Dominican Republic and Haiti: Country Studies

Dominican Republic: Historical Setting
his advantage against Jimenez, taking 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 running for office.
Instead, he renounced the temporary mandate granted him by
the Congress 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 refusal
cleared the way for Baez, president of the Congress, to win a
second ballot, which was held on August 18, 1849.
Baez made even more vigorous overtures to foreign powers
to establish a Dominican protectorate. Both France (Baez's personal
preference) and the United States, although still unwilling
to annex the entire country, expressed interest in acquiring
the bay and peninsula of Samana 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.
Baez's first term established the personal rivalry with Santana
that dominated Dominican politics until the latter's death
in 1864. President Baez purged San tana's followers (santanistas)
from the government and installed his own followers (
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 Baez. The general moved quickly to deal with Baez,
who had once been a colonel under his command, denouncing
him for ties to the Haitians and as a threat to the nation's
security. Exercising his authority under Article 210 of the constitution,
Santana 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, even more
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