At about this time a small third party appeared, led by Federico
Velazquez, a former Horacista. His followers are known as
Velazquistas, though the party has adopted the official name of
Progresista. In the elections of 1914 he joined forces with Jimenez,
who thus secured the presidency. The government, or what remains of it
under the present military occupation, is still constituted largely by
followers of Jimenez and Velazquez.
Though both Jimenistas and Horacistas claim to have the larger
following in the country in general, it is probable that they are
about equally matched, the Velazquistas holding the balance of power.
The Jimenistas are often vulgarly called "bolos" or bob-tailed cocks,
and the Horacistas "rabudos" or "coludos," meaning bushy-tailed or
long-tailed cocks. In the fighting on the Monte Cristi plains the
Jimenistas would often attack, but retire as soon as their opponents
showed fight, and as such tactics reminded the Dominicans of the
habits of bob-tailed fighting cocks, the nicknames were imposed.
The men who attain prominence in politics range all the way from rude
ignorant military chiefs to polished members of the aristocracy. In
looking over the annals of Dominican history the same family names
constantly recur and it may be affirmed that the government of the
country has during the time of independence been in the hands of some
twenty families, the members of which have swayed its councils and led
its revolutions. They have tasted the sweets of power but also the
bitterness of defeat, alternately occupying high positions in the
government and pining in prison or exile. Almost all the chiefs of
state since 1899 would have done honor to any country, but all have
been obliged by the exigencies of politics to give places in their
entourage to men of low standing, whose deeds or misdeeds when in
power and whose unbridled ambition, have been a factor in the civil
wars. At the present moment perhaps the most prominent political
figure is Federico Velazquez, a man of unusual force of character, who
as minister of finance under Caceres, enforced the settlement of the
Dominican debt and gave what was probably the most honest
administration of public revenues in the Republic's history. He is one
of the few men having the moral courage openly to advocate American
cooperation in the government of the country. He is about forty-seven
years old, was born in Tamboril, near Santiago, and advanced through
the stages of schoolmaster, shopkeeper, secretary to Vasquez and
Caceres, and cabinet minister, to the position of a political leader.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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