Pres. Manuel de Regla Mota

(ggg-grandfather)

SANTO DOMINGO, on November 21, 1795, Pres. Manuel de Regla Mota was born in Baní, the son of Antonio Mota and María Alvarez.

As a young man he joined public activities. In 1844 he had the rank of colonel in the militia and joined the independence movement.

Manuel de Regla Mota became one of the trusted men of President Pedro Santana.

On May 26, 1856, when President Santana resigned, losing the support of some collaborators and allies, Manuel de Regla Mota was the person who took his place.

A version of the time shows that political pressure and the abandonment of his friends prompted Santana to leave the Presidency, for which De Regla Mota took over, who with the country ruined due to the recent war with Haiti, and the unbacked monetary issues that had been authorized to finance them, fell into an economic crisis.

Faced with this situation, President De Regla Mota, among his first measures, removed part of the military from the Army, since the Government had no funds to pay salaries.

In this way, he was left without a military base. This reality was taken advantage of by the Spanish consul Antonio María Segovia, who moved to Saint Thomas, to express support for the exiled former President Buenaventura Báez, so that he would return to power.

Antonio María Segovia had arrived in the Dominican Republic on December 27, 1855, at a time when the country was at war against Haiti, which from time to time committed attacks against the Dominican Republic.

From the first moment Antonio María Segovia intervened in internal affairs to try to prevent President Santana from reaching an agreement with the United States, to cede some point of the national territory, and there was talk that they could keep the Bay of Samaná.

Báez returned to the country and as a result of an agreement with President Manuel de Regla Mota and his allies, he was named vice president to later produce the resignation of the Head of State and assume power.

Manuel de Regla Mota, as part of the agreement, declared an amnesty law so that in addition to Buenaventura Báez, all his followers who lived in exile would return to the country.

On October 6, 1856, President Manuel de Regla Mota resigned from the Presidency and handed over power to Buenaventura Báez.

In 1861, when President Pedro Santana annexed the country to Spain, Manuel de Regla Mota was among those who supported the initiative.

Manuel de Regla Mota, as Baní's Military Chief, had to raise the Spanish flag in that community.

The politician and soldier died in 1864.