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Santo Domingo—Historian Juan Daniel Balcácer explained that the U.S. occupation of 1916 was the product of political instability and ignorance of the Dominican Constitution, which gave way to the end of the period known in the country’s history as the Second Republic.
The statement was made during the XIV Dominican Congress of History, held by the Dominican National Section of the Pan-American Institute of Geography and History (PAIGH) on July 12, 1924, in commemoration of the first centenary of the departure of U.S. troops from the country.
In the dissertation, which historian José Chez Checo read because Balcácer could not attend, he indicated that the Americans broke into Santo Domingo under the pretext that the local authorities had repeatedly violated the third article of the convention of February 8, 1907, as well as that the country needed peace. Financial order and discipline
As expected, according to the historian, the Dominican people resisted the invasion and refused to lose their sovereignty. However, this did not prevent the military occupation from becoming an even more cruel and ruthless dictatorship than the one imposed by Ulises Heureaux (Lilís).
Later, he recounted how, during the eight years of occupation, there was armed resistance in different areas of the country, and various patriotic groups also emerged, including the Dominican Nationalist Commission, chaired by Dr. Francisco Henríquez y Carvajal, who promised to take charge of recovering the national territory.
However, after several failed negotiations, it was not until Francisco J. Peynado traveled to the United States on September 23, 1922, and the Hughes-Peynado Plan was finalized, ending U.S. intervention.
About the congress
The congress, attended by various national and international historians, was held with the main objective of contributing to a better understanding of the military occupation as a significant historical event.
In this sense, Cenia Correa, director of geography at the National Geographic Institute, highlighted the importance of holding this type of conference since, in her opinion, history teaching in schools is deficient.
The intervention continues. The USA tells us what to do and we do it. Now they want us to legalize all the Haitians so they don’t come to the USA. We are already losing our sovereignty. The only man who stood up to them was killed by his own people and the CIA.
Just a little background to this. Some of the reasons of the 1916 occupation was the US took up arms against Germany at that time fearing German intervention in the RD and the Western Hemisphere. Germany already was hard courting Mexico and other Latin American states. The RD had huge debts to the European nations. The US sent Marine troops to the RD using the doctrine cloak to bring financial order & discipline to the country, preventing European creditors from invading the RD with their own troops.
DR creditors were british, there was no german threat. This situation with the german credditors was indeed the reality in Haiti not DR. thats why it is somethimes mixed together.
The RD creditors were Germany, France, and Italy. The US aimed to prevent them from intervening in the Americas. Because the US was at war with Germany in 1916 it was especially necessary to keep Germany and its troops away. Hence came the US occupation of 1916. The US had formulated a debt and administered a repayment plan for the RD as early as 1905 and then used it to keep the Europeans in Europe. Then the remaining debt repayments were taken over by the RD in 1924 the US departed.
edit: “doctrine” = Monroe Doctrine
US being the bully that they are good at…