34 Facts About Gaspar Polanco

Gaspar Polanco Borbon was a Dominican Republic military general and politician.

Gaspar Polanco has been one of the most notable military figures in the history of the Dominican Republic and served as the country's president.

Gaspar Polanco's father, Valentin Polanco, was a resident cattle breeder and tobacco grower in Guayubin, from where it was easy to export to neighboring Haiti.

At the head of the troops, quickly reinforced with new recruits, Gaspar Polanco defeated in La Barranquita de Guayacanes the contingent sent from Santiago under the command of Commander Florentino Martinez in order to assist Colonel Manuel Buceta.

In those days, Gaspar Polanco became the preponderant figure of the Dominican Restoration War, despite not being elected president of the Republic.

Garcia Lluberes highlighted that Gaspar Polanco was responsible for leading the beginning of the war, embodied in the taking of Santiago, and its triumphant end, culminating months later in the unemployment of the country.

Gaspar Polanco did not have an undisputed ascendancy in the patriotic ranks as Santana had had during the wars with Haiti.

The command team headed by Gaspar Polanco was made up of generals Gregorio Luperon, Ignacio Reyes Gaton and Gregorio de Lora and colonels Pedro Antonio Pimentel, Benito Moncion and Jose Antonio Salcedo.

In one of the truces, Luperon asked Gaspar Polanco to promote the last two to the rank of general, in recognition of their exploits of those days, and was immediately pleased.

Precisely, from those days Gaspar Polanco had the merit of embodying the national spirit.

Gaspar Polanco's presence was felt like that of no other boss in the result obtained.

Gaspar Polanco took advantage of the situation to begin the withdrawal in the direction of Puerto Plata, after a failed attempt towards La Vega.

Once it was Gaspar Polanco's turn to direct the pursuit of the retreating column, an action that took place for four days and in which some 700 Spanish soldiers perished.

Gaspar Polanco kept with him several of the best commanders and select troops, tested in Santiago.

Always directing the actions from the front row, Gaspar Polanco was added several wounds to those that already showed his status as a warrior.

For more than a year, the Dominican troops commanded by Gaspar Polanco subjected the Spanish to a rigorous siege.

Gaspar Polanco gave no quarter, considering that the state of siege did not authorize passivity.

Gaspar Polanco's determination was so strong that he was slow to move from his post when he heard the news that his wife had fallen ill, and he did not manage to attend her funeral.

Gaspar Polanco even suggested, according to Luperon's testimony, accepting a kind of armistice, which in fact amounted to capitulation.

However, it can be concluded that, engaged in a relentless fight against external and internal enemies, Gaspar Polanco must have realized that, if he remained alive, the deposed president could represent a danger to the fate of the restoration cause.

From this angle, the execution of Salcedo is part of the set of actions of the Gaspar Polanco administration, recognized by those who have issued fair judgments as the crowning moment of the Restoration.

Gaspar Polanco's response was that of the man at arms, little inclined towards political solutions, convinced that violence was the only terrain in which conflicts of interest could be resolved.

Gaspar Polanco's action was different from that of Luperon, who, despite the fact that Salcedo had given the order to execute him, offered him protection and managed to save his life at the moment when Moncion and Pimentel tried to shoot him.

The national orientation of the Gaspar Polanco government represented the main precedent for the constitution of liberalism as a political movement, in what would eventually be called the Blue Party.

The orientation of the Gaspar Polanco government was reflected in the relevance it gave to the team of civilians that had been participating in the Santiago government.

Gaspar Polanco backtracked and was transparent in handing over administrative and political matters to civilians.

Unsuccessfully, Gaspar Polanco himself challenged the enemy to a pitched battle, with no results.

Gaspar Polanco compensated for his illiterate condition with a strong personality that was channeled into warrior skills, the gift of command and the display of personal courage, the latter quality indispensable for all those who promoted themselves through the war profession.

Gaspar Polanco was inflexible in the face of traitors, and was often infuriated when critical situations arose in combat.

Gaspar Polanco was the most complete expression of the sociological phenomenon; but, as a hero, he directed it to a patriotic and revolutionary sense.

Gaspar Polanco did not at all obey the elemental instincts of the leaders: on the contrary, in his performance as president of the Dominican Republic in arms he would show his willingness to leave public affairs in the hands of educated civilians, endowed with a democratic and national conception that he shared.

Gaspar Polanco was overthrown from the presidency by a movement that his brother Juan Antonio supported led by Pimentel, Moncion and Garcia, who considered his attempt to monopolize tobacco with his friends and associates as an arbitrary and dictatorial decision, and he went on to dedicate himself to their herds and agricultural activities where he lived in Esperanza, Valverde.

Gaspar Polanco was taken to receive medical attention in Santiago and then transferred to the city of La Vega, where he died of tetanus, as a result of the wound received.

Gaspar Polanco's remains rest in the National Pantheon of the Dominican Republic in Santo Domingo.