Today Quisqueya is dressed in pride and splendor as it commemorates the 210th anniversary of the birth of Matías Ramón Mella, who is considered one of the Fathers of the Nation after playing a leading role in the feat of independence alongside Juan Pablo Duarte and Francisco del Rosario Sánchez.
Mella had a skill as a soldier, politician and activist that allowed him to be the most suitable for the activities of the fight for independence in which he participated with his companions and in this way put an end to the Haitian occupation.
The Dominican historian José Antoine Fiallo Billini explains that “Mella accumulated a great experience of clandestine political struggle and was able in the absence of Juan Pablo Duarte “play a significant role since it brought together a series of sectors and caused the outbreak of February 27, 1844.”
Fiallo Billini considers that Mella goes unnoticed within society, because “Mella developed the guerrilla war manual as a way of waging political and military war, for that reason they do not want all that political elaboration to circulate, since that manual sends messages regarding how an adequate and effective rebellion can be organized to achieve its objective.”
Heading towards national sovereignty
On July 16, 1838, Juan Pablo Duarte decided to form, together with other Dominican liberals, the secret society La Trinitaria, which was later joined by Francisco del Rosario Sánchez and Matías Ramón Mella.
More men were recruited into this secret society, but it was discovered so it remained underground with the name “The Philanthropy”.
However, they continued to plot against the Haitians and in 1843 the revolution made great progress: the Trinidadians joined the Haitian Liberal Party which overthrew the then president Jean Pierre Boyer.
Boyer’s successor, Charles Riviere-Hérard, imprisoned some Trinidadians and forced Duarte to leave the island seeking support in Colombia and Venezuela although he was unsuccessful and in December 1843 the rebels asked him to return, but he was in poor health and could not return.
On the night of February 27, 1844, Mella bravely fired a blunderbuss at the Puerta de la Misericordia, leaving for the Puerta del Conde where the Republic was proclaimed and the Dominican Flag was raised.
This information was previously published on February 25, 2017
