La rivalidad internacional por la República Dominicana desde su independencia hasta la anexión a España (1844-1861)

Abstract

The Dominican Republic evolution is a good example of the decisive importance of foreign influence on most of Latin American countries politics and economics, from the beginning of their independent life. The period running between its independence from Haiti in 1844, and 1861, when the annexation of Santo Domingo to Spain took place, is very interesting in order to study the causes and steps of foreign intervention in this Caribbean country, which is the main object of the present Ph. D. dissertation. The Dominican process reveals clearly both internal and external dynamics leading to an unavoidable result: the chronicle instability derived from fights for power among the different national groups. Each one was supported by one or more countries, which had their own strategic, political or economical goals, or more frequently, a mix of every aspect. Due to the evolution of the Dominican Republic from its birth, through the period previous to its annexation to Spain the existence of this country as an independent state was still very far away from being an effective reality, as a consequence of its structural weakness. This handicap fed the growth of the new colonialism suffered by the Dominican Republic, whose effects were conflicts, rivalries, diplomatic intrigues, corruption, injustice and wars. All these elements play an important role at the origin of the later United States military occupations of the Dominican Republic, and of other ways of political and economical interventionism in numerous moments of its more recent history.