Antonio María Segovia

President Pedro Santana had negotiated a treaty of friendship, trade and navigation with the United States that provided for the transfer and leasing of the Samaná Bay and Peninsula to that country, which prompted protests from the consuls of Great Britain and France, as well as opposition from supporters of Buenaventura Báez, exiled in Curaçao.

In the midst of the Dominican War of Independence, the new Spanish consul, Antonio María Segovia, arrived in Santo Domingo, whose main mission was to prevent the United States and Santana from reaching an agreement.

Segovia had met Báez in Madrid during the period of the Spanish regime of the Dominican Republic, establishing a certain relationship with him, since when Queen Isabel II promulgated the decree of abandonment, he wrote his resignation from the rank of field marshal that had been granted to him.

Santana protested to the Spanish Government about Segovia's blatant interference in the internal affairs of the Dominican Republic through his representative in Madrid, but while he waited for a response the resistance against him grew stronger and, seeing himself abandoned even by many of his followers, he pretended to be ill and retired to his estate in El Seibo to prepare his resignation, but not before declaring a state of emergency and alerting the Armed Forces.

The newspaper El Eco del Pueblo, in its December 21 edition, reported that, after the decree appointing the cabinet was promulgated, the inhabitants of the city gave themselves over to extraordinary joy, heading to Báez's residence to congratulate him.