Heads of State

1840
Pedro Santana: (1844-1848)
Counsel of the Secretaries of State: 1848
Manuel Jimenez: (1848-1849)
Pedro Santana: 1849
BuenaventuraBáez: (1849-1853)

1850
Pedro Santana : (1844-1853)
Manuel de Regla Mota: 1856
Buenaventura Báez: (1856-1857)
Pedro Santana :(1853-1857)
José Desiderio Valverde: (1857-1858)
Pedro Santana: (1858-1861)

1860
Pedro Santana: 1861-1862)
Felipe Rimero y Lemotne: (1862-1863)
Carlos de Vargas y Cerveto: (1863-1864)
José de la Gándara y Navarro: (1864-1865)
Pedro Antonio Pimentel: 1865
José María Cabral: 1865
Pedro Guillermo: 1865
BuenaventuraBáez: (1865-1866)
Triunvirato de 1866: 1866
José María Cabral: (1866-1868)
Manuel Cáceres: 1868
Buenaventura Báez: (1868-1873)

1870
Ignacio María González: (1873-1874,1874-1876)
Counsel of the Secretaries of State: 1876
Ulíses Francisco Espaillat: 1876
Ignacio María González: 1876
Marcos Antonio Cabral: 1876
Buenaventura Báez: (1876-1878)
Counsel of the Secretaries of State: 1878
Ignacio María González: 1878
Cesáreo Guillermo: 1878
Ignacio María González: 1878
Ulíses Heureaux y Cesáreo Guillermo: 1878
Jacinto de Castro: 1878
Counsel of the Secretaries of State: (1878-1879)
Cesáreo Guillermo: 1879
Gregorio Luperón: (1879-1880)

1880
Fernando Arturo de Meriño: (1880-1882)
Ulíses Heureaux: (1882-1884)
Francisco Gregorio Billini: (1884-1885)
Alejandro Woss y Gil: (1885-1887)
Ulíses Heureaux: (1887-1889, 1889-1893)

1890
Ulíses Heureaux: (1889-1893),(1893-1897) y (1897-1899)
Wenceslao Figuereo: 1899
Counsel of the Secretaries of State: 1899
Horacio Vásquez: 1899
Junta Popular: 1899
Juan Isidro Jimenez:(1899-1902)

1900
Juan Isidro Jimenez: (1899-1902)
Horacio Vásques: (1902-1903)
Alejandro Woss y Gil: 1903
Carlos Felipe Morales Languasco: (1903-1905)
Counsel of the Secretaries of State: 1905
Ramón Cáceres: (1905-1911)

1910
Ramón Cáceres: (1905-1911)
Counsel of the Secretaries of State: 1911
Eladio Victoria: (1911-1912)
Adolfo Alejandro Nouel: (1912-1913)
José Bordas Valdez: (1913-1914)
Ramón Báez: 1914
Juan Isidro Jiménez: (1914-1916)
Counsel of the Secretaries of State: 1916
Francisco Henríquez y Carvajal: 1916
First North American Military Occupation: (1916-1924)

1920
First North American Military Occupation: (1916-1924)
Horacio Vásquez: (1924-1930)

1930
Rafael Estrella Ureña: 1930
Jacinto Bienvenido Peynado: 1930
Rafael Leónidas Trujillo Molina: (1930-1934,  1934-1938)
Jacinto Bienvenido Peynado: (1938-1940)

1940
Manuel de JesúsTroncoso de la Concha: (1940-1942)
RafaelLeónidas Trujillo Molina: (1942,1942-1947,  1947-1951)

1950
Rafael Leónidas Trujillo Molina: (1947-1951)
Héctor Bienvenido Trujillo Molina: (1952-1960)

1960
Joaquín Balaguer Molina: (1960-1961)
Consejode Estado Molina: 1962
JuntaCívico-Militar: 1962

Counsel of State: (1962-1963) 

* Rafael F. Bonnelly Founder (1904-1979), lawyer, diplomat and politician. Assumed the Presidency of the Republic and the Council of State from 1962-63. His most relevant work was to organize the first free elections in over 30 years. Professor Juan Bosch won the election by a wide margin.

Juan Bosch: 1963
Provisional Junta of Government: 1963
Triumvirate of1963: (1963-1965)
Revolutionary Military Command: 1965
José Rafael MolinaUreña: 1965
Military Junta: 1965
Francisco AlbertoCaamaño Deño: 1965
AntonioImbertBarreras: 1965
Héctor García Godoy: (1965-1966)
Joaquín Balaguer: (1966-1970)

1970
Joaquín Balaguer: (1966-1970), 1970-1974, 1974-1978)
Silvestre Antonio Guzmán Fernández: (1978-1982)

1980
Silvestre Antonio Guzmán Fernández: (1978-1982)
Jacobo Majluta: (1982)
Salvador Jorge Blanco: (1982-1986)
Joaquín Balaguer: (1986-1990)

1990
Joaquín Balaguer: (1990-1994,  1994-1996)
Leonel Antonio Fernández Reyna: (1996-2000)

2000
Rafael Hipólito Mejía Dominguez: (2000-2004)
Leonel Antonio Fernández Reyna: (2004-2008)(2008-2012)

2010
Leonel Antonio Fernández Reyna: (2008-2012)
Danilo Medina Sánchez: (2012-2016)

Danilo Medina:

Danilo Medina was born on November 10, 1951 in the rural community of Arroyo Cano, in the San Juan de la Maguana province, of the Dominican Republic. He is the oldest of eight siblings, children of Juan Pablo Medina and Amelia Sánchez (deceased), two small landowners from that region.

In 1987 Medina married phycologist Cándida Montilla de Medina, with whom he had three children: Candy Sibely, graduate of Pontificia Universidad Católica Madre y Maestra (PUCMM) in the Dominican Republic, with a Mater’s in Finance from the University of Rocheste, United States (currently completing another Master’s in Development Finance at the University of Mancheste, England); Vanessa Daniela, a graduate of Law from PUCMM,  and  who is pursuing a Master’s in Environmental Law from the Universidad de Palermo, Buenos Aires, Argentina; and Ana Paula, the youngest of the three, who studies medicine in the Universidad Iberoamericana (UNIBE) in the Dominican Republic.

His family-oriented background, humble beginnings and great politicization that existed in his native San Juan enabled him to develop acute social sensitivity and a commitment to the profound change of material conditions affecting his Community and his own family.

From his first years, his receptive, dedicated and disciplined qualities as a student reflected his academic ability in the public school “Francisco del Rosario Sánchez”, conditions that enabled him to graduate with a bachelor’s in Business Science, with the honor of “Best Student” in the Liceo “Pedro Henríquez Ureña”, in San Juan de la Maguana, obtaining the highest grades in his class.

In his formative trajectory, he continued at an upper level with chemical engineering students from the Universidad Autónoma de Santo Domingo (UASD), and those studying Economics at the Instituto Tecnológico de Santo Domingo (INTEC), where he also graduated with honors (Magna Cum Laude) in 1984.

Medina’s political career began in the Dominican Liberation Party (Partido de la Liberación Dominicana; PLD) in 1973, alongside his classmates from the Frente Universitario Socialista Democrático (FUSD), supporting professor Juan Bosch and his project to create the PLD; participating actively in the creation of the Frente Estudiantil de Liberación (FEL) ion 1974, the new organization that would promote the political orientations of Bosch; serving in multiple positions in that political entity: vice secretary; member of the Central Committee and Political Committee, fruits of recognition for his dedication, work and performance.

He has headed different agencies of the State; serving as elected deputy of the National Congress in 1986, 1990 and 1994; and spokesperson for the deputies of the PLD during the period 1990-1994, and president of the Comisión de Asuntos Sociales y Provisionales del Parlamento Latinoamericano (PARLATINO).

He was president of the Chamber of Deputies during the Congress of 1994 and occupied the position of Chief of Staff on two occasions (1996-2000, 2004-2006), coordinating the actions of the governmental agencies, the functioning of the public administration, autonomous institutions and the decentralized entities of the State.

He was head of the 1994 presidential campaign for the PLD, the last of which professor Juan Bosch participated in as a presidential candidate in the Dominican Republic, and later served in the same position during the elections of 1996, in which Doctor Leonel Fernández Reyna and the PLD were victorious.

In 2000, the rules of the PLD chose him as a presidential candidate; and in the elections of 2004 he served as the director and advisor of strategy for the campaign of Dr. Leonel Fernández, who was elected as president for the term 2004-2008.

On June 26, 2011, he was declared winner of the PLD primaries, beating out his party mates José Tomás Pérez, Francisco Domínguez Brito and Radhamés Segura. He traveled the whole country, presenting his proposals and explaining what his actions would be to create a country with less poverty and more well-being; and announcing on November 27, 2011 that the then first lady, Margarita Cedeño de Fernández, would be his running mate and vice presidential candidate of the Dominican Republic.

Danilo Medina was elected constitutional president of the Dominican Republic n May 20, 2012, receiving 2,323,463 votes, equivalent 51.21 percent of the total; assuming the highest office of the country on August 16, 2012 with the presence of mroe than fourteen leaders and representatives from more than 70 countries.

Did you know? The Heads of State of the Dominican Republic utilize the Dominican Republic’s Presidential portal to inform society about his or her initiatives and activities during their mandates: http://presidencia.gob.do