December 22, 1854(1854-12-22) (aged 46) Port-au-Prince, Haiti
Nationality
Dominican
Spouse
María Francisca Ravelo de los Reyes (1835-18??)
Altagracia Pereyra Pérez de la Paz (1849-1854)
Children
María del Carmen, Isabel Emilia, María de los Dolores, Manuel María and Manuel de Jesús.
Juan Isidro Jimenes Pereyra
Manuel José Jimenes González (January 14, 1808 – December 22, 1854) was a military figure and politician in the Dominican Republic. He served as the second President of the Dominican Republic from September 8, 1848, until May 29, 1849. Prior to that he served as the country's Minister of War and Marine Affairs.[1][2][3]
Early years
Jimenes was born on January 14, 1808, in Baracoa, Guantanamo, Cuba to Juan Jimenes and Altagracia González, Dominican exiles in Cuba because of Toussaint Louverture’s occupation of Santo Domingo (nowadays the Dominican Republic) and the subsequent wars in the context of the Napoleonic Wars.[4] It is to note that during the early 1800s the Dominican population decreased due to the slave rebellion in Haiti, urging many Dominicans to flee the island: about 4,000 went to Cuba and 100,000 did so to Venezuela while scores exiled in Puerto Rico and Mexico; many Dominicans and their foreign-born children eventually returned to the island.[5][6]
Between 1810 and 1812 he returned to the country as a child. His parents recovered the estate that the Louverture government had confiscated from them. Living there he was educated and grew up.[7]
According to José Antonio Jimenes Hernández: “Manuel was a university student, and according to the notes of Monsignor Fernando Arturo de Meriño, “he was a clergyman and was about to be ordained, at the age of 18.” [7]
His parents were owners of agricultural, livestock and still businesses in Santo Domingo. Manuel Jimenes also dedicated himself to those businesses.[7]
Independence plot
Juan Pablo Duarte, founder of La Trinitaria.
In the years of the Haitian domination, Jiménes decided to get involved with the independence movement. He became involved in movement, La Trinitaria, led by Juan Pablo Duarte. He was a liberal and joined the Reform Movement in 1843, resulting in the overthrow of Jean Pierre Boyer. He took part in elections with Haitian liberals that sought constitutional reforms to boost the Dominican cause. Unfortunately, the triumph of Charles Rivière-Hérard halted these plans, who responded by launching a full scale persecution against the Trinitarios. Duarte was forced to leave the island, and Jiménes had to go into hiding.
In the days following Duarte's exile, the Trinitarios continued to lead the independence movement. They had to act under the leadership of one of its younger members, Francisco del Rosario Sánchez. They formed an alliance with the conservative Tomás Bobadilla, resulting in the Dominican Act of Independence, which includes signatories from both Trinitarios and conservatives alike.
In preparations for the final phase of the independence, the Trinitarios won support from the 31st and 32nd regiments of the army, of which among the ranks was José Joaquín Puello and his brothers Eusebio and Gabin. Jiménes, at the commission of Sánchez, obtained the support of Martín Girón, an officer who was in charge of the garrison in Puerta del Conde. All of this gave edge for the Trinitarios to officially declare independence on February 27, 1844, where Jiménes witnessed another leader, Matías Ramón Mella, fire the legendary blunderbuss shot that proclaimed the birth of the Dominican Republic.
Central Government Board
In the days following the formation of the First Republic, He became an active and prominent member and of the Central Government Board. He took office as vice-president of the board, while Sánchez took seat as interim president. He also held the positions of Minister of War and Navy, as well as Minister of the Interior and Police.[7]
However, just as the new government was materializing, in this very city, an uprising had erupted. Santiago Basora, a free black man, led a revolt in the Monte Grande region in response to circulated rumors about alleged intentions by the government to re-establish slavery in the independent nation. (However, the rebels were unaware that the decision to abolish slavery was already agreed upon by the leaders prior to independence from Haiti, as evident in the Dominican Act of Independence). In an attempt to silence these rumors, Jiménes accompanied Tomas Bobadilla to confront the rebels and guarantee the freedom of former slaves. Afterwards, On March 1, 1844, the government immediately issued a decree that reinforced the abolition of slavery.[8] The rebels were even issued a pardon.
Presidency
Policies
Followkmg the resign of Pedro Santana,
Jiménes was the second constitutional president of the Dominican Republic, on September 8, 1848.
One of the first things Jiménez did after assuming the presidency was to issue a decree of pardon (on September 26, 1848) of all the exiled revolutionaries who had been previously declared traitors to the homeland, including Duarte. Duarte, however, ignored the pardon. At the same time, he decreed the abolition of the Army's infantry corps.
Its political situation began to deteriorate with the culmination of the efforts of a Dominican diplomatic mission in Europe for France to admit the new Republic into the international community. Paris recognized the country as a free and independent State through the provisional signing of a treaty of peace, friendship, commerce, and navigation.
Haitian invasion of 1849
Emperor Faustin I
While the treaty was still in transit, the Haitians took the opportunity to launch another attack. On March 9, 1849, the invasion of the Haitian emperor Faustin Soulouque took place, who crossed the border with an army of 15,000 men, accompanied by the most important military leaders of that country. They managed to take over all the border towns and arrived in San Juan de la Maguana on March 20, where they set up their headquarters. The Dominican guerrillas could do little to stop them. Jiménes left power in the hands of the council of secretaries of state, and personally headed to the southern region to lead the military campaign against the Haitian invaders. The order was also given for the Dominican warships commanded by General Juan Bautista Cambiaso to reach the waters of the neighboring country with the aim of causing damage to the enemy.
When the Dominican Army was defeated in San Juan de la Maguana, Azua and El Numero, the legislative body called on General Pedro Santana on April 2 to take supreme command of the fight, and he was the one with an army of about six thousand Dominican combatants achieved the defeat of the Haitians in the Battle of Las Carreras, in Azua, which lasted three days, from April 19 to 21. This put an end to the third campaign. In the retreat, Soulouque destroyed all the towns he found in his path, and any civilians encountered were massacred along the way.
Civil war
Jimenes tried to rule Santana out of control of the Army, accusing him of being a traitor to the country and ordered him to hand over command of the Southern Army to General Antonio Duvergé , but Santana did not recognize his authority, receiving the support of generals Merced Marcano, Juan Esteban Aybar, Bernardino Pérez and Matías Ramón Mella. Santana ordered his forces not to lay down their arms until a Government was established that respected the Constitution and the laws, which meant declaring rebellion against Jimenes, who responded by dismissing him, but Congress disavowed him and supported Santana's march towards the capital in order to overthrow him.
On May 17, the city of Santo Domingo was declared under a state of siege. The two sides faced each other in a short but violent civil war during which the town of San Carlos, founded by Canarian emigrants in the 17th century, was burned. The consuls of France, England and the United States mediated the conflict and Jiménes capitulated on the 29th to General Pedro Santana in the Güibia camp, resigning as President of the Dominican Republic. He left for Puerto Rico, then to Venezuela, then to Curaçao, and then finally, he moved to Haiti.
Personal life
Jimenes married his first wife María Francisca Ravelo de los Reyes on August 19, 1835, in Santo Domingo. The couple had 5 children: María del Carmen, Isabel Emilia, María de los Dolores, Manuel María and Manuel de Jesús.
On May 21, 1849, after marrying his second wife Altagracia Pereyra Pérez, the couple had a son Juan Isidro Jimenes Pereyra, who would later become President of the Dominican Republic.
He was known for being a cockfighting enthusiast. On December 22, 1854, Jimenes died in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.
References
^Manuel Jimenes, prócer de la independencia - Page 336 José Antonio Jimenes Hernández - 2001 "Manuel José Jimenes González c.c. María Francisca Ravelo de los Reyes, hija de: Agustín Ravelo Hemández y María Facunda de los Reyes N úñez; nieta patema de: José Ravelo e Isabel Evangelista Hemández;"
^Carlos Larrazábal Blanco Familias dominicanas 1980 - Volume 4 - Page 119 "Manuel José Jimenes González, 26 años, propietario, alambiquero, estudiante Universitario 1820-21, c.c. Francisca Ravelo, 18 añes, h. de Agustín Ravelo (6/H6) y María Facunda de los Reyes, 19 de agosto de 1835."
^Historia de la literatura dominicana - Volume 4 - Page 122 Néstor Contín Aybar, Universidad Central del Este - 1986 "Pereyra, que fue Presidente de la República, y biznieto de Manuel José Jimenes González, que también lo fue. Muy joven aún se trasladó a Francia a emprender estudios de Medicina y allí se doctoró. A su regreso al país, dio clases de ..."
^Moya Pons, Frank. Historia de la República Dominicana (in Spanish). Vol. 2. Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Academia Dominicana de la Historia, Ediciones Doce Calles. p. 39. ISBN978-84-9744-106-3.
