Báez, Buenaventura [key], c.1810–1884, president of the Dominican Republic (1849–53; 1856–58; 1865–66; 1868–73). Like his rival, Santana, Báez was unscrupulous and selfish; he gained and lost the presidency by revolution and counterrevolution. With his country in a condition of financial ruin and recurrently gripped by anarchy, he negotiated (1869) a treaty with the United States providing for U.S. annexation of the Dominican Republic. A Dominican plebiscite (1870) confirmed the treaty, but the U.S. Senate, ignoring President Grant's wishes, failed to ratify it. Báez lost his popular support and was overthrown.
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