One of the Dominican Republic’s founding fathers, Francisco del Rosario Sánchez, was executed by firing squad acting under the orders of General Pedro Santana during the War of Restoration against the Spanish annexation of the Dominican Republic in 1861. In 1844, Sanchez and Ramon Mella initiated Dominican independence from Haiti. As a founding member of the group known as the Trinitarios, Sánchez along with Mella and Duarte had sworn to create a free, independent and sovereign Dominican Republic and end of Haitian domination.
In the very early days of 1844 Francisco Del Rosario Sánchez served as the president of the Provisional Governing Board. After the bankrupt Dominican Republic was returned to Spanish rule by President Pedro Santana in 1861, Sánchez was one of the first to organize a rebellion against this annexation. He was captured at the Battle of El Cercado, taken before a military tribunal in San Juan de la Maguana, and on orders from General Pedro Santana who was serving the Spanish army, taken to the local cemetery and was executed by firing squad.
Many historians feel that the country would be better served to commemorate such an anniversary rather than see full-page advertisements in newspapers announcing “fourth of July sales.”
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Acento
5 July 2018
