Dominican Republic and Haiti: Country Studies

Dominican Republic and Haiti: Country Studies
The Caceres government became the financial beneficiary
of this arrangement. Freed from the burden of dealing with
creditors, Caceres attempted to reform the political system.
Constitutional reforms placed local ayuntamientos (town councils)
under the power of the central government, extended the
presidential term to six years, and eliminated the office of vice
president. Caceres also nationalized public utilities and established
a bureau of public works to administer them. The curtailment
of local authority particularly irked those caciques
who had preferred to rule through compliant ayuntamientos.
The continued financial sovereignty of the "Yankees" also outweighed
the economic benefits of the receivership in the
minds of many Dominican nationalists. Intrigues fomented in
exile by Morales, Jimenes, and others beset Caceres, who was
assassinated on November 19, 1911.
The assassination of Caceres led to another period of political
turmoil and economic disorganization that was to culminate
in the republic's occupation by the United States. The
fiscal stability that had resulted from the 1905 receivership
eroded under Caceres's successor, Eladio Victoria y Victoria,
with most of the increased outlays going to support military
campaigns against rebellious partisans, mainly in the Cibao.
The continued violence and instability prompted the administration
of President William H. Taft to dispatch a commission
to Santo Domingo on September 24, 1912, to mediate between
the warring factions. The presence of a 750-member force of
United States Marines apparently convinced the Dominicans of
the seriousness of Washington's threats to intervene directly in
the conflict; Victoria agreed to step down in favor of a neutral
figure, Roman Catholic archbishop Adolfo Alejandro Nouel
Bobadilla. The archbishop assumed office as provisional president
on November 30.
Nouel proved unequal to the burden of national leadership.
Unable to mediate successfully between the ambitions of rival
horacistas and jimenistas, he resigned on March 31, 1913. His
successor, Jose Bordas Valdes, was equally unable to restrain the
renewed outbreak of hostilities. Once again, Washington took
a direct hand and mediated a resolution. The rebellious horacistas
agreed to a cease-fire based on a pledge of United States
oversight of elections for members of local ayuntamientos and a
constituent assembly that would draft the procedures for presidential
balloting. The process, however, was flagrantly manipulated
and resulted in Bordas's reelection on June 15, 1914.
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