Manuel de Regla Mota y Álvarez (November 21, 1795 May 1, 1864) was a Dominican

Dominican Republic

The Dominican Republic is a nation on the island of La Hispaniola, part of the Greater Antilles archipelago in the Caribbean region. The western third of the island is occupied by the nation of Haiti, making Hispaniola one of two Caribbean islands that are shared by two countries...

 military figure and politician. He served as the 5th president of the Dominican Republic from May 26, 1856 until October 8, 1856. Prior to that he served as the country's vice president under Pedro Santana

Pedro Santana

Pedro Santana y Familias was a wealthy cattle rancher, soldier, politician and dictator of the Dominican Republic. He was born in the community of Hinche, which was part of the Colony of Santo Domingo. Currently, Hinche is a border town part of Haiti...

.

Political and military career

After the Dominican War of Independence

Dominican War of Independence

The Dominican Independence War gave the Dominican Republic independence from Haiti in 1844. Before the war, the whole island of Hispaniola had been under Haitian rule for 22 years when Haiti occupied the newly independent state of Haití Español in 1822....

, Mota was appointed Colonel

Colonel

Colonel , abbreviated Col or COL, is a military rank of a senior commissioned officer. It or a corresponding rank exists in most armies and in many air forces; the naval equivalent rank is generally "Captain". It is also used in some police forces and other paramilitary rank structures...

 of the National Militia. His duties as Colonel were to protect the border between Haiti and the Dominican Republic, which at the time were near San Cristóbal and Baní.

Mota's political and military career was always under the shadow of the caudillo

Caudillo

Caudillo is a Spanish word for "leader" and usually describes a political-military leader at the head of an authoritarian power. The term translates into English as leader or chief, or more pejoratively as warlord, dictator or strongman. Caudillo was the term used to refer to the charismatic...

, Pedro Santana

Pedro Santana

Pedro Santana y Familias was a wealthy cattle rancher, soldier, politician and dictator of the Dominican Republic. He was born in the community of Hinche, which was part of the Colony of Santo Domingo. Currently, Hinche is a border town part of Haiti...

. Mota was well liked by Santana and as such Mota served as Santana's Minister of War and Marine Affairs, and as Vice-President.

Provisional President

In May 1856, then Vice-President Mota assumed the Presidency, after the fallout between Santana and Antonio María de Segovia, the Spanish

Spain

Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

 Consul

Consul (representative)

The political title Consul is used for the official representatives of the government of one state in the territory of another, normally acting to assist and protect the citizens of the consul's own country, and to facilitate trade and friendship between the peoples of the two countries...

 of the time. Soon after Segovia caused Santana to relinquish his Presidency, he forced out Mota as well, in favor of Buenaventura Báez

Buenaventura Báez

Buenaventura Báez Méndez was the President of the Dominican Republic for five nonconsecutive terms. He is known for attempting to annex the Dominican Republic to other countries on multiple occasions.-Early years:...

. The hostility between Segovia and Santana became so great that Santana had to flee. Soon afterwords Mota died, in May of 1864.

Reference

• Biography at the Enciclopedia Virtual Dominicana