Rafael Filiberto Bonelly

Rafael Filiberto Bonelly

Rafael Filiberto Bonelly (Bonnelly) Fondeur (born August 22, 1904 in Santiago de los Caballeros , †  December 28, 1979 in Santo Domingo ) was a Dominican politician and President of the Dominican Republic .

biography

After attending school, he completed a law degree at the Universidad de Santo Domingo (now Universidad Autónoma de Santo Domingo ), which he graduated on March 27, 1926 with a Bachelor of Laws ( LL.B. ). He then worked as a teacher at the Escuela Normal in Santo Domingo until 1930 .

Already as a teacher he became politically active by participating in a successful revolt to overthrow President Horacio Vásquez in February 1930 , led by Rafael Estrella Ureña and the then Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces , General Rafael Leónidas Trujillo Molina . He then became a member of the National Congress (Congreso Nacional). However, a falling out quickly arose between Trujillo and the new president Estrella Ureña, who was close to Bonelly, after Trujillo had introduced a draft education law to the National Congress. The subsequent takeover of power by Trujillo on August 18, 1930 led to Bonelly being banned from practicing law for twelve years because of his proximity to Estrella Ureña . It was not until an amnesty decreed by Trujillo in 1942 that Estrella Ureña and Bonelly were rehabilitated and returned to political life, whereupon Bonelly was a senator from 1942 to 1944 and then Minister of the Interior until 1946.

After the death of his sponsor Estrella Ureña in 1945, Bonelly's ascent, made possible by Trujillo, began. Between 1946 and 1948 he was first Minister of Labor, before he worked as a Fiscal General until 1949. Between 1949 and 1953 he was not only professor of civil law and constitutional law , but also dean of the law faculty of the Universidad de Santo Domingo. He was then Prime Minister until 1954 under the new President and brother Trujillos, Hector Bienvenido Trujillo Molina , who then briefly appointed him Minister of Education before he was accredited as Ambassador to Spain from 1954 to 1956 . After his return he was briefly Minister of Justice before he was Ambassador to Venezuela between 1957 and 1959 .

President of the Dominican Republic

In 1960 he was first Vice President and as such from January 1 to 17, 1962 incumbent President of the Dominican Republic , after President Joaquín Balaguer had refused to recognize the establishment of a State Council to draft a new constitution. After a two-day temporary governing civil-military council chaired by Humberto Bogaert , he became president again on January 19, 1962 and handed over this office on February 27, 1963 to the candidate of the Partido Revolucionario Dominicano (PRD), who had previously been elected with 60 percent of the votes Juan Bosch Gaviño .

In 1966, Bonelly ran unsuccessfully against former President Balaguer, supported by US President Lyndon B. Johnson , with whom he had been friends since childhood, but was enemies after Balaguer's impeachment on December 31, 1961.

Honor and death

In the summer of 1979 he was awarded an honorary doctorate by the leading private university in the Dominican Republic, the Pontificia Universidad Católica Madre y Maestra (PUCMM). A few months later he died of cancer in Santo Domingo.

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• WIKIDOMINICANA
• rulers.org

predecessor	Office	successor
Joaquín Balaguer	President of Dominik. Rep. 1962	Humberto Bogaert
Humberto Bogaert	President of Dominik. Rep. 1962 - 1963	Juan Bosch Gaviño