Currency of the Dominican Republic 5 Pesos Oro banknote 1996 Francisco del Rosario Sánchez
Central Bank of the Dominican Republic - Banco Central de la República Dominicana
Obverse: Portrait of Francisco del Rosario Sánchez (1817-1861), one of the founding fathers of the Dominican Republic at right, Coat of arms of the Dominican Republic at center; Seal of the Central Bank of the Republic at left. Blossoms of the Mahogany Tree, La caoba (Swietenia mahagoni), formerly (1957-2011) the national flower and now the national tree of the Dominican Republic. Deep brown, red-brown and red on multicolor underprint.
Signatures: Hector Valdez Albizu (Gobernador del Banco Central) and Roberto Martínez Villanueva (Secretario de Estado de Finanzas).
Reverse: Coat of arms of the Dominican Republic at upper center. Hydroelectric dams and irrigation; Electric power line tower at right. Date at upper center margin. Blossoms of the Mahogany Tree, La caoba (Swietenia mahagoni) at upper right. Solid security thread.
Printer: F. C. Oberthur (François-Charles Oberthür) France.
Dimensions: 155 x 67 mm.
Dominican Republic Banknotes - Dominican Republic Paper Money
1977-1998
1 Peso Oro 1977-1988 1 Peso Oro 1984-1988 5 Pesos Oro 10 Pesos Oro
Francisco del Rosario Sánchez
Francisco del Rosario Sánchez (March 9, 1817 – July 4, 1861) was a politician and founding father of the Dominican Republic. He is considered by Dominicans as the second leader of the 1844 Dominican War of Independence, after Juan Pablo Duarte and before Ramón Matías Mella. The Order of Merit of Duarte, Sanchez and Mella is named in honor of these men. He was the son of Olaya del Rosario Belén (1791–1849), a white woman of Canarian descent, and Narciso Sánchez Ramona (1789–1869), a pardo (triracial) man; his surnames are inverted because his parents were not married at the time of his birth, marrying in 1819.
Sánchez traveled to the U.S. and Europe as a young man. His vision of the cause was the typical republican goal of the Age of Enlightenment. Duarte's exile took place at the last and most crucial stage of the struggle. It was when Duarte was exiled and in hiding in Venezuela that Sánchez became the central presence in the Dominican revolt.
Sánchez took the lead as the prime mover of the independence movement, maintaining contact with Duarte through his relatives. While educated and having taught himself Latin and French later in life, he is mostly remembered as a man of action. In the proceedings that took place just before the proclamation of independence on February 27, 1844, Sánchez was elected by his peers in La Trinitaria as Commander in Arms and Chief of the Government Junta in the nascent republic. This was quite a recognition and a testament to his virtues.
After a brief period of turmoil and quick political succession, Pedro Santana exiled the main architects of the independence. Sánchez spent four years in exile and was eventually pardoned. He returned to the Dominican Republic in time to see Santana invite Spain to re-occupy the country as colony. Sánchez led a force in an attempt to overthrow Santana, but was captured by Santana's forces and executed in 1861.
He is entombed in a mausoleum, Altar de la Patria, at the Count's Gate (Puerta del Conde) alongside Duarte and Mella, at the location of the start of the War of Independence.