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{{Infobox person
{{Infobox person
| name = Rosa Smester
| name = Rosa Smester
| image = Rosa Smester.png
| image = Rosa Smester Marrero.png
| birth_name = Rosa Smester Marrero
| birth_name = Rosa Smester Marrero
| birth_date = {{birth date|1874|8|30}}
| birth_date = {{birth date|1874|8|30}}
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}}
}}


'''Rosa Smester Marrero'''{{efn Spanish name|first=Smester|second=Marrero}} (August 30, 1874 - February 15, 1945) was a [[People of the Dominican Republic|Dominican]] educator and writer. She grew to prominence for her [[Feminism|feminist]] writings and opposition to the [[United States occupation of the Dominican Republic (1916–1924)|American occupation of the Dominican Republic]]. Her career as a teacher rendered her a prolific figure in her home city of [[Santiago de los Caballeros]], where she founded a school and the St Vincent de Paul Hospice.
'''Rosa Smester Marrero'''{{efn Spanish name|first=Smester|second=Marrero}} (August 30, 1874 - February 15, 1945) was a educator and writer from the [[People of the Dominican Republic|Dominican Republic]]. She grew to prominence for her [[Feminism|feminist]] writings and opposition to the [[United States occupation of the Dominican Republic (1916–1924)|American occupation of the Dominican Republic]]. Her career as a teacher rendered her a prolific figure in her home city of [[Santiago de los Caballeros]], where she founded a school and the St Vincent de Paul Hospice.


== Early life ==
== Early life ==
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== Teaching career ==
== Teaching career ==
In 1897, Smester began teaching [[French language|French]] to children at home, where she credited the discovery of her vocation.<ref name=":6" /><ref name=":10" /> By 1902, she had become a teacher in syntax, literature, history and French at the ladies' high school of Santiago.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Paulino Ramos |first=Alejandro |url=https://studylib.es/doc/7244201/descargar---archivo-general-de-la-naci%C3%B3n |title=Vida y obra de Ercilia Pepín |publisher=Archivo General de la Nación |year=2007 |editor-last=Ortiz |editor-first=Dantes |language=es |trans-title=The Life and Works of Ercilia Pepín |access-date=2023-02-18}}</ref><ref name=":6" /> She resigned in 1908 and founded a school in Santiago in 1913.<ref name=":6" />
In 1897, Smester began teaching [[French language|French]] to children at home, where she credited the discovery of her vocation.<ref name=":6" /><ref name=":10" /> By 1902, she had become a teacher in syntax, literature, history and French at the ladies' high school of Santiago.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Paulino Ramos |first=Alejandro |url=https://studylib.es/doc/7244201/descargar---archivo-general-de-la-naci%C3%B3n |title=Vida y obra de Ercilia Pepín |publisher=Archivo General de la Nación |year=2007 |isbn=978-9945-020-23-6 |editor-last=Ortiz |editor-first=Dantes |language=es |trans-title=The Life and Works of Ercilia Pepín |access-date=2023-02-18}}</ref><ref name=":6" /> She resigned in 1908 and founded a school in Santiago in 1913.<ref name=":6" />


In 1913, Smester moved to [[Monte Cristi, Dominican Republic|Monte Cristi]]. In that city was born her son, Federico Máximo Smester, from her marriage to Juan Grullón.<ref name=":6" /> As a teacher at the Higher Normal School of Montecristi, a teacher training college, she prepared the first group of Normal Teachers. She directed the Higher School of Ladies of Montecristi.<ref name=":0" />
In 1913, Smester moved to [[Monte Cristi, Dominican Republic|Monte Cristi]]. In that city was born her son, Federico Máximo Smester, from her marriage to Juan Grullón.<ref name=":6" /> As a teacher at the Higher Normal School of Montecristi, a teacher training college, she prepared the first group of Normal Teachers. She directed the Higher School of Ladies of Montecristi.<ref name=":0" />


She was a member of the Amantes de la Luz society,<ref name=":0" /> the first public library in the Dominican Republic.<ref name=":3">{{Cite book |last1=Mercedes Morel |first1=Luz |url=https://en.calameo.com/read/00705579942e973d75872 |title=Literary Anthology On Dominican Heroes |last2=M. Cruz |first2=Raysa |publisher=Universidad Abierta Para Adultos |year=2022 |edition=3rd |location=Santiago de los Caballeros |pages=42 |language=fr}}</ref>{{Better source needed|reason=The current source is insufficiently reliable ([[WP:NOTRS]]).|date=February 2023}}
She was a member of the Amantes de la Luz society,<ref name=":0" /> a library and archive.<ref name=":3">{{Cite web |last=Alejo |first=Leidi |date=2017-10-13 |title=Un tesoro patrimonial: Ateneo Amantes de la Luz |trans-title=A patrimonial treasure: Ateneo Amantes de la Luz |url=https://listindiario.com/elnorte/2017/10/13/486241/un-tesoro-patrimonial-ateneo-amantes-de-la-luz |access-date=2023-03-10 |website=[[Listín Diario]] |language=ES}}</ref>


== Writings ==
== Writings ==


Smester's writings are scattered across magazines and journals; she never fulfilled her ambition to write a book.<ref>{{harvnb|Albizu Apaolazar|1971|p=11}}</ref> Her prose conveys a deep religiosity and [[Christianity|Christian]] conviction.<ref>{{harvnb|Albizu Apaolazar|1971|p=9-11}}</ref>
Smester's writings are scattered across magazines and journals.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":11" /> She never fulfilled her ambition to write a book,<ref name=":11">{{harvnb|Albizu Apaolazar|1971|p=11}}</ref> though she published a short story entitled ''Juan de Dios''.<ref name=":0" /> Her prose conveys a deep religiosity and [[Christianity|Christian]] conviction.<ref>{{harvnb|Albizu Apaolazar|1971|p=9-11}}</ref>


=== Opposition to the American occupation ===
=== Opposition to the American occupation ===
With the ''Junta Patriótica de Damas'',<ref name=":7">{{Cite book |last=Peguero |first=Valentina |url=https://epdf.tips/contemporary-caribbean-cultures-and-societies-in-a-global-context.html |title=Contemporary Caribbean Cultures and Societies in a Global Context |publisher=The University of North Carolina Press |year=2005 |editor-last=Knight |editor-first=Franklin W. |location=Chapel Hill |pages=163–4 |chapter=Women’s Grass-Roots Organizations in the Dominican Republic: Real and Imagined Female Figures |access-date=2023-02-11 |editor-last2=Martínez-Vergne |editor-first2=Teresita}}</ref> Smester was one of many women who publicly agitated against the [[United States occupation of the Dominican Republic (1916–1924)|American occupation of the Dominican Republic]], which took place between 1916 and 1924.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":7" /><ref name=":1">{{Cite book |title=Rosa Smester: Maestra de Maestras |publisher=Impresora El Siglo |year=2001 |editor-last=Jaime Julia |editor-first=Julio |location=Santo Domingo |language=es}}</ref> Smester expressed her opposition in the national press, publishing in literary magazines in Santiago and [[Barcelona]].<ref name=":7" />{{Better source needed|reason=The current source is insufficiently reliable ([[WP:NOTRS]]).|date=February 2023}} One of Smester's appeals for the removal of American forces read:<ref name=":1" /><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Durán Jourdain |first=Carmen |year=2017 |title=Las mujeres dominicanas en el marco de la primera intervención norteamericana 1916-1924: una mirada desde la historia |url=https://revistas.uasd.edu.do/index.php/ecos/article/view/154/88 |journal=Órgano del Instituto de Historia de la UASD |volume=1 |issue=14 |pages=23–4}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Albizu Apaolazar|1971|p=14}}</ref>{{Quote|text=To the American journalists who visit us. A simple schoolteacher speaks to you with my heart on my lips. [...] The Dominican people love, above all things, like God, their freedom and their land; that is why our pain in this unfortunate hour is infinite [...] Surprised by the American invasion, we did not prepare for death; because our leaders proclaimed from the outset that we were not at war with the United States and we trusted that that normality would be temporary [...] And it's been over five years of the Via Crucis; we have experienced every pain and humiliation. [...] We have been defenseless and have relied on the strength of patience, justice, and resistance [...] Women have had a prayer on their lips that God help us, and that the gift of justice be granted to the people who oppress us, and the shame of ignominy does not fall upon the country of Washington and Lincoln [...] The Senate Commission comes to clarify the truth of the atrocities we have suffered; it is true that there have been many. [...] There is an unusual fact, a monster against which we will forever clamor: the landing of American troops in our country under the guise of friends and protectors, to strip us of our rights and our holy freedom. Can there be a greater atrocity?}}
With the ''Junta Patriótica de Damas'',<ref name=":7">{{Cite book |last=Peguero |first=Valentina |url=https://epdf.tips/contemporary-caribbean-cultures-and-societies-in-a-global-context.html |title=Contemporary Caribbean Cultures and Societies in a Global Context |publisher=The University of North Carolina Press |year=2005 |isbn=0-8078-5634-7 |editor-last=Knight |editor-first=Franklin W. |location=Chapel Hill |pages=163–4 |chapter=Women’s Grass-Roots Organizations in the Dominican Republic: Real and Imagined Female Figures |access-date=2023-02-11 |editor-last2=Martínez-Vergne |editor-first2=Teresita}}</ref> Smester was one of many women who publicly agitated against the [[United States occupation of the Dominican Republic (1916–1924)|American occupation of the Dominican Republic]], which took place between 1916 and 1924.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":7" /><ref name=":1">{{Cite book |title=Rosa Smester: Maestra de Maestras |publisher=Impresora El Siglo |year=2001 |editor-last=Jaime Julia |editor-first=Julio |location=Santo Domingo |language=es}}</ref> Smester expressed her opposition in the national press, publishing in literary magazines in Santiago.<ref name=":7" /> One of Smester's appeals for the removal of American forces read:<ref name=":1" /><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Durán Jourdain |first=Carmen |year=2017 |title=Las mujeres dominicanas en el marco de la primera intervención norteamericana 1916-1924: una mirada desde la historia |url=https://revistas.uasd.edu.do/index.php/ecos/article/view/154/88 |journal=Órgano del Instituto de Historia de la UASD |volume=1 |issue=14 |pages=23–4}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Albizu Apaolazar|1971|p=14}}</ref>{{Quote|text=To the American journalists who visit us. A simple schoolteacher speaks to you with my heart on my lips. [...] The Dominican people love, above all things, like God, their freedom and their land; that is why our pain in this unfortunate hour is infinite [...] Surprised by the American invasion, we did not prepare for death; because our leaders proclaimed from the outset that we were not at war with the United States and we trusted that that normality would be temporary [...] And it's been over five years of the Via Crucis; we have experienced every pain and humiliation. [...] We have been defenseless and have relied on the strength of patience, justice, and resistance [...] Women have had a prayer on their lips that God help us, and that the gift of justice be granted to the people who oppress us, and the shame of ignominy does not fall upon the country of Washington and Lincoln [...] The Senate Commission comes to clarify the truth of the atrocities we have suffered; it is true that there have been many. [...] There is an unusual fact, a monster against which we will forever clamor: the landing of American troops in our country under the guise of friends and protectors, to strip us of our rights and our holy freedom. Can there be a greater atrocity?}}


Smester refused to speak English as a form of civil resistance,<ref name=":0" /> claiming that the Americans would also have occupied her mind if she had spoken that language.<ref name=":3" />{{Better source needed|reason=The current source is insufficiently reliable ([[WP:NOTRS]]).|date=February 2023}} In May 1920, Smester donated a month's salary to a nationalist cause, writing to [[Francisco Henríquez y Carvajal]], the President of the Nationalist Board, that “whenever necessary, I will give gladly”.<ref>{{Cite thesis |type=PhD |last=Rodriguez Collado |first=Aralis Mercedes |year=2015 |title=Images of invasions and resistance in the literature of the Dominican Republic |url=https://etheses.bham.ac.uk/id/eprint/5945/1/RodriguezCollado15PhD.pdf |access-date=2023-02-09 |website=University of Birmingham eTheses Repository}}</ref>
Smester refused to speak English as a form of civil resistance.<ref name=":0" /> In May 1920, Smester donated a month's salary to a nationalist cause, writing to [[Francisco Henríquez y Carvajal]], the President of the Nationalist Board, that “whenever necessary, I will give gladly”.<ref>{{Cite thesis |type=PhD |last=Rodriguez Collado |first=Aralis Mercedes |year=2015 |title=Images of invasions and resistance in the literature of the Dominican Republic |url=https://etheses.bham.ac.uk/id/eprint/5945/1/RodriguezCollado15PhD.pdf |access-date=2023-02-09 |website=University of Birmingham eTheses Repository}}</ref>


=== Feminism ===
=== Feminism ===
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In 1926, Smester wrote to [[Petronila Angélica Gómez]], founder of ''Fémina'', the first feminist Dominican journal, that "your magazine is the only genuine feminine, genuinely Dominican, and therefore deserving of the greatest help."<ref>{{harvnb|Lora Peña|2020|p=72–3}}</ref> In the same year, Smester requested to publish in the magazine, and so recorded her first two contributions to feminist journalism,<ref>{{harvnb|Lora Peña|2020|p=327, 486, 517}}</ref> publishing a further article in 1929.<ref>{{harvnb|Lora Peña|2020|p=486, 517}}</ref> She became one of the magazine's main contributors.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Hernández Núñez |first=Ángela |year=2017 |title=El Club Nosotras, su influencia en la cultura dominicana |trans-title=The influence of the Club Nosotras on Dominican culture |url=https://revistas.uasd.edu.do/index.php/ecos/article/view/158 |journal=Órgano del Instituto de Historia de la UASD |volume=1 |issue=14 |pages=103 |doi=10.51274/ecos.v24i14.pp97-143}}</ref>
In 1926, Smester wrote to [[Petronila Angélica Gómez]], founder of ''Fémina'', the first feminist Dominican journal, that "your magazine is the only genuine feminine, genuinely Dominican, and therefore deserving of the greatest help."<ref>{{harvnb|Lora Peña|2020|p=72–3}}</ref> In the same year, Smester requested to publish in the magazine, and so recorded her first two contributions to feminist journalism,<ref>{{harvnb|Lora Peña|2020|p=327, 486, 517}}</ref> publishing a further article in 1929.<ref>{{harvnb|Lora Peña|2020|p=486, 517}}</ref> She became one of the magazine's main contributors.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Hernández Núñez |first=Ángela |year=2017 |title=El Club Nosotras, su influencia en la cultura dominicana |trans-title=The influence of the Club Nosotras on Dominican culture |url=https://revistas.uasd.edu.do/index.php/ecos/article/view/158 |journal=Órgano del Instituto de Historia de la UASD |volume=1 |issue=14 |pages=103 |doi=10.51274/ecos.v24i14.pp97-143}}</ref>


Of the three articles written by Smester for ''Fémina'', two concerned the masculine condition.<ref>{{harvnb|Lora Peña|2020|p=517}}</ref> Smester contributed to a broader feminist position that [[pacifist]] strategies disqualify androcentric warmongering, thereby including female voices in war discourses, such that "honoring and glorifying enlightened men is a form of patriotic love".<ref>{{harvnb|Lora Peña|2020|p=344}}</ref> In her 1929 article ''Así es'', Smester praised [[Francisco Henríquez y Carvajal]]'s intellectual attributes, which lent him to be an "enlightened" feminist man.<ref>{{harvnb|Lora Peña|2020|p=382}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Albizu Apaolazar|1971|p=13}}</ref>
Of the three articles written by Smester for ''Fémina'', two concerned the masculine condition.<ref>{{harvnb|Lora Peña|2020|p=517}}</ref> Smester contributed to a broader feminist position that [[pacifist]] strategies disqualify androcentric warmongering, thereby including female voices in war discourses, such that "honoring and glorifying enlightened men is a form of patriotic love".<ref>{{harvnb|Lora Peña|2020|p=344}}</ref> In her 1929 article ''Así Es'', Smester praised [[Francisco Henríquez y Carvajal]]'s intellectual attributes, which lent him to be an "enlightened" feminist man.<ref>{{harvnb|Lora Peña|2020|p=382}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Albizu Apaolazar|1971|p=13}}</ref>


In her ''Elogio a la Madre'', Smester wrote that while a woman can be unsurpassable as a teacher or pharmacist, her "highest glory and most certain triumph" is as a mother.<ref name=":8" /> In her ''Escrito Pro-Feminismo'', she wrote that feminism has proven to be "essentially constructive", tending "to widen the sphere of action of the woman, to bring into play the activity of her spirit, to develop all her capacity", all without harming "the home and family".<ref>{{harvnb|Albizu Apaolazar|1971|p=8}}</ref>
In her ''Escrito Pro-Feminismo'', Smester wrote that feminism has proven to be "essentially constructive", tending "to widen the sphere of action of the woman, to bring into play the activity of her spirit, to develop all her capacity", all without harming "the home and family".<ref>{{harvnb|Albizu Apaolazar|1971|p=8}}</ref>


In a conference speech to the cultural society ''Renovación'' of [[Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic|Puerto Plata]], Smester explained her view that feminism "tries to intensify the feminity in women". By campaigning for women to be as cultured as men, feminism allows women to "be the best collaborator of man to attenuate human miseries and achieve world peace".<ref name="puertoplata" />

Smester praised women "as the greatest spirtual force in the world". Tracing the role of women through the Bible, she situates [[Eve]]'s act of offering [[Adam]] the knowledge of good and evil as "the first act that takes place in paradise [that] marks the eternal and indisputable influence of women". Smester writes that without women, man would be "born as a turnip" and live in a world with neither pleasure nor suffering. Smester continues that women "are essentially and potently equal to men", and while men have historically dominated humanity's cultural output, a woman's self-denial and "her ability to love and suffer and to shape man in her bosom" brings women "to the same level [as men] if not higher".<ref name="puertoplata" />

In her ''Elogio a la Madre'', Smester wrote that while a woman can be unsurpassable as a teacher or pharmacist, her "highest glory and most certain triumph" is as a mother.<ref name=":8" /> At her speech in Puerto Plata, she called motherhood a woman's "true mission, her highest preorgative", and called a woman's life devoid of maternal work "useless". For Smester, supporting feminism and emancipation "do nothing against the mysterious instinct of motherhood".<ref name="puertoplata" />

Smester pitied "masculine women", calling the case of [[Tomboy|tomboys]] a "natural abberation [that] deserves compassion".<ref name="puertoplata">{{Cite book |last=Smester Marrero |first=Rosa |url=https://www.calameo.com/read/00034521431ac62726363 |title=Cien Años de Feminismos Dominicanos |publisher=Archivio General de la Nación |year=2016 |isbn=978-9945-586-66-4 |editor-last=Candelario |editor-first=Elizabeth S. |volume=1: El Fuego Tras Las Ruinas, 1865-1931 |location=Santo Domingo |pages=117-121 |language=es |trans-title=100 Years of Dominican Feminisms |chapter=Conferencia de la Sociedad Cultural "Renovación" de Puerto Plata |trans-chapter=Conference of the Cultural Society "Renovation" of Puerto Plata |editor-last2=Mayes |editor-first2=April J.}}</ref> She advocated complementary gender roles:<ref name=":0" />

{{Quote|text=For feminism to be fruitful, women should be very feminine and not domineering, different and equivalent to men, like two feet for the perfect walk.}}

=== Teaching ===
In ''Una Educacionista Notabile'', Smester praised the work of Josefa Goméz, an "enlightened and self-sacrificing" teacher who directed the graduate school at [[Salcedo, Dominican Republic|Salcedo]], whom Smester credited for increasing the city's level of education. She noted the increasing stature of the profession of teaching, and viewed a teacher's primary duty as instilling a moral education into their students:<ref name=":12">{{Cite book |last=Smester Marrero |first=Rosa |url=https://www.calameo.com/read/00034521431ac62726363 |title=Cien Años de Feminismos Dominicanos |publisher=Archivio General de la Nación |year=2016 |isbn=978-9945-586-66-4 |editor-last=Candelario |editor-first=Elizabeth S. |volume=1: El Fuego Tras Las Ruinas, 1865-1931 |location=Santo Domingo |pages=116-117 |language=es |trans-title=100 Years of Dominican Feminisms |chapter=Una educacionista notable |trans-chapter=A notable educator |editor-last2=Mayes}}</ref>
{{Quote|text=The mission of the teacher [is] to put into activity the latent forces of good and reject the depths of the soul, so that what is evil in every human creature is never externalized. And this work is carried out by the poor rural teacher who teaches the boy the rudiments of a morality that he barely understands, to the great philosopher who investigates and teaches the evolution of life. Everyone contributes their grain of sand...Each must serve according to their measure. Give to Caesar what is Caesar's.}}
== Later life and death ==
== Later life and death ==
Smester chaired a chapter of the charitable [[Society of Saint Vincent de Paul]].<ref name=":4">{{Cite web |last=Espinal Hernández |first=Edwin |title=Historia del Hospicio San Vicente de Paúl |trans-title=History of the St Vincent de Paul Hospice |url=https://www.sociedadsanvicentedepaulrd.org/sp_historia_hospicio.html |access-date=2023-02-10 |website=www.sociedadsanvicentedepaulrd.org |language=es}}</ref> At her urging, in 1923, the ''La Caridad'' society, which had founded the first hospital in Santiago in 1891,<ref name=":5">{{Cite web |last=Mercader |first=José |date=2020-07-04 |title=El hospicio de Santiago en tiempo de epidemia |trans-title=Santiago's hospice in time of epidemic |url=https://issuu.com/elcaribe/docs/cultura20200704 |access-date=2023-02-10 |website=elCaribe |language=es}}</ref> established the 'St Vincent de Paul Branch' under her leadership, for the foundation of a nursing home in Santiago.<ref name=":4" /> Smester thus became the first director of the city's St Vincent de Paul Hospice. During this time, she lived in a Victorian house in the Calle del Sol, in front of the Parque Duarte.<ref name=":5" /><ref>{{Cite news |last=Mercader |first=José |date=2017-03-31 |title=Palacio Consistorial de Santiago |language=es |trans-title=Santiago's Town Hall |work=El Caribe |url=https://www.elcaribe.com.do/gente/cultura/palacio-consistorial-santiago/ |access-date=2023-02-17}}</ref>
Smester chaired a chapter of the charitable [[Society of Saint Vincent de Paul]].<ref name=":4">{{Cite web |last=Espinal Hernández |first=Edwin |title=Historia del Hospicio San Vicente de Paúl |trans-title=History of the St Vincent de Paul Hospice |url=https://www.sociedadsanvicentedepaulrd.org/sp_historia_hospicio.html |access-date=2023-02-10 |website=Sociedad San Vicente de Paúl |language=es}}</ref> At her urging, in 1923, the ''La Caridad'' society, which had founded the first hospital in Santiago in 1891,<ref name=":5">{{Cite web |last=Mercader |first=José |date=2020-07-04 |title=El hospicio de Santiago en tiempo de epidemia |trans-title=Santiago's hospice in time of epidemic |url=https://issuu.com/elcaribe/docs/cultura20200704 |access-date=2023-02-10 |website=elCaribe |language=es}}</ref> established the 'St Vincent de Paul Branch' under her leadership, for the foundation of a nursing home in Santiago.<ref name=":4" /> Smester thus became the first director of the city's St Vincent de Paul Hospice. During this time, she lived in a Victorian house in the Calle del Sol, in front of the Parque Duarte.<ref name=":5" /><ref>{{Cite news |last=Mercader |first=José |date=2017-03-31 |title=Palacio Consistorial de Santiago |language=es |trans-title=Santiago's Town Hall |work=El Caribe |url=https://www.elcaribe.com.do/gente/cultura/palacio-consistorial-santiago/ |access-date=2023-02-17}}</ref>


From 1927 to 1937, Smester lived in [[Paris]],<ref name=":0" /> accompanying her son at the beginning of his career as a doctor at the [[Sorbonne University|Sorbonne]].<ref name=":6" />{{Better source needed|reason=The current source is insufficiently reliable ([[WP:NOTRS]]).|date=February 2023}} She offered private classes while in Paris.<ref name=":8">{{harvnb|Albizu Apaolazar|1971|p=4}}</ref> Smester lectured at the [[University of Barcelona]] and spoke to the newly-founded {{ill|Lyceum Club (Barcelona)|ca}}, a women's group that called on her help as a cultural figure and influence.<ref name=":8" /><ref>{{Cite book |last=Real Mercadal |first=Neus |title=Dona i literatura a la Catalunya de preguerra |publisher=Abadia de Montserrat |year=2006 |isbn=84-8415-779-2 |location=Barcelona |pages=230 |language=ca |trans-title=Women and literature in pre-war Catalonia}}</ref>
From 1927 to 1937, Smester lived in [[Paris]],<ref name=":0" /> accompanying her son at the beginning of his career as a doctor at the [[Sorbonne University|Sorbonne]].<ref name=":6" /> She offered private classes while in Paris.<ref name=":8">{{harvnb|Albizu Apaolazar|1971|p=4}}</ref> Smester lectured at the [[University of Barcelona]] and spoke to the newly-founded {{ill|Lyceum Club (Barcelona)|ca}}, a women's group that called on her help as a cultural figure and influence.<ref name=":8" /><ref>{{Cite book |last=Real Mercadal |first=Neus |title=Dona i literatura a la Catalunya de preguerra |publisher=Abadia de Montserrat |year=2006 |isbn=84-8415-779-2 |location=Barcelona |pages=230 |language=ca |trans-title=Women and literature in pre-war Catalonia}}</ref>


Smester died on 15 February 1945.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":6" />
Smester died on 15 February 1945.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":6" />
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During her life, the ''El Regional'' newspaper of Monte Cristi asked Smester to be honoured as the 'Illustrious Daughter' of the city "as a teacher, mother, and fighter".<ref>{{harvnb|Albizu Apaolazar|1971|p=3-4}}</ref> While she was in Paris,<ref name=":9" /> an editorial of the Santiago newspaper ''La Información'', which cited Smester as a founding intellectual influence,<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Luisa Estévez |first1=María |last2=Concepción |first2=Claudio |date=2022-11-13 |title=107 aniversario de La Información, ¡Felicitaciones! |trans-title=107th anniversary of La Información. Congratulations! |url=https://lainformacion.com.do/mirador/a-todo-color/107-aniversario-de-la-informacion-felicitaciones |access-date=2023-02-11 |website=lainformacion.com.do |language=es}}</ref> said she had "one of the most outstanding intellectual capacities", and was "one of the best literary pens the Republic has".<ref name=":9">{{harvnb|Albizu Apaolazar|1971|p=12-13}}</ref>
During her life, the ''El Regional'' newspaper of Monte Cristi asked Smester to be honoured as the 'Illustrious Daughter' of the city "as a teacher, mother, and fighter".<ref>{{harvnb|Albizu Apaolazar|1971|p=3-4}}</ref> While she was in Paris,<ref name=":9" /> an editorial of the Santiago newspaper ''La Información'', which cited Smester as a founding intellectual influence,<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Luisa Estévez |first1=María |last2=Concepción |first2=Claudio |date=2022-11-13 |title=107 aniversario de La Información, ¡Felicitaciones! |trans-title=107th anniversary of La Información. Congratulations! |url=https://lainformacion.com.do/mirador/a-todo-color/107-aniversario-de-la-informacion-felicitaciones |access-date=2023-02-11 |website=lainformacion.com.do |language=es}}</ref> said she had "one of the most outstanding intellectual capacities", and was "one of the best literary pens the Republic has".<ref name=":9">{{harvnb|Albizu Apaolazar|1971|p=12-13}}</ref>


A street in [[Santo Domingo]] bears Smester's name. In Santiago, a housing development was named after her.<ref>{{Cite news |date=1997-01-20 |title=El Santiago histórico |language=es |trans-title=Historic Santiago |pages=45–47 |work=Rumbo |url=https://issuu.com/diariolibre/docs/revista_rumbo_155 |access-date=2023-02-17}}</ref> In Monte Cristi, an educational establishment wasnamed the Rosa Smester Basic School.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Rodríguez |first=Marcos |date=2020-03-26 |title=Distrito 10-03 es ejemplo de gerencia en educación |language=es |trans-title=District 10-03 is exemplary of management in education |work=el Caribe |url=https://www.pressreader.com/dominican-republic/el-caribe/20200326/281496458376744 |access-date=2023-02-10}}</ref>
A street in [[Santo Domingo]] bears Smester's name. In Santiago, a housing development was named after her.<ref>{{Cite news |date=1997-01-20 |title=El Santiago histórico |language=es |trans-title=Historic Santiago |pages=45–47 |work=Rumbo |url=https://issuu.com/diariolibre/docs/revista_rumbo_155 |access-date=2023-02-17}}</ref> In Monte Cristi, an educational establishment was named the Rosa Smester Basic School.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Rodríguez |first=Marcos |date=2020-03-26 |title=Distrito 10-03 es ejemplo de gerencia en educación |language=es |trans-title=District 10-03 is exemplary of management in education |work=el Caribe |url=https://www.pressreader.com/dominican-republic/el-caribe/20200326/281496458376744 |access-date=2023-02-10}}</ref>


Smester educated former Dominican President [[Joaquín Balaguer]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Albaine Pons |first=J. R. |date=2011-02-07 |title=Cerebro, lectura y escritura |url=https://acento.com.do/opinion/cerebro-lectura-y-escritura-200020.html |access-date=2023-02-09 |website=Acento |language=es-ES}}</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite web |title=Dr. Joaquín Balaguer |url=https://prsc.org.do/dr-joaquin-balaguer/ |access-date=2023-02-10 |website=Partido Reformista Social Cristiano {{!}} PRSC |language=es}}</ref> Balaguer recalled Smester's great influence on his intellectual formation in his memoirs.<ref name=":2" /> Smester also taught Dominican artist [[Federico Izquierdo]],<ref>{{Cite news |last=Mercader |first=José |date=2022-11-25 |title=La izquierda de Federico Izquierdo |language=es |trans-title=The left of Federico Izquierdo |work=el Caribe |url=https://www.elcaribe.com.do/gente/cultura/la-izquierda-de-federico-izquierdo/ |access-date=2023-02-11}}</ref> who was greatly pained by her death.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Medina |first=Grisel |date=2002-07-15 |title=Izquierdo resalta la obra del expresidente Balaguer |language=es |trans-title=Izquierdo highlights the work of former president Balaguer |work=Listin Diario |url=https://listindiario.com/la-republica/2002/07/15/730633/izquierdo-resalta-la-obra-del-expresidente-balaguer |access-date=2023-02-11}}</ref>
Smester educated former Dominican President [[Joaquín Balaguer]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Albaine Pons |first=J. R. |date=2011-02-07 |title=Cerebro, lectura y escritura |url=https://acento.com.do/opinion/cerebro-lectura-y-escritura-200020.html |access-date=2023-02-09 |website=Acento |language=es-ES}}</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite web |title=Dr. Joaquín Balaguer |url=https://prsc.org.do/dr-joaquin-balaguer/ |access-date=2023-02-10 |website=Partido Reformista Social Cristiano {{!}} PRSC |language=es}}</ref> Balaguer recalled Smester's great influence on his intellectual formation in his memoirs.<ref name=":2" /> Smester also taught Dominican artist [[Federico Izquierdo]],<ref>{{Cite news |last=Mercader |first=José |date=2022-11-25 |title=La izquierda de Federico Izquierdo |language=es |trans-title=The left of Federico Izquierdo |work=el Caribe |url=https://www.elcaribe.com.do/gente/cultura/la-izquierda-de-federico-izquierdo/ |access-date=2023-02-11}}</ref> a fellow member and later Preisdent of the Amantes de la Luz society,<ref name=":3" /> who was greatly pained by her death.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Medina |first=Grisel |date=2002-07-15 |title=Izquierdo resalta la obra del expresidente Balaguer |language=es |trans-title=Izquierdo highlights the work of former president Balaguer |work=Listin Diario |url=https://listindiario.com/la-republica/2002/07/15/730633/izquierdo-resalta-la-obra-del-expresidente-balaguer |access-date=2023-02-11}}</ref>


A 1982 poem by Dominican poet Armando Oscar paid tribute to Smester: "[She] went towards the conquest of ethical values [...] On her heart, she carried a crucifix [...] She was a woman, a believer above all else \ And God crowned her with the pain of a son!"<ref>{{Cite book |last=Oscar |first=Armando |url=https://repositorio.unphu.edu.do/handle/123456789/3251 |title=Cabezas de estudio: Retratos Desdibujados |publisher=Universidad Nacional Pedro Henríquez Ureña and Ateneo Dominicano |year=1982 |pages=195 |language=es |trans-title=Heads of Study: Blurred Portraits |access-date=2023-02-18}}</ref>
A 1982 poem by Dominican poet Armando Oscar paid tribute to Smester: "[She] went towards the conquest of ethical values [...] On her heart, she carried a crucifix [...] She was a woman, a believer above all else \ And God crowned her with the pain of a son!"<ref>{{Cite book |last=Oscar |first=Armando |url=https://repositorio.unphu.edu.do/handle/123456789/3251 |title=Cabezas de estudio: Retratos Desdibujados |publisher=Universidad Nacional Pedro Henríquez Ureña and Ateneo Dominicano |year=1982 |pages=195 |language=es |trans-title=Heads of Study: Blurred Portraits |access-date=2023-02-18}}</ref>

Revision as of 01:21, 10 March 2023

Rosa Smester
File:Rosa Smester Marrero.png
Born
Rosa Smester Marrero

(1874-08-30)August 30, 1874
Santiago de los Caballeros, Dominican Republic
DiedFebruary 15, 1945(1945-02-15) (aged 70)
Santiago de los Caballeros, Dominican Republic
Occupation(s)Teacher, writer
Known forFeminist and anti-occupation writings
SpouseJuan Grullón

Rosa Smester Marrero[a] (August 30, 1874 - February 15, 1945) was a educator and writer from the Dominican Republic. She grew to prominence for her feminist writings and opposition to the American occupation of the Dominican Republic. Her career as a teacher rendered her a prolific figure in her home city of Santiago de los Caballeros, where she founded a school and the St Vincent de Paul Hospice.

Early life

Smester was born in Santiago de los Caballeros, Dominican Republic, on August 30, 1874.[1] She was the daughter of Paul Emmanuel "Pablo" Smester and Dolores Trinidad "Dada" Marrero.[2] Her father was born in Pointe-à-Pitre in Guadeloupe, and moved from Haiti to Santiago in 1870 to work as a translator in German, English and Italian.[3]

Smester was self-taught and educated at home by her mother. She recalled that her mother taught her the tenths of Juan Antonio Alix and reading from her favourite book, La Historia Sagrada.[4]

Teaching career

In 1897, Smester began teaching French to children at home, where she credited the discovery of her vocation.[1][4] By 1902, she had become a teacher in syntax, literature, history and French at the ladies' high school of Santiago.[5][1] She resigned in 1908 and founded a school in Santiago in 1913.[1]

In 1913, Smester moved to Monte Cristi. In that city was born her son, Federico Máximo Smester, from her marriage to Juan Grullón.[1] As a teacher at the Higher Normal School of Montecristi, a teacher training college, she prepared the first group of Normal Teachers. She directed the Higher School of Ladies of Montecristi.[2]

She was a member of the Amantes de la Luz society,[2] a library and archive.[6]

Writings

Smester's writings are scattered across magazines and journals.[2][7] She never fulfilled her ambition to write a book,[7] though she published a short story entitled Juan de Dios.[2] Her prose conveys a deep religiosity and Christian conviction.[8]

Opposition to the American occupation

With the Junta Patriótica de Damas,[9] Smester was one of many women who publicly agitated against the American occupation of the Dominican Republic, which took place between 1916 and 1924.[2][9][10] Smester expressed her opposition in the national press, publishing in literary magazines in Santiago.[9] One of Smester's appeals for the removal of American forces read:[10][11][12]

To the American journalists who visit us. A simple schoolteacher speaks to you with my heart on my lips. [...] The Dominican people love, above all things, like God, their freedom and their land; that is why our pain in this unfortunate hour is infinite [...] Surprised by the American invasion, we did not prepare for death; because our leaders proclaimed from the outset that we were not at war with the United States and we trusted that that normality would be temporary [...] And it's been over five years of the Via Crucis; we have experienced every pain and humiliation. [...] We have been defenseless and have relied on the strength of patience, justice, and resistance [...] Women have had a prayer on their lips that God help us, and that the gift of justice be granted to the people who oppress us, and the shame of ignominy does not fall upon the country of Washington and Lincoln [...] The Senate Commission comes to clarify the truth of the atrocities we have suffered; it is true that there have been many. [...] There is an unusual fact, a monster against which we will forever clamor: the landing of American troops in our country under the guise of friends and protectors, to strip us of our rights and our holy freedom. Can there be a greater atrocity?

Smester refused to speak English as a form of civil resistance.[2] In May 1920, Smester donated a month's salary to a nationalist cause, writing to Francisco Henríquez y Carvajal, the President of the Nationalist Board, that “whenever necessary, I will give gladly”.[13]

Feminism

In 1926, Smester wrote to Petronila Angélica Gómez, founder of Fémina, the first feminist Dominican journal, that "your magazine is the only genuine feminine, genuinely Dominican, and therefore deserving of the greatest help."[14] In the same year, Smester requested to publish in the magazine, and so recorded her first two contributions to feminist journalism,[15] publishing a further article in 1929.[16] She became one of the magazine's main contributors.[17]

Of the three articles written by Smester for Fémina, two concerned the masculine condition.[18] Smester contributed to a broader feminist position that pacifist strategies disqualify androcentric warmongering, thereby including female voices in war discourses, such that "honoring and glorifying enlightened men is a form of patriotic love".[19] In her 1929 article Así Es, Smester praised Francisco Henríquez y Carvajal's intellectual attributes, which lent him to be an "enlightened" feminist man.[20][21]

In her Escrito Pro-Feminismo, Smester wrote that feminism has proven to be "essentially constructive", tending "to widen the sphere of action of the woman, to bring into play the activity of her spirit, to develop all her capacity", all without harming "the home and family".[22]

In a conference speech to the cultural society Renovación of Puerto Plata, Smester explained her view that feminism "tries to intensify the feminity in women". By campaigning for women to be as cultured as men, feminism allows women to "be the best collaborator of man to attenuate human miseries and achieve world peace".[23]

Smester praised women "as the greatest spirtual force in the world". Tracing the role of women through the Bible, she situates Eve's act of offering Adam the knowledge of good and evil as "the first act that takes place in paradise [that] marks the eternal and indisputable influence of women". Smester writes that without women, man would be "born as a turnip" and live in a world with neither pleasure nor suffering. Smester continues that women "are essentially and potently equal to men", and while men have historically dominated humanity's cultural output, a woman's self-denial and "her ability to love and suffer and to shape man in her bosom" brings women "to the same level [as men] if not higher".[23]

In her Elogio a la Madre, Smester wrote that while a woman can be unsurpassable as a teacher or pharmacist, her "highest glory and most certain triumph" is as a mother.[24] At her speech in Puerto Plata, she called motherhood a woman's "true mission, her highest preorgative", and called a woman's life devoid of maternal work "useless". For Smester, supporting feminism and emancipation "do nothing against the mysterious instinct of motherhood".[23]

Smester pitied "masculine women", calling the case of tomboys a "natural abberation [that] deserves compassion".[23] She advocated complementary gender roles:[2]

For feminism to be fruitful, women should be very feminine and not domineering, different and equivalent to men, like two feet for the perfect walk.

Teaching

In Una Educacionista Notabile, Smester praised the work of Josefa Goméz, an "enlightened and self-sacrificing" teacher who directed the graduate school at Salcedo, whom Smester credited for increasing the city's level of education. She noted the increasing stature of the profession of teaching, and viewed a teacher's primary duty as instilling a moral education into their students:[25]

The mission of the teacher [is] to put into activity the latent forces of good and reject the depths of the soul, so that what is evil in every human creature is never externalized. And this work is carried out by the poor rural teacher who teaches the boy the rudiments of a morality that he barely understands, to the great philosopher who investigates and teaches the evolution of life. Everyone contributes their grain of sand...Each must serve according to their measure. Give to Caesar what is Caesar's.

Later life and death

Smester chaired a chapter of the charitable Society of Saint Vincent de Paul.[26] At her urging, in 1923, the La Caridad society, which had founded the first hospital in Santiago in 1891,[27] established the 'St Vincent de Paul Branch' under her leadership, for the foundation of a nursing home in Santiago.[26] Smester thus became the first director of the city's St Vincent de Paul Hospice. During this time, she lived in a Victorian house in the Calle del Sol, in front of the Parque Duarte.[27][28]

From 1927 to 1937, Smester lived in Paris,[2] accompanying her son at the beginning of his career as a doctor at the Sorbonne.[1] She offered private classes while in Paris.[24] Smester lectured at the University of Barcelona and spoke to the newly-founded Lyceum Club (Barcelona) [ca], a women's group that called on her help as a cultural figure and influence.[24][29]

Smester died on 15 February 1945.[2][1]

Legacy

During her life, the El Regional newspaper of Monte Cristi asked Smester to be honoured as the 'Illustrious Daughter' of the city "as a teacher, mother, and fighter".[30] While she was in Paris,[31] an editorial of the Santiago newspaper La Información, which cited Smester as a founding intellectual influence,[32] said she had "one of the most outstanding intellectual capacities", and was "one of the best literary pens the Republic has".[31]

A street in Santo Domingo bears Smester's name. In Santiago, a housing development was named after her.[33] In Monte Cristi, an educational establishment was named the Rosa Smester Basic School.[34]

Smester educated former Dominican President Joaquín Balaguer.[35][36] Balaguer recalled Smester's great influence on his intellectual formation in his memoirs.[36] Smester also taught Dominican artist Federico Izquierdo,[37] a fellow member and later Preisdent of the Amantes de la Luz society,[6] who was greatly pained by her death.[38]

A 1982 poem by Dominican poet Armando Oscar paid tribute to Smester: "[She] went towards the conquest of ethical values [...] On her heart, she carried a crucifix [...] She was a woman, a believer above all else \ And God crowned her with the pain of a son!"[39]

In its 2016 International Women's Day celebrations, the Constitutional Court of the Dominican Republic named Smester among sixty-three "outstanding Dominican women in the struggles for peace and democracy".[40]

References

Notes

  1. ^ In this article, the surname is {{{1}}}.
  1. ^ a b c d e f g Espinal Hernández, Edwin Rafael (2010-10-23). "Un establón encontrado en los Smester" [A link found in the Smesters]. Instituto Dominicano de Genealogía, Inc. (in Spanish). Retrieved 2023-02-10.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j "Rosa Smester (Maestra de Maestras)" (PDF). Instituto Montecristeño de Antropología e Historia. Retrieved 2023-02-09.
  3. ^ "Cápsulas genealógicas: El derrotero encontrado por vía de Internet" [Genealogical Capsules: The Course Found via the Internet]. Hoy (in Spanish). 2010-10-31. Retrieved 2023-02-18.
  4. ^ a b Albizu Apaolazar 1971, p. 6
  5. ^ Paulino Ramos, Alejandro (2007). Ortiz, Dantes (ed.). Vida y obra de Ercilia Pepín [The Life and Works of Ercilia Pepín] (in Spanish). Archivo General de la Nación. ISBN 978-9945-020-23-6. Retrieved 2023-02-18.
  6. ^ a b Alejo, Leidi (2017-10-13). "Un tesoro patrimonial: Ateneo Amantes de la Luz" [A patrimonial treasure: Ateneo Amantes de la Luz]. Listín Diario (in Spanish). Retrieved 2023-03-10.
  7. ^ a b Albizu Apaolazar 1971, p. 11
  8. ^ Albizu Apaolazar 1971, p. 9-11
  9. ^ a b c Peguero, Valentina (2005). "Women's Grass-Roots Organizations in the Dominican Republic: Real and Imagined Female Figures". In Knight, Franklin W.; Martínez-Vergne, Teresita (eds.). Contemporary Caribbean Cultures and Societies in a Global Context. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press. pp. 163–4. ISBN 0-8078-5634-7. Retrieved 2023-02-11.
  10. ^ a b Jaime Julia, Julio, ed. (2001). Rosa Smester: Maestra de Maestras (in Spanish). Santo Domingo: Impresora El Siglo.
  11. ^ Durán Jourdain, Carmen (2017). "Las mujeres dominicanas en el marco de la primera intervención norteamericana 1916-1924: una mirada desde la historia". Órgano del Instituto de Historia de la UASD. 1 (14): 23–4.
  12. ^ Albizu Apaolazar 1971, p. 14
  13. ^ Rodriguez Collado, Aralis Mercedes (2015). Images of invasions and resistance in the literature of the Dominican Republic (PDF). University of Birmingham eTheses Repository (PhD). Retrieved 2023-02-09.
  14. ^ Lora Peña 2020, p. 72–3
  15. ^ Lora Peña 2020, p. 327, 486, 517
  16. ^ Lora Peña 2020, p. 486, 517
  17. ^ Hernández Núñez, Ángela (2017). "El Club Nosotras, su influencia en la cultura dominicana" [The influence of the Club Nosotras on Dominican culture]. Órgano del Instituto de Historia de la UASD. 1 (14): 103. doi:10.51274/ecos.v24i14.pp97-143.
  18. ^ Lora Peña 2020, p. 517
  19. ^ Lora Peña 2020, p. 344
  20. ^ Lora Peña 2020, p. 382
  21. ^ Albizu Apaolazar 1971, p. 13
  22. ^ Albizu Apaolazar 1971, p. 8
  23. ^ a b c d Smester Marrero, Rosa (2016). "Conferencia de la Sociedad Cultural "Renovación" de Puerto Plata" [Conference of the Cultural Society "Renovation" of Puerto Plata]. In Candelario, Elizabeth S.; Mayes, April J. (eds.). Cien Años de Feminismos Dominicanos [100 Years of Dominican Feminisms] (in Spanish). Vol. 1: El Fuego Tras Las Ruinas, 1865–1931. Santo Domingo: Archivio General de la Nación. pp. 117–121. ISBN 978-9945-586-66-4.
  24. ^ a b c Albizu Apaolazar 1971, p. 4
  25. ^ Smester Marrero, Rosa (2016). "Una educacionista notable" [A notable educator]. In Candelario, Elizabeth S.; Mayes (eds.). Cien Años de Feminismos Dominicanos [100 Years of Dominican Feminisms] (in Spanish). Vol. 1: El Fuego Tras Las Ruinas, 1865–1931. Santo Domingo: Archivio General de la Nación. pp. 116–117. ISBN 978-9945-586-66-4.
  26. ^ a b Espinal Hernández, Edwin. "Historia del Hospicio San Vicente de Paúl" [History of the St Vincent de Paul Hospice]. Sociedad San Vicente de Paúl (in Spanish). Retrieved 2023-02-10.
  27. ^ a b Mercader, José (2020-07-04). "El hospicio de Santiago en tiempo de epidemia" [Santiago's hospice in time of epidemic]. elCaribe (in Spanish). Retrieved 2023-02-10.
  28. ^ Mercader, José (2017-03-31). "Palacio Consistorial de Santiago" [Santiago's Town Hall]. El Caribe (in Spanish). Retrieved 2023-02-17.
  29. ^ Real Mercadal, Neus (2006). Dona i literatura a la Catalunya de preguerra [Women and literature in pre-war Catalonia] (in Catalan). Barcelona: Abadia de Montserrat. p. 230. ISBN 84-8415-779-2.
  30. ^ Albizu Apaolazar 1971, p. 3-4
  31. ^ a b Albizu Apaolazar 1971, p. 12-13
  32. ^ Luisa Estévez, María; Concepción, Claudio (2022-11-13). "107 aniversario de La Información, ¡Felicitaciones!" [107th anniversary of La Información. Congratulations!]. lainformacion.com.do (in Spanish). Retrieved 2023-02-11.
  33. ^ "El Santiago histórico" [Historic Santiago]. Rumbo (in Spanish). 1997-01-20. pp. 45–47. Retrieved 2023-02-17.
  34. ^ Rodríguez, Marcos (2020-03-26). "Distrito 10-03 es ejemplo de gerencia en educación" [District 10-03 is exemplary of management in education]. el Caribe (in Spanish). Retrieved 2023-02-10.
  35. ^ Albaine Pons, J. R. (2011-02-07). "Cerebro, lectura y escritura". Acento (in European Spanish). Retrieved 2023-02-09.
  36. ^ a b "Dr. Joaquín Balaguer". Partido Reformista Social Cristiano | PRSC (in Spanish). Retrieved 2023-02-10.
  37. ^ Mercader, José (2022-11-25). "La izquierda de Federico Izquierdo" [The left of Federico Izquierdo]. el Caribe (in Spanish). Retrieved 2023-02-11.
  38. ^ Medina, Grisel (2002-07-15). "Izquierdo resalta la obra del expresidente Balaguer" [Izquierdo highlights the work of former president Balaguer]. Listin Diario (in Spanish). Retrieved 2023-02-11.
  39. ^ Oscar, Armando (1982). Cabezas de estudio: Retratos Desdibujados [Heads of Study: Blurred Portraits] (in Spanish). Universidad Nacional Pedro Henríquez Ureña and Ateneo Dominicano. p. 195. Retrieved 2023-02-18.
  40. ^ "Tribunal Constitucional reconoce 63 mujeres dominicanas destacadas en las luchas por la paz y la democracia" [Constitutional Court recognizes 63 outstanding Dominican women in the struggles for peace and democracy]. Tribunal Constitucional de la República Dominicana (in Spanish). 2016-07-03. Retrieved 2023-02-17.

Bibliography

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