Juan Pablo Duarte

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Juan Pablo Duarte

Juan Pablo Duarte y Díez (born January 26, 1813 in Santo Domingo , Hispaniola , † July 15, 1876 in Caracas , Venezuela ) was a freedom fighter in the Spanish colony of Hispaniola , later the Dominican Republic . He came from the lower middle class in Santo Domingo; from 1827 to 32 he studied law and philosophy in the USA and Spain .

After his return to Santo Domingo in 1832, Juan Pablo Duarte, together with Ramon Mella and Francisco Sánchez, founded the organization La Trinitaria , which had the goal of enforcing independence from Spain. Duarte spent some time in exile in the following years when the Spanish part of the country was temporarily occupied by neighboring Haiti ; after the victory of the Dominican-Spanish troops against the occupiers in 1844, he returned to Santo Domingo. He turned down the presidency offered to him; rather, he advocated free elections. However, there was a coup under General Pedro Santana , who again sent Duarte into exile . The Dominican Republic was then annexed to Spain again in 1861.

In 1864, when the Dominicans finally shook off Spanish rule, Duarte was able to enter his homeland again for a short time; However, he was chased into exile again by the new Commander-in-Chief José Antonio Salcedo , with whose policies Duarte did not conform. He eventually died in Venezuela without ever seeing the Dominican Republic again.

In 1884 his remains were brought to Santo Domingo. Posthumously Duarte received the title "Padre de la Patria" (Father of the Fatherland). Today he is revered as the most important national hero in the country. Not only countless roads in all cities of the country and the most important north-south expressway ( Autopista Duarte ) were named after him, but also the highest mountain in the country in the Cordillera Central , the Pico Duarte .

Duarte's slogan was: “Vivir sin patria, es lo mismo que vivir sin honor” (“Life without a fatherland is a life without honor”); In addition, he (allegedly) coined the slogan of the Dominican Republic: “Dios, Patria y Libertad” (“God, Fatherland and Freedom”).

See also