Manuel José Jimenes González (January 14, 1808December 22, 1854) was a military figure and politician in the

Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic ( ; es, República Dominicana, ) is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean region. It occupies the eastern five-eighths of the island, which it shares with ...

. He served as the second

President of the Dominican Republic The president of the Dominican Republic ( es, Presidente de la República Dominicana) is both the head of state and head of government of the Dominican Republic. The presidential system was established in 1844, following the proclamation of ...

from September 8, 1848, until May 29, 1849. Prior to that he served as the country's Minister of War and Marine Affairs.

Early years

Jimenes was born on January 14, 1808, in Baracoa, Guantanamo, Cuba to Juan Jimenes and Altagracia González, Dominican exiles in Cuba because of

Toussaint Louverture François-Dominique Toussaint Louverture (; also known as Toussaint L'Ouverture or Toussaint Bréda; 20 May 1743 – 7 April 1803) was a Haitian general and the most prominent leader of the Haitian Revolution. During his life, Louverture ...

’s occupation of

Santo Domingo , total_type = Total , population_density_km2 = auto , timezone = AST (UTC −4) , area_code_type = Area codes , area_code = 809, 829, 849 , postal_code_type = Postal codes , postal_code = 10100–10699 ( Distrito Nacional) , webs ...

(nowadays the Dominican Republic) and the subsequent wars in the context of the

Napoleonic Wars The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major global conflicts pitting the French Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I, against a fluctuating array of European states formed into various coalitions. It produced a period of Fre ...

. It is to note that during the early 1800s the Dominican population decreased due to the slave rebellion in Haiti, urging many Dominicans to flee the island: about 4,000 went to Cuba and 100,000 did so to Venezuela while scores exiled in Puerto Rico and Mexico; many Dominicans and their foreign-born children eventually returned to the island.

Political career

During the nascent years of the Republic, Jimenes served as the country's Minister of War and Marine Matters under

Pedro Santana Pedro Santana y Familias, 1st Marquess of Las Carreras (June 29, 1801June 14, 1864) was a Dominican military commander and royalist politician who served as the president of the junta that had established the First Dominican Republic, a pre ...

. When Santana relinquished the Presidency on August 4, 1848, General Jimenes was elected the constitutional President. That same year Haitian forces under Emperor Soulouque, invaded the

. Jimenes was unable to halt the Haitian forces and was forced to call upon Santana for military assistance. Santana was able to defeat the Haitian military, yet as a result Santana regained control of the Republic by overthrowing Jimenes.

Personal life

Jimenes married his first wife María Francisca Ravelo de los Reyes on August 19, 1835, in

. The couple had 5 children: María del Carmen, Isabel Emilia, María de los Dolores, Manuel María and Manuel de Jesús. On May 21, 1849, after marrying his second wife Altagracia Pereyra Pérez, the couple had a son Juan Isidro Jimenes Pereyra, who would later become President of the Dominican Republic. He was known for being a cockfighting enthusiast. On December 22, 1854, Jimenes died in

Port-au-Prince Port-au-Prince ( , ; ht, Pòtoprens ) is the capital and most populous city of Haiti. The city's population was estimated at 987,311 in 2015 with the metropolitan area estimated at a population of 2,618,894. The metropolitan area is define ...

, Haiti.

References

Biography
at the ''Enciclopedia Virtual Dominicana''

at ''Aprender con la Historia'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Jimenes Gonzalez, Manuel 1808 births 1854 deaths 19th-century Dominican Republic politicians People from Baracoa Dominican Republic people of Spanish descent Dominican Republic people of Portuguese descent Presidents of the Dominican Republic Marine ministers of the Dominican Republic War ministers of the Dominican Republic Dominican Republic military personnel White Dominicans