Juan Sánchez Ramírez

Juan Sánchez Ramírez (1762–1811) was a soldier and Dominican Captain general who ruled the Dominican Republic between 1808 and 1811.

Biography
Juan Sánchez Ramírez was born in 1762 in Cotuí, Dominican Republic. When he was young, he joined a company of lancers formed by townspeople. He began his career as a soldier in the Dominican Army fighting against French occupation in order to maintain the Dominican nationality and his identity. He defeated to Ferrand in the Battle of Palo Hincado and he evacuated the remaining French people who had sought protection behind the walls of Santo Domingo. He requested to assistance from the British army established in Jamaica, for force the French to surrender Santo Domingo (what was seld to France with the Treaty of Basel, 1795). However, the French refused to surrender to the Dominican army because the Dominicans were dressed in rags and  they said that those constituted an embarrassment for France. So it was that France finally occupied the colony. He emigrated to Puerto Rico in December 1803, but was on his need to return to his homeland in 1807, when he began its work of try win people to support him in the   Reconquista of Santo Domingo (Reconquest of Santo Domingo), while he was engaged also in the exploitation of timber cuts, on his  possessions of  the eastern shores,  between Higüey and Jovero (now Miches), where communications with Puerto Rico were easier. Later, he returned to the eastern, that again it was under the tutelage of Spain. Then, the 13 December 1808, after leading the British and Haitian armed against French rule in the Battle of Palo Hincado, and their subsequent recovery of the Dominican Republic, which was returned to Spain, he was recognized Santo Domingo as Captaincy General of the Spanish colony. His government resembled that of an independent government: he revived trade with all friendly countries of Spain and he reopened the door of the Universidad Santo Tomás de Aquino, UASD today. Under his government the board of Bondillo rejected among other things what stipulated in the Treaty of Basel, 1795. He annulled the confiscations made by the French colonial government and reestablished the ancient legal systems He allowed the free access of the English to Spanish ports. He also tried to restore the Dominican economy, but Spain was at war with the South American countries and he was destituted of her newly recovered colony of Santo Domingo, which led to the period known as España Boba (Boba Spain). He died on February 11, 1811. At his death the Dominicans declared him father of country, his ashes are buried in the National Pantheon.