Santo Domingo.- President Danilo Medina today hailed the heroes of the battle of March 30, which he affirms revealed the self-denial and sacrifice for their country’s historical epic, to mark its 170th anniversary.
He asked Dominicans to pay tribute to those who ensured and protected with valor the nation’s sovereignty against a superior Haitian occupation.
"A day like today, on March 30, 1844, in the city of Santiago, took place the second battle in the course of that month which the Army and the Dominican people victoriously fought to strengthen independence and national sovereignty, proclaimed on February 27 that same year at Puerta del Conde," Medina said in his message to the country.
The President asked for a jubilant a tribute to mark the 170 years since the battle for Santiago and the heroes of the historic event: José María Imbert, Fernando Valerio, Achilles Michel, P.E. Pelletier, Román Franco Bido, José María López, Angel Reyes and other Patriots.
According to historians, tobacco farmers wielding only machetes joined the soldiers and turned the tide of the battle, in the legendary “Charge of the macheteers.”