Luperón, Gregorio (1839–1897)

Gregorio Luperón (b. 8 September 1839; d. 21 May 1897), president of the Dominican Republic (6 October 1879–1 September 1880). A black, born in Puerto Plata in the north, Luperón won great distinction as a general during the War of Restoration (1863–1865) and the defeat of Spain. He became a leading soldier-statesman and patriot dedicated to ending turmoil and uniting the country. For many years, he was a strong supporter of Ulises Espaillat, who urged Luperón to become president in 1876. He regularly resisted assuming the office but finally agreed to serve as a provisional president in 1879. As president he reorganized the army and local administration, paid government workers their back pay of three years, and adjusted all foreign claims. In the early 1880s, he served as a diplomat in Paris, representing the democratically elected government of his successor, Father Fernando Arturo de Meriño.

See alsoDominican Republic; Espaillat, Ulises Francisco.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Frank Moya Pons, Manual de historia dominicana (1977), pp. 367-368, 371-374, 384-402, 407-416.

Emilio Rodríguez Demorizi, Luperón y Hostos (1939), pp. 14-15, 20-21, 26, 31-32.

Hugo Tolentino Dipp, Gregorio Luperón (Biografía Política) (1977), chap. 2.

Sumner Welles, Naboth's Vineyard: The Dominican Republic, 1844–1924, vol. 1 (1966), chap. 6.

Additional Bibliography

Castro Ventura, Santiago. Andanzas patrióticas de Luperón. Santo Domingo, República Dominicana: S. Castro Ventura, 2002.

Hernández Flores, Ismael. Luperón-Peña Gómez, paralelismos. Santo Domingo, República Dominicana: Editora de Colores, 2004.

                                     Larman C. Wilson