(44th) Constitutionalist President of the Dominican Republic


His entry into history books came during the Dominican Republic Civil War that began on April 24, 1965. He was one of the leaders in the movement to restore the democratically elected President Dr. Juan Bosch, who had been overthrown in a CIA sponsored military coup d'état in September, 1963. This faction of loyalists came to be known as the Constitucionalistas, for their desire to return to a rightful and constitutional form of government, as opposed to the military junta that was in place.









http://www.museodelaresistencia.org/index.html

He fought for our democratically elected president, Juan Bosch, against an invading force much greater than his. As a supporter of democracy I have no choice but to support Caamaño.

Don't get me started about one of my heroes.

My father says that he had "el honor, privilejio y dicha de haber conocido a un hombrazo de verdad", when refering to Caamano.

His story is like no other and although there are many men out there, he was THE MAN among men.

That man had his cojones bien puesto.

that is right he did fight for Democracy

History buffs are awaiting a real documented biography of Coronel Caamaño and his short heroic life,
similar to was has been done lately with the dictator Trujillo in the well researched book published this year while some of the principals that knew Caamaño closely are still alive.
Caamaño was a charismatic leader and hero of the revolution that came from a long line of a military family. His father was a general under Trujillo and he was trained at the marine academy in Quantico, Virginia by US Marines.
He was not the original leader of the constitutionalist movement in the beginning of the uprising in April 1965 but in the absence of Cornel Fernandez Dominguez who was overseas took over as leader and became president of the DR endorsed by Juan Bosch.
He was ill advised by some of his close circle and signed off a peace agreement under duress where there was really little choice, because of the overwhelming American military pressure and presence that placed him in exile shortly afterwards in London, England with few friends and many enemies that wanted him dead. In protection for his life and beliefs and partly out of desperation he went to Cuba lured by false promises of Fidel that wanted to meet him in person with the promise to finance his triumphant return to DR. While in Cuba he met with Fidel in very few occasions and developed plans for an invasion force to return to the island. The idea and the project was delayed for years by Fidel who privately didn't think very highly of him and after many
shortcomings and false promises he came on a Quixotic almost suicidal mission with very limited chances of success lured by many false promises from prominent Dominican politicians, and by his own urge to return to his homeland with a very small, under equiped, under financed force of 8 men, without the local logistical and political support that was required. They fought bravely but after just a few days after they ran out of food they were located and Caamaño was wounded. The order had already been given for his execution by the military during the Balaguer regime who considered him too much of a liability to be left alive in prison, and he was murdered.
Many historians and experts agree that he would have been elected president had he waited just a few more years to return peacefully instead of embarking in the failed invasion that ended up costing him his life and costing the DR the promise of a real charismatic leader with abundance of cojones and not afraid to step in many toes that would have steered the country for many years into better times.

Fidel could not let him leave, after the Cuban Missile crisis Fidel could not support him. It would have been bad and have given the U.S. grounds to invade Cuba. He should have stayed, But I believe in God. And Caamaño fought for
Dios, Patria, Libertad

thank you for helping me spread the truth about Caamaño

You know, it's funny a poster said on another thread that Caamano was a coward.

Cowards are not feared and Caamano made Balaguer and his criminals shit their pants.

He was so feared that they weren't happy they captured him, wounded and all, they had to see to it that he didn't take another breath.

And what did they do?. The executed him.

Think about it, why execute a person AFTER he was captured and who was wounded.

Makes you wonder who, in fact, was the real coward.

Many of you keep going back and forth with this and have yet given any good educative information about Col. Francisco Alberto Caamaño Deñó so that those who do not know about him can. Instead of rambling on, why not provide worthy solid links to debate this?

The one pure mistake always made by people posting on this site is that they never can help themselves not to project their own passionate subjectivity on a matter. I mean this constant circular verbal masturbation is useless due to the fact that if anyone would like to learn about Col. Francisco Alberto Caamaño Deñó they could objectively google it and from the given results from google, one does not have to pick wikipedia if they chose not to; but if they do, well it is their choice. Even if someone were to choose to be passionately subjective about a topic, the least they could do is manage to be constructively productive. You do not have to be a Dominican to learn about Dominican history and to give your opinion, view and so forth on Dominican matters.

There are many Dominicans who do not even know about their own history that a foreigner at times can be way more knowledgeable than them since many times or often than not, a foreigner can learn about certain aspects of the history of certain place and mange to be impartial and neutral, with no pre-conceived bias, prejudice and favoritism to the story. NOw if any of you wants to debate anything on him, bring forward proper documents and materials so that others can cross referenced and see if the story is checked out or not by comparing provided data.

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Col. Francisco Alberto Caamaño Deñó: pronounce Caah-Mah-Nyoh Deh-Nyoh (11 June 1932 – 16 February 1973) was a Dominican soldier and politician. His entry into history books came during the Dominican Republic Civil War that began on April 24, 1965. He was one of the leaders in the movement to restore the democratically elected President Dr. Juan Bosch, who had been overthrown in a CIA sponsored military coup d'état in September, 1963. This faction of loyalists came to be known as the Constitucionalistas, for their desire to return to a rightful and constitutional form of government, as opposed to the military junta that was in place.


As the Constitucionalistas successfully seized and held Santo Domingo over the initial days of the uprising, U.S. President Lyndon Johnson ordered an invasion by the U.S. military, dubbed as Operation Power Pack, with the pretext that the lives of American citizens there needed to be protected. A factor that was arguably more involved in the decision was the fear that the Constitucionalistas would bring about a communist regime in the country, and this risk of "another Cuba" was something that would not be allowed.

During this period, Caamaño was de facto and, arguably, de jure, President of the Dominican Republic. After a few months of brave fighting by the Constucionalistas, who were outnumbered and outgunned by the foreign forces, Caamaño and his men consented to a reconciliation agreement and thus ended the Consitucionalista government. Facing ongoing threats and attacks during the following months, including a particularly violent attack at the Hotel Matum in Santiago, Camaaño accepted an agreement imposed by the USA government. The Dominican Provisional President, Garcia Godoy, sent Colonel Caamano as the Military Attache to the Dominican Embassy to England. While there, he was contacted by Cuban officials and he fled to Cuba to start a guerrilla group. He had a support group led by Amaury German Aristy that was expected to create the conditions for a victorious landing of Caamano's comands in Dominican Republic. This group was ambushed by the Dominican Army and killed during a fierce fight that included heavy artillery and even airplanes. During the Winter of 1973, after several years staying low-profile, Caamaño led the landing of a small group of rebels at Playa Caracoles, near Azua and then into the mountains of the Cordillera Central, with the purpose of starting a peasant revolution to overthrow Dominican President Joaquín Balaguer. Balaguer's government was repressive and highly centralized during this period, reminding many of the Rafael Trujillo regime in which Balaguer been one of the dictator's puppet presidents and close advisers.

P.S: After a few weeks of guerrilla war against Balaguer's regular army and not having received the much hoped-for peasant support, he was wounded and captured by Dominican government forces, and then summarilly executed. Some twenty years passed before Caamaño was officially honored by the Dominican government as a hero for his attempts to restore rightful government to his country. Today, there is an avenue in Santo Domingo that bears the name Presidente Caamaño (the avenue borders the western bank of the Ozama River harbor, near its outlet to the Caribbean sea).

Col. Francisco Alberto Caamaño Deñó (born 11 June 1932 – died 16 February 1973) was a Dominican politician and self-proclaimed President of the Dominican Republic in a civil uprising during four months in 1965.

He was a leader in the movement to restore the democratically elected President Dr. Juan Bosch after Bosch was overthrown in a military coup d'état in September 1963. An invasion by the United States Marine Corps protected the military junta then in power and ended the self-declared opposition government...

A planned assassination attempt against Caamaño was called off, but he was captured and killed in 1973. Here it is in short, without the further ambiguity of people wanting to be right or not about his story.