Milagros Ortiz Bosch

Maria Milagros Ortiz Bosch (born 26 August 1936) is a lawyer, business manager and Dominican politician.

María Milagros Ortiz Bosch was born in Santo Domingo on 26 August 1936 to Virgilio Ortiz Peña (1896-1985) and Ángela Bosch.

When she was a young girl she would hear the name of her uncle Juan Bosch (uncle Juan) mentioned discreetly by many of her relatives.

Over time her uncle continued to gain admiration and reverence from her relatives, while attracting enmity from Rafael Trujillo and his regime.

Ortiz's family lived under constant harassment from the dictatorship.

Caliés (snitches) would stroll outside the family home with complete confidence, while local vendors and door-to-door trades people were suspected of being informants for the intelligence services of the regime.

Her uncle Pepito was called all the time for questioning by the SIM (Military Intelligence Service) and there were many occasions when he was jailed for being an enemy of the government and brother of Uncle Juan.

In Santa Teresita School, where she studied, Milagros was fortunate that most teachers were opposed to the Trujillo regime.

Among them were teachers Maricusa Ornes, Natalia Carmen Domínguez, Ligia Echavarría and Pontius Sabater.

Santa Teresita was a secular school and was heavily influenced by the humanist school of Eugenio María de Hostos and, by way of consequence, almost all teachers were known by reference or friends of Juan Bosch.

The regime era was a difficult period for the family.

Some neighbors were persecuted for befriending Ortiz Bosch.

The maternal grandparents of Milagros went into exile after seeking diplomatic protection through their foreign citizenship.

Doña Angelita Milagros's mother and sister of Uncle Juan was persecuted, as were her husband and the rest of the family.

On one occasion, and as a young teenager, Milagros was called by the mother of a friend whose 15 year birthday celebration was soon to take place.

The mother told Ortiz that she could not go to the party because Trujillo's daughter Angelita Trujillo had confirmed her attendance to the same event.

She resigned herself as Ortiz was already used to that kind of behaviour by friends, defenders and people wary of the Trujillo regime.

Many people simply wanted to be careful not to fall out of favor with "The Boss" as Trujillo would often be called by his supporters.

Even as a child Ortiz's parents and grandparents had warned her that the entire family was classified as not supportive of the regime, so discrimination of this kind was common against Ortiz and her cousins.

One particular target was the son of the uncle Juan, Leon Bosch himself, who at the time was also a young man and he had grown up with his grandparents.

On 30 May 1961 surprised Milagros and the whole family in frank conspiracy.

Dominican Youth did not take it anymore and university groups rebelled.

Doña Angelita, her mother, still recovering from a stroke suffered a year before learning of the death of the Mirabal Sisters, with whom the Bosch family had narrowed friendship.

Doña Angelita not withstand the torment that caused an officer recognized the SIM, César Villeta, threw all sorts of insults against young sisters killed hours earlier by agents of tyranny.

Villeta lived outside his home.

The celebration of the death of the tyrant and the joy of that event could not be higher, but had to observe caution, as security agencies unleashed their fury like never before against the resistance of the dictatorship.

Many hid, not Milagros, who fought as could the Trujillo retentive until July 5, 36 days after the tyrannicide, when arrived at the airport in Punta Caucedo Airport advanced the Dominican Revolutionary Party, the party of Uncle Juan, the national hero, the famous writer, the party leader, the pride of the family ...

And while Uncle Juan did not come in person, one of the envoys, Angel Miolán brought to "Milagritos" a very special gift: the book "Cuento de Navidad" by the uncle dedicated to his beloved niece.

That was when she first saws her uncle's letters l. But was eager to meet him personally.

Milagros arrived that morning in early 1962 charged with emotion to San Isidro de Coronado in Costa Rica, to participate in a political training course with more than 70 Dominicans and three Ecuadorians among the latter Rodrigo Borja, then president of Ecuador.

She had fallen behind because a companion, Asela Morel, had faced difficulty with their travel papers.

The excitement of Milagros was greater than all others: I was going to finally meet Uncle Juan, a professor of that course, and who organized and its return to the motherland as leader of the PRD.

When he reached the classroom, Milagros was surprised by the elegance and personality of the man.

He was 52 years old, completely white hair, handsome, an extraordinarily handsome, say women type.

He was at the head table, next to Jimmy Duran, Washington Peña, Eduardo Tavarez, Antonio Canto, José Andrés Aybar Sánchez, Arnaldo Sención and ... who could not miss, José Francisco Peña Gómez.

The dream came true.

She was senator of the Distrito Nacional twice (1994–1998 and 1998–2000) and Secretary of State (Minister) for Education of the Dominican Republic, for the same time period she was vice president (2000-2004).

She was the first Dominican woman to be vice president of the country, during 2000–2004.

She was again a candidate for senator from the National District of the Dominican Revolutionary Party (PRD) in the congressional and municipal elections of 2010, being defeated by the candidate of the Dominican Liberation Party Reinaldo Pared Pérez.

In the Dominican Republic general election in 2016 she served as campaign manager for the mayoral candidate of the National District, who would be the winner, David Collado.