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THE ITALIAN LEGACY IN THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
426
would conform to directives imposed from above by technicians in the Agriculture Department, without the
power to consider variants in soils, climatology, precipitation patterns, river water and irrigation, solar cycles,
flora and fauna—in sum, the different ecosystems that it is imperative to study in order to achieve a rational
exploitation of nature with the least possible environmental impact. It can be so simple as understanding
that the systematic classification of a plant, or of an insect that can harm it, enables us to take advantage of
knowledge that already exists in the world and opens the doors to the most effective and efficient solutions. Of
course, the narrow vision of the Trujillo regime impeded access to such national benefits.
It is understood that the retraction of the Dominican government’s contract with Dr. Ciferri was triggered
by the vast discrepancy between its social and political policies and his scientific viewpoint. This fact was
camouflaged when Ciferri was hired in 1932 by a company known as La Yuquera Dominicana,
43
located in
Santiago. Later that same year Dr. Ciferri was called back to his home country to become the deputy director
of the Phytopathologic Laboratory in Rome.
Compilation in Homage
Raffaele Ciferri’s pivotal contributions represent a point of departure that is valid today more than ever. He
foresaw our present problems when he analyzed the problems of his own time with a true scientific and hu-
man sensibility. He believed in the need to develop our own field of natural science in the Dominican Republic
and not to create an extension of the science of other dominating countries or of an internal power acting
unilaterally, thus cutting off all possible paths to a scientifically oriented agriculture aimed at social and dem-
ocratic development. Ciferri’s contribution to botanical and agronomic science in the Republic left an imprint
and a model for integrating natural science and protection of the environment into a concept of national
socioeconomic development.
44
This brief sketch of Dr. Ciferri’s labors in the Dominican Republic is intended to call attention to the histo-
ry of the natural sciences of our country, about which the Dominican National Archive is preparing a special
collection. One of the first compilations of documents will be made in homage to the eminent Italian scientist
Dr. Raffaele Ciferri, who is equally great for his spirit of humanity and gratitude. Above all, this compilation
spotlights his work and thus enables us to recapture his reflections and insight on ecology and social develop-
ment. At the same time, it reveals roots and solid foundations for the new generations who will be shaping the
field of natural sciences in our Republic.
ENDNOTES
1
I wish to express my gratitude to Professor Walter Cordero,
notable authority on Raffaele Ciferri’s scientific work, and to
Orquídea Correa, director of the Records Department at AGN,
for their help and guidance.
2
Marcio Veloz Maggiolo,
Barril sin fondo (Antropología para curi-
osos)
(Santo Domingo: Editora de Colores, 1996), 197.
3
Guido Despradel y Batista, “Hostos y la Vega. Las proyectadas
granjas agrícolas del señor Hostos,”
Clío
7 no. 34 (March-April,
1939): 60.
4
See Eugenio María de Hostos, “Inmigración y colonización”
and “Centro de inmigración y colonias agrícolas,” in Emilio
Rodríguez Demorizi,
Hostos en Santo Domingo
, vol. 1 (Santo Do-
mingo: Ciudad Trujillo, Academia Dominicana de la Historia,
1939).
5
José Ramón Abad,
La República Dominicana. Reseña general ge-
ográfico-estadística
(1888), rev. ed. (Santo Domingo: Sociedad Do-
minicana de Bibliófilos, 1993), 284–285.
6
Ibid.
, 286–287.
7
José Ramón Abad, “Un instituto agronómico,” in
Economía,
agricultura y producción
, ed. Andrés Blanco Díaz (Santo Domingo:
Archivo General de la Nación [AGN], 2012), 493–495.
8
Compare José Ramón López, “Granjas-escuelas experimen-
tales,” in José Ramón López,
Escritos dispersos,
vol. 2, ed. Andrés
Blanco Díaz (Santo Domingo: AGN, 2005), 65–66.
9
On this topic, see “Dirección de Agricultura,”
Revista de Agri-
cultura
6, no. 1 (April 1910): 1; “Notas sueltas,”
Revista de Agricul-
tura
6, no. 4 (July 1910): 87; “Programas de enseñanza,”
Revista
de Agricultura
6, no. 12 (March 1911): 23-24; “Inauguración de la
Granja-Escuela en San Cristóbal,”
Revista de Agricultura
7, no. 1
(April 1911): 2–5; “Estación experimental en Santiago,”
Ibid.
, 39.
All of these notes were written by José Ramón Abad, who was
editor of the journal at the time.
10
See Executive Orders No. 265 (24 February 1919) and No. 353
(10 November 1919). The first states the public interest of extend-