Pedro Valverde (general)

---

Pedro Valverde
Born	July 5, 1818 Baní, Colony of Santo Domingo
Died	March 31, 1900 (aged 81) Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
Allegiance	Dominican Republic Spain
Service/branch	Dominican Army Spanish Army
Years of service	1844–1900
Rank	General
Battles/wars	Dominican War of Independence Dominican Restoration War Six Years' War

Pedro Valverde Lara (July 5, 1818 – March 31, 1900) was a Dominican general and independence activist.

Early years

He was born in Baní on July 5, 1818. He was the son of Miguel Valverde and Marcela Lara. He grew up, however, in the capital city of Santo Domingo.

He was part of the Haitian Reform conspiracy promoted by Charles Rivière-Hérard and opposed the intrigues of the Haitian royalist sector, which attempted to distort the revolutionary movement by sowing discord and unfounded fears, such as the rumor that the Haitian Reform sought to enslave blacks. In April 1842, pamphlets were distributed in Baní accusing some Dominican reformers of belonging to a supposed faction in favor of annexing the Santo Domingo to New Granada (present-day Colombia). Valverde, along with his comrade, Pedro Alejandro Pina, who were carrying out pro-reform propaganda work in San Cristóbal and Baní, were forced to flee the latter town to avoid imprisonment under false accusations of being "pro-Colombian," promoted by elements of the Haitian regime of Jean Pierre Boyer.

He joined the Dominican independence movement led by Juan Pablo Duarte. However, during the persecution led by Hérard, Valverde was arrested along with other patriots and imprisoned in the Ozama Fortress in July 1843. Following his release, he rejoined the independence movement. Valverde was present at the Puerta del Conde revolt on the night of February 27, 1844, in which the First Dominican Republic was proclaimed.

First Republic

In 1848, Valverde was part of the entourage that accompanied President Manuel Jimenes on his visit to the Cibao, with the aim of dispelling bad impressions about the political change following the resignation of General Pedro Santana and attracting some loyalists of the previous regime. In January 1852, he was appointed to the Conservative Council, representing the Province of El Seibo, a position he held until December 1854. During his time as a legislator, he participated in the constitutional reforms of February and December 1854.  On January 13, 1854, the Santo Domingo City Council appointed him judge in charge of cases related to abuses in the freedom of the press. Additionally, in June 1854, he was commissioned for the general repair of the Palace of the National Congress.

During the Dominican War of Independence, he took part in defending the country in the 1855 campaign against Haitian Emperor, Faustin I. Valverde commanded and won the Battle of El Can, near Enriquillo, a decisive victory that expelled the Haitian invaders from the region. By the end of the war, he reached the rank of colonel.

In May 1857, he was part of the commission charged by President Buenaventura Báez with implementing an exchange of worthless paper money in the cities of La Vega and Santiago de los Caballeros, a measure that, despite the explanations given to Cibao figures such as Generals José Desiderio Valverde, Benigno Filomeno de Rojas and Domingo Mallol, generated adverse effects. As a result, on July 7, 1857, the inhabitants of Santiago de los Caballeros, disavowed the government of Báez and, under the leadership of General José Desiderio Valverde, formed a new government, initiating the Cibaeño Revolution.

Faced with this uprising, Valverde took refuge in one of the foreign consulates in July 1857 and, shortly after, went into exile in Puerto Rico, arriving on the Danish island of Saint Thomas in August 1857, where Santana himself was in hiding. Days later, Valverde returned to the country with Santana, arriving in Puerto Plata. He was one of the signers of the National Manifesto of July 27, 1858, which proposed that Santana assume leadership of the country, repealing the Constitution of Moca and putting in place that of December 1854. Valverde was part of the commission that presented this manifesto to Santana, who accepted its principles.

Later, Valverde was sent as a messenger from Santana to President José Desiderio Valverde to ask him to reconsider his refusal to resign as president of the Republic in the city of Santiago. On December 24, 1858, he joined the sect of Freemasonry.  

War of Restoration

In 1861, when the annexation was proclaimed, he was enlisted in the reserves with the rank of general. Close defender of annexation, He served the Spanish as Governor of Santo Domingo and remained in office even after The Dominican Restoration War was in progress. The Spaniards rewarded the services of Valverde, and in October 1863, he was awarded the medal of Charles III. Valverde and Lara fell under suspicion of disaffection on the part of the Spanish and his confinement was arranged in a cell in the Ozama Fortress. General Pedro Santana interceded for him before the Captain General Carlos de Vargas and managed to have it delivered to him to take with him to the camp of Guanuma. At that point, Valverde and Lara deployed a silent and effective campaign between the soldiers, who began to defect from the anti-national side in ever-increasing quantity. The troops of San Cristóbal, in which Santana deposited a large trust, deserted en masse. He was finally discovered, arrested again and exiled on March 9, 1864, to the Spanish island of Santa Catalina, in Cádiz, where he arrived the following April.

Before the end of the war, on his return, he approached President Pedro Antonio Pimentel and found Valverde who had been treated with disdainful coldness by President Pimentel. Angered and humiliated, he approached General José María Cabral and, together with Eusebio Manzueta and Marcos Evangelista Adón, encouraged the insurrection by which Cabral overthrew Pimentel and proclaimed a new government just 27 days after the Spanish left.

After the Dominican Republic retained its independence from Spain, Pedro Valverde Lara served as the Secretary of War and Navy.

Six Years' War

In May 1866, Valverde joined the uprising against the third administration of President Báez, forming an alliance with Generals Gregorio Luperón, Pimentel , and Federico de Jesús García, leaders of the Blue Party. Together, these three Blue generals assumed power through a Triumvirate after overthrowing Báez in a coup d'état. In September of that same year, Valverde participated in the presidential elections, where he obtained 14 votes and lost to the Blue candidate Cabral. However, he was elected deputy for the Province of Santo Domingo and served on the National Convention in charge of reforming the Constitution. In addition, he was appointed the first diplomatic representative of the Dominican Republic to Haiti.

On October 7, 1867, an armed invasion from Haiti to the Northwest Line, backed by Haitian President Sylvain Salnave, destabilized the new Cabral government, culminating in its fall in 1868. In the midst of this context, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Pedro Francisco Bonó, ordered Valverde to return to Santo Domingo and suspended diplomatic relations with Haiti on October 14, 1867. Valverde, firm in his opposition to the policy of the fourth administration of President Báez in the midst of the Six Years' War (1868-1874), faced imprisonment and exile, but never gave up his fight against that regime.

In July 1868, in exile he participated in the Haitian civil war alongside Generals Gregorio Luperón, Marcos Evangelista Adón and Timoteo Ogando in the siege of the Haitian city of Jacmel, which was under attack by government forces of Salnave. These Dominican generals had been welcomed by Haitian military figures Hector and Louis Tanis, lieutenants of Nissage Saget.

In May 1870, with the United States government of President Ulysses S. Grant backing Báez, Cabral sent Valverde to negotiate a Spanish protectorate over the Dominican Republic. This plan included the cession of Samaná Bay in exchange for support in overthrowing the Báez government. At the same time, Cabral assured the US representative in Haiti that he would not oppose the Dominican annexation by the United States, as long as the inclusion of his faction in the political process was guaranteed. Unaware of these contradictory maneuvers, Manuel de Jesús Galván presented the proposal to the Spanish Provisional Government headed by Juan Prim, emphasizing the strategic benefits for the Spanish presence in the Caribbean.

Final years and death

In 1875, he received 10 votes in the presidential elections, but failed to win the office. However, he again won a seat in the National Assembly. In 1876, he was a key figure in a new coup d'état. In Santiago, Ignacio María González of the Green Party rose up against the Blue President Ulises Espaillat, challenging his authority in the Cibao. Although the rebellion seemed to be stalled, on October 5, 1876, Valverde, having taken refuge in the French consulate, led a pronouncement in the capital with the complicity of high government officials, forming a Superior Governing Board that assumed power until the return of González. Betrayed and without sufficient support, Espaillat also took refuge in the French consulate on October 5, 1876.

In January 1879, Valverde was present at the exhumation of Pedro Santana. In February 1884, he participated in the transfer of the remains of Juan Pablo Duarte, transferred from Caracas, Venezuela, an initiative promoted by Fernando Arturo de Meriño. On November 20, 1891, Valverde's proposal to change the name of the Plaza del Ex-Convento Dominico to Plaza Duarte was realized. It was also Valverde who suggested the creation of a statue of Duarte (inaugurated in 1930), two years before the Congress of the Republic and the blue president Ulises Heureaux posthumously granted Duarte the title of Father of the Nation.

He died on March 31, 1900. He was 81 years old.

See also

• José María Cabral
• Marcos Evangelista Adón
• Pedro Santana

References

This article "Pedro Valverde (general)" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical and/or the page Edithistory:Pedro Valverde (general). Articles copied from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be seen on the Draft Namespace of Wikipedia and not main one.

📰 Article(s) of the same category(ies)

• Ignacio Reyes
• Eusebio Manzueta
• Juan Nouesí
• Norberto Reinoso
• Antonio Caba
• Pedro Alejandro Pina
• Commanders who never lost a battle

---