Tomás Bobadilla

Tomás Bobadilla y Briones (March 30, 1785 – December 21, 1871) was a writer, intellectual, and politician from the Dominican Republic. The first ruler of the Dominican Republic, he had significant participation in the movement for Dominican independence.

He is arguably the Dominican politician with the longest and most intense public life, serving in the most diverse scenarios: Under España Boba since 1810; in the "State" created by José Núñez de Cáceres in 1821; during the Haitian occupation almost until 1844; then with the Trinitarios, even drafting the "Manifesto of January 16" which served as an act of independence in 1844. Later, he occupied all the existing Ministries and Portfolios of the nascent republic, of which one of the measures included the abolition of slavery. Then an annexationist in 1861, but "without enthusiasm" according to historian Roberto Cassá; to end up as a nationalist until his death, which occurred in the Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince, on December 21, 1871, when he was about 85 years old.