The DR1 Daily News update will not be published on Wednesday, 16 August 2017, a public holiday. Headline news will be compiled for the Thursday, 17 August 2017 issue, and comments and news can be posted in the DR1 Forums, 24/7.
The holiday commemorates the beginning of the Dominican Restoration War in 1863. The war ended in 1865 with the restoration of the country’s independence from Spain.
History tells that while the Dominican Republic proclaimed its independence from Haiti in 1844, the First Republic was short-lived. In 1861, Spain was invited to recolonize the country by the government of President Pedro Santana. Santana felt that the new nation could not resist Haitian occupation without being annexed to Spain. But the move was widely rejected by the Dominican people, leading to a guerrilla war against the colonial authorities.
On 16 August 1863, a group of rebels led by Santiago Rodríguez and Gregorio Luperón would raise the national flag on the Capotillo hill in Santo Domingo. The event is known as El Grito de Capotillo and sparked the Restoration War that ended in 1865 with the restoration of the republic. After two years of fighting, the Queen of Spain recognized the national sentiment and annulled the annexation of the Dominican Republic and the Second Republic was established.
15 August 2017
