[2] Of those first years, under Haitian rule, his friend and fellow poet, José Joaquín Pérez, refers:[3] As it is an inherent condition of every conquering nation to stop the flight of intelligence, placing obstacles to the enlightenment of the masses, Manuel R. Objío had the misfortune of not receiving any education.

Together with other writers, such as his great friend Juan Bautista Zafra, he founded the Sociedad Amantes de las Letras, which he conceived as a space for reflection that would affect the problems that conservative politicians could not address.

Unemployed and disconnected from literary society, he returned to Azua in 1860, in order to carry out commercial operations, just before the border rebellion in favor of Haiti led by General Domingo Ramírez and other figures of the Dominican army occurred.

[7] As soon as he was certain that Santana planned to annex the island to the Spanish monarchy, Rodríguez Objío went to Saint Thomas to meet with the exiled Francisco del Rosario Sánchez, who symbolized the spirit of national self-determination and equality.

“From that moment,” he said, “my fate was linked to his; and even after his death, I was faithful to my promises.” Rodriguez Objío would go on to write several pieces voicing his admiration for Sánchez, whom he would emulate and idolize and for the rest of his life.

[10] Almost immediately Rodríguez Objío was assigned to assist General Manuel María Castillo in the reorganization of the front of the southern region, after the setbacks inflicted on the patriots by the Spanish troops due to the mistakes of the previous leader, Pedro Florentino.

Rodríguez Objío himself had the opportunity to participate in the conversations that were held in Monte Cristi between Captain General José de la Gándara and a delegation from the government of Santiago, after this city was occupied by the Spanish army.

[11] In Polanco's cabinet he was appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs, although his real contribution lay in directing the government newspaper and writing a large part of the official documents of those months.

On the southern front, Cabral's military expertise was demonstrated in the Battle of La Canela, on December 5, 1864, when the Spanish and Dominican annexationist troops, under the command of Eusebio Puello, were defeated and the a new advance by restaurateurs throughout the region.

Since they were not found responsible for Salcedo's death, almost all of them were released two months later, and Rodríguez Objío was assigned again to the south, where he accompanied General Cabral in the final phase of the operations and the occupation of the city of Santo Domingo.

The most important expression of this illusion was the Constituent Assembly convened to promulgate a new fundamental law of the State that would enable a democratic order, replacing the Constitution of 1854 that legalized despotism.

The inclusion of Rodríguez Objío highlighted the restorative origin of this first Cabral administration, despite the president's interest in surrounding himself with conservative figures and obtaining the support of the high commercial establishment.

Cabral placed his trust in Juan Ramón Fiallo, who imposed a conservative orientation, and appointed Pedro Valverde to the Ministry of War, which determined the departure of Rodríguez Objío from the government.

Faced with this situation, Rodríguez Objío, who in Puerto Plata had surrounded himself with people he trusted, declared himself in rebellion against the president and had Luperón, who at that time was in exile in the Turks and Caicos Islands, brought in to receive Luperón, on April 28, 1866, he gave a speech that became famous, in which he exacerbated his repudiation of Báez:[17] When, due to an inexplicable misfortune, the national party had to bow under the stained silver of the Spaniards, I deplored that event in the depths of my soul: but at the same time that my heart urged me to nobly reject the government of a traitor, my head He ordered me to follow a different behavior […].

Wanting to avoid persecution and be useful to my companions of glories and setbacks, I lied fidelity to the new master: that man, eternal enemy of my country and my friends, had the weakness of believing me, entrusting me with an important mission in Cibao, and later the civil and military governments of this Plaza that should be the path to your triumph […].

Recalling this turn, and alluding to generals Benito Monción and Juan de Jesús Salcedo, he displayed his capacity for analysis by questioning the explanation given by some of the liberal intellectuals that the rebels were motivated by their lack of convictions and their rebellious characte; Without denying that they suffered from these flaws, he also wondered to what extent the conservative orientation of a part of the government top, personified in Cabral, did not contribute to the loss of popular influence of the liberals and the consequent defection of leaders to the conservative side.

Rodríguez Objío's intransigence led President Cabral to withdraw his confidence, so he was pleased that he settled in La Vega “among his own people,” an expression that made it clear that he did not want his participation in public affairs.

However, obeying the sense of duty, Rodríguez Objío was forced to participate in the repression of the uprising of Benito Monción and Juan de Jesús Salcedo, which did not prevent Pablo Pujol, one of Cabral's main supporters in Santiago, from accusing him of bad behavior and tried to put him before a court martial.

The critical tone of that newspaper exacerbated the ill will against him by government officials, despite the fact that figures such as José Gabriel García and Gregorio Luperón collaborated on its pages.

Even so, on the occasion of the arrest of Pedro Guillermo, after an insurrectional attempt, Cabral asked Rodríguez Objío to preside over the military council that would judge him, claiming that no one felt brave enough to assume such responsibility.

Then, in order to survive at all costs, Cabral sent Pablo Pujol on a mission to Washington, with the proposal to lease the Samaná peninsula to the United States in exchange for money and weapons.

[24] The expelled blues held a conference on the Venezuelan Guiaiguaza islet, in front of Puerto Cabello, where they were quarantined, because before leaving the Dominican Republic a cholera epidemic had broken out.

A considerable part of those expelled settled in Haiti, taking advantage of the fact that President Sylvain Salnave had not yet reached a solid alliance with Báez, who had recently come to power.

Although this text is limited to a political chronicle, it also represented pioneering work in the country, because thanks to the inclusion of documents and by expressing his vivid knowledge of the subject, for the first time an account of what happened in the war was articulated.

As he explained in a letter to Luperón on April 20, 1870, what he proposed was to rescue the unknown past of the Dominican people: “Our people lack history, and their renown sinks day after day into the deep darkness of oblivion or mystery; America itself knows him more for his disasters than for his glories; and yet these are incomparable.”[26] Despite being torn by disappointment and separated from political activity, in February 1871, Rodríguez Objío responded to Luperón's request that he accompany him on an expedition to the Northwest Line in order to anticipate the plan to annex the country to the United States.

Unlike Cabral in the south, who applied a guerrilla tactic, Luperón proposed to overthrow the government in the short term as the only means to prevent annexation to the United States.

He placed it in the hands of General Federico de Jesús García, who also evaded taking responsibility for carrying out the execution, even though he had to do so by virtue of the decree of June 18, 1868, which stipulated the death penalty for those who were captured.

They have had as their origin the persuasion in which I have always lived that the autonomous existence of the Dominican Republic was possible; that the ignorance, bad faith or false assessments of the governments that have succeeded one another since the year 44 have been the only obstacles that have opposed the justification of my belief, which is why I have fought some of them, perhaps too much.

Under the influence of this uncalculated persuasion in my spirit I did not know how to maintain the indifference that had been imposed on me by system: I was weak before the always blind impulse of enthusiasm and I have fallen into the last mistake of my life.Before his execution, just as his with his idol, Francisco del Rosario Sánchez, he recommended that his children be kept away from “intellectual speculation” and that they be given a practical education, which was equivalent to removing them from politics to make them happier.

On April 18, 1871, designated for the execution, he was awakened very early and taken by a small picket to one side of the cemetery, within sight of the Puerta del Conde, in the current southwestern corner of Parque Independencia.