a coup d'état that removed Bobadilla and replaced the French-speaking members of the Central Board with other liberals. This new Junta, now headed by Francisco del Rosario Sánchez, sent Duarte and Ramón Matías Mella to the northern region to gather support. In July, the army of the north proclaimed Duarte as president. Despite the fact that Duarte did not accept, Pedro Santana protested and, relying on the southern army, entered Santo Domingo and dissolved the Junta presided over by Francisco del Rosario Sánchez, creating another. In August, Pedro Santana ordered the arrest of Duarte, who refused to rejoin Spain. However, he allowed himself to be captured to avoid a civil war that could be taken advantage of by the Haitians and on September 10, Pedro Santana declared Juan Pablo Duarte, Francisco del Rosario Sánchez, Ramón Matías Mella and other separatist liberals as "traitors". to the Homeland" sending them into exile in Hamburg. After a brief stay in Hamburg, on November 30 Duarte moved to La Guaira, Venezuela where his entire family, now plunged into misery, had also been exiled by Santana.
In February 1845, while in Caracas, he received the news of the firing squad of María Trinidad Sánchez. Assuming himself guilty of this death, and rejecting the idea of encouraging a civil war, Duarte disappeared from public life, entering the Venezuelan jungle. After writing his book The Outlaw's Portfolio he settled in the city of Angostura, losing all contact with friends and family for more than fifteen years.
In 1861, due once again to Haitian invasions, internal disorder, and past government problems, Santana reincorporated the new nation into Spain to once again become the Spanish Province of Santo Domingo (a stage known as the Annexation to Spain). For this action, he was awarded the title of Marqués de Las Carreras by Queen Isabella II. The following year in 1862, Duarte reappeared in Caracas to organize a small expedition with his brother Vicente Celestino.
On March 24, 1864, Duarte returned to the Province of Santo Domingo to place himself under the orders of the government in arms of Santiago de los Caballeros. This government decided to appoint him as his representative abroad with the mission of obtaining support from Venezuela and other countries in the military fight against the civil war.
Last exile, death, legacy and honors
On June 7, 1864, Duarte was sent abroad as consul in order to raise funds for the separatist cause. This mission ended up becoming another kind of exile, although it cannot be said that this was the intention of the government of Santiago de los Caballeros. Duarte was offered an honorary pension that was not fulfilled and he stayed to live in Venezuela, where he was well received along with his family, subsisting on income from a candle factory. Duarte stayed to live with his family in the city of Caracas until his death on July 15, 1876.
Despite President Ignacio María González asking him to return, Duarte felt at home in Venezuela. His remains were transferred to Dominican soil in 1884 by the government of Ulises Heureaux, who declared him Father of the Nation along with Francisco del Rosario Sánchez and Matías Ramón Mella. In 1944, the remains of the three national heroes were entombed in the Altar de la Patria, where they are found today.
Duarte laid the foundations for the advent of a Republic that, as a democratic state, would guarantee equal opportunities and freedom for its citizens.
The study trips he made to Europe as a teenager brought him into contact with the liberal ideals of the French Revolution, which greatly influenced his later attitudes in the independence struggles. One of his most emblematic phrases was without a doubt Living without a country is the same as living without honor!
He is also credited with being a forerunner of Dominican theater, by promoting theatrical events through societies such as "La Filantrópica" and "La Dramática", with works alluding to the ideal of freedom of the Dominicans.
Pico Duarte, the highest mountain in the Caribbean, and other landmarks bear his name. His birth house was turned into a museum. The Duarte-Díez family lived in it from their arrival in Santo Domingo until their exile.
In 1945, the city of New York dedicated a square to Duarte (Duarte Square) at the corner of Sixth Avenue and Canal Street, within the neighborhood of Greenwich Village. On May 26, 1977, anticipating the 165th birth of the hero, a statue by Italian sculptor Nicola Arrighin, paid for by the city's Dominican consulate, of Juan Pablo Duarte, was unveiled. The bronze statue measures four meters (13 feet) and is supported by an eight-foot (2.5-meter) pedestal.
In Union City, New Jersey, a city adjacent to New York City, there is a park named Juan Pablo Duarte Square in his honor. On January 26, 1978, at the 165th. of the birth of Duarte, the Dominican Consulate in that city, erected a statue in the same park.
In 2000, then-New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani signed a bill adding the name Juan Pablo Duarte Boulevard to St. Nicholas Avenue, designating the stretch of Tenth Avenue and West 162nd Street to the intersection of West 193rd Street and Fort George Hill.
On February 24, 2011, in commemoration of the 167th. anniversary of the National Independence of the Dominican Republic, a statue of him was inaugurated in the Jardim do Campo Grande, in front of the embassy of the Dominican Republic in Lisbon.
January 26, 2013, the bicentenary of his birth was celebrated.
Private life
Duarte's personal life to date is the subject of discussion. It is known that he was a poet who followed Romanticism. He also used to play the guitar, the piano and the flute; he also practiced fencing.
During his youth, Duarte had several love affairs. His first relationship was with María Antonia Bobadilla, which she ended years later for unknown reasons. Years later, Duarte fell in love with Prudencia "Nona" Lluberes, a Catalan descendant with whom he formalized a relationship that was interrupted due to his exile and his subsequent suffering from tuberculosis. The dates on which Duarte had these relationships are not known, given the imprecision about his private life and the last years of his life in exile. Some historians also certify that he had a son during his stay in Venezuela with a woman named Marcela Mercedes.
Disputes
Various controversies and conspiracy theories have been generated around the figure of Duarte, promoted mainly by anti-Duarte retail groups and promoters of the unification of the island of Hispaniola and its two countries: Haiti and the Dominican Republic. In none of these cases of controversy or conspiracy theories, there is any historical support and, on the contrary, there are irrefutable references in most cases, which makes it an easy task to dismantle these erroneous and ill-founded ideas. Listed here is a short list of the "controversial" most relevant and their respective historical explanations.
Duarte was in exile in 1844, just at the time of proclaiming Dominican independence, which is why some people say that he does not deserve to be included as one of the Fathers of the Nation. The professor at the Autonomous University of Santo Domingo, Paulino Ramos, who is also a member of the Dominican Academy of History, denied this theory saying "If he left the country it was because he he was certain that, if captured, the movement could fail", implying that Duarte used his trip to Curaçao at that time as a strategy and not out of cowardice as suggested.
For fifty years after the Independence of the Dominican Republic and subsequent events such as the War of the Restoration, there was a heated debate about who or who should be considered as "fathers of the country", & #34;founding fathers" or the leaders of independence. A consensus was not reached among the main leaders Juan Pablo Duarte, Francisco del Rosario Sánchez and Ramón Matías Mella on which of the three should be considered the leader of the independence movement, even these debates escalated to armed conflicts. In view of the situation and with the intention of ending the debate once and for all, President Ulises Heureaux proclaimed on April 11, 1894 a law approved in the National Congress through resolution 3392 that established that the fathers of the country were "Duarte, Sánchez and Mella" ending fifty years of heated and intense debates.
In recent years, radical anti-independence groups and in favor of the unification of the Dominican Republic and Haiti that seek the unification of the Dominican Republic with Haiti have developed a campaign seeking to generate controversies around the figures of the fathers of the Dominican homeland and the feats of independence, restoration and other social struggles.
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