Well-known investigative reporter Ana Mitila Lora of the List?n Diario published an article in last Sunday?s paper in which she shows that most bids for re-election are marked by mounting debts and some sort of repressive actions. Tracing the presidential history from the times of General Pedro Santana to the incumbent Hip?lito Mej?a, Lora pinpoints the six-year government of Buenaventura B?ez (1868-1874) as the originator of many of today?s re-election policies. Lora points out that while General Santana did indeed manipulate his various elections to the presidency, he was never elected for consecutive terms. Baez, on the other hand, during his Six-Year Government instituted such things as the emission of paper money and the increase of the national debt, while making several attempts to have the Dominican Republic annexed to the United States. As the constitutional lawyer Flavio Dar?o Espinal has pointed out, it was B?ez who, in 1872, eliminated the anti re-election clauses for the first time. The article also includes a complete list of all the presidents of the Dominican Republic.