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Schoenrich, Otto

"A Country with a Future"

He assumed
office April 14, 1913. His designation did not please the Jimenistas,
and the Horacistas also became hostile when it appeared that President
Bordas contemplated forming a party of his own. His opponents promptly
rose in the Cibao and took possession of the ports of Puerto Plata,
Sanchez and Samana, which were thereupon blockaded by the government
forces. In the latter part of September, 1913, the revolutionists laid
down their arms on the promise of the American minister that free
elections for presidential electors and members of a constitutional
convention would be guaranteed. A municipal election was in fact
held, but President Bordas, alleging that conditions were too
unsettled for a general presidential election, held on as president de
facto beyond the term for which he had been provisionally elected. On
the day his term ended, April 13, 1914, another revolution broke out
and rapidly spread to all parts of the Republic. Puerto Plata was
occupied by the insurgents and blockaded for several months by
government vessels, the blockade being accompanied by a siege of the
city under the direction of the president himself.


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