Francisco Hilario Henríquez y Carvajal (14 January 1859 – 6 February 1935) was a medical doctor, lawyer, writer, educator and politician from the

Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles of the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean. It shares a Maritime boundary, maritime border with Puerto Rico to the east and ...

, who was President of the Dominican Republic from July 1916 to November 1916. His tenure as President ended with the US occupation of the Dominican Republic. He went into exile in Cuba.

Life and career

Henríquez was born in

Santo Domingo Santo Domingo, formerly known as Santo Domingo de Guzmán, is the capital and largest city of the Dominican Republic and the List of metropolitan areas in the Caribbean, largest metropolitan area in the Caribbean by population. the Distrito Na ...

, to a family descended from

Sephardic Jews Sephardic Jews, also known as Sephardi Jews or Sephardim, and rarely as Iberian Peninsular Jews, are a Jewish diaspora population associated with the historic Jewish communities of the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal) and their descendant ...

who immigrated in the 19th century from

Curaçao Curaçao, officially the Country of Curaçao, is a constituent island country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located in the southern Caribbean Sea (specifically the Dutch Caribbean region), about north of Venezuela. Curaçao includ ...

from the Netherlands. After studying extensively in his homeland, beginning in 1887, Henríquez moved to

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

for four years, earning a doctorate in Medicine the

University of Paris The University of Paris (), known Metonymy, metonymically as the Sorbonne (), was the leading university in Paris, France, from 1150 to 1970, except for 1793–1806 during the French Revolution. Emerging around 1150 as a corporation associated wit ...

. He returned to the Dominican Republic, where he practiced medicine and taught. He served as editor of the newspaper ''El Maestro'', but left the country during the dictatorship of

Ulises Heureaux Ulises Hilarión Heureaux Leibert (; October 21, 1845 – July 26, 1899) nicknamed Lilís, was Presidents of the Dominican Republic, president of the Dominican Republic from September 1, 1882 to September 1, 1884, from January 6, 1887 to Februar ...

. While away, he befriended Juan Isidro Jiménez and returned to the Dominican Republic in 1899 to serve as Minister of Foreign Affairs when Heureaux was assassinated and Jiménez was made president. He was married

Salomé Ureña Salomé Ureña Díaz de Henríquez (October 21, 1850 – March 6, 1897) was a Dominican poet and teacher, being one of the central figures of 19th-century lyrical poetry and advocator for women's education in the Dominican Republic, influenced b ...

, a poet, from 1880 until her death in 1898. He had 4 children, Pedro, Francisco, , and Camila. His second wife was Natividad Lauransón Amiama. Following the fall of Jiménez in 1902, Henríquez established residence in

Cuba Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...

and practiced medicine. He returned briefly to his country of birth following the interim government of Horacio Vásquez in 1903, but he left several months later. In 1907, President Ramón Cáceres sent him as a delegate to the Hague Convention. In 1911 Henríquez served as an emissary to

Haiti Haiti, officially the Republic of Haiti, is a country on the island of Hispaniola in the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and south of the Bahamas. It occupies the western three-eighths of the island, which it shares with the Dominican ...

following border disputes. In 1916, Henríquez was on a diplomatic mission when he learned that the Dominican Republic had been occupied by the United States. The Council of Secretaries of State led by Horacio Vásquez elected Henríquez President.Staff report (18 May 1916). NEW DOMINICAN PRESIDENT.; Chamber of Deputies Elects Abreu; Senate Expected to Confirm.''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

''Staff report (10 June 1916). Sees us at fault in Santo Domingo; Former Receiver General of Customs There Blames the Administration. Charges Public Deception. Says the "Ostrich-like" Policy of the United States Has Finally Resulted in the Spilling of Blood. ''

'' He served from 31 July to 26 November 1916.Staff report (28 July 1916). DR. CARVAJAL LEAVES CUBA.; Sails for Santo Domingo to Take Office as President. ''

'' His successor was United States military governor Harry Shepard Knapp. During the presidency of

Rafael Trujillo Rafael Leónidas Trujillo Molina ( ; ; 24 October 1891 – 30 May 1961), nicknamed ''El Jefe'' (; "the boss"), was a Dominican military officer and dictator who ruled the Dominican Republic from August 1930 until Rafael Trujillo#Assassination, ...

, he served as envoy in France and Cuba from 1930 to 1935.

Death and legacy

Henríquez died in

Santiago de Cuba, Cuba Santiago de Cuba is the second-largest city in Cuba and the capital city of Santiago de Cuba Province. It lies in the southeastern area of the island, some southeast of the Cuban capital of Havana. The municipality extends over , and contains t ...

in 1935 at the age of 76 and is buried in

National Pantheon of the Dominican Republic The National Pantheon was built from 1714 to 1746 by the Spaniard Geronimo Quezada y Garçon and was originally a Jesuit church. The structure was constructed in the neoclassical architecture, neoclassic-renaissance architecture, renaissance sty ...

in Santo Domingo. Dominican educator and feminist Rosa Smester Marrero praised Henríquez in her writings while he was still alive. She had written to Henríquez in May 1920 to donate to the Nationalist cause during the American occupation, In her 1929 article ''Así es'', she praised Henríquez's intellectual attributes, which lent him to being an "enlightened" feminist man.

Selected publications

* "La hija del Hebreo" (1883, 'The daughter of the Hebrews') * "Ramón Mella" (1891) * "Informe sobre la seguridad Conferencia Internacional Americana" (1902,' Report on the American International Security Conference ') * "Juvenilia" (1904) * "Dolorosa" (1909,' Painful ') * "Derecho Internacional Público y la Guerra" (1915) * "Discurso pro-Pablo Duarte" (1915,' Speaking for Pablo Duarte ') * "Páginas Selectas" (1918,'Selected Writings') * "Cuba y Quisqueya" (1920, 'Cuba and Quisqueya ') * "Rosa de la tarde" (1923, 'Rose of the Afternoon') * "Guarocuya. Monólogo de Enriquillo El" (1924, 'Guarocuya. The monologue of Enriquillo') * "Todo por Cuba" (1925, 'All of Cuba') * "Nacionalismo" (1925, 'nationalism') * "Del Amor y del Dolor" (1926, 'About love and about pain') * "Páginas electas" (1926, 'Selected Writings') * "Mi Álbum de Sonetos "(1927, 'My album of the sonnets') *" Etica y Estética "(1929, 'ethics and aesthetic') *" historicos Romances "(1937, 'Historical romances') * Bani "(1939) *" El poema de la historia. fragmento de un poema inconcluso "(1948, 'The poetry of history. fragment of an unfinished poem') *" Cuentos "(1950, 'narratives')

References

External links

Universidad UFHEC
, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Henriquez y Carvajal, Francisco 1935 deaths 1859 births People from Santo Domingo Presidents of the Dominican Republic Dominican Republic people of Spanish descent Dominican Republic people of Cuban descent Dominican Republic people of Jewish descent Dominican Republic people of Dutch-Jewish descent