Olimpio Otero Vergés was a merchart, attorney, composer, musical editor, and a political leader in Ponce, Puerto Rico

Ponce, Puerto Rico

Ponce is both a city and a municipality in the southern part of Puerto Rico. The city is the seat of the municipal government.The city of Ponce, the fourth most populated in Puerto Rico, and the most populated outside of the San Juan metropolitan area, is named for Juan Ponce de León y Loayza, the...

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Merchant

As a merchant, Otero Vergés led the Agricultural and Industrial Tabacco Exposition held in Ponce in 1883, just a year after the successful 1882 Exposition Fair that was held in the same city at Plaza Las Delicias

Plaza Las Delicias

Plaza Las Delicias is the main plaza in the city of Ponce, Puerto Rico. The square is notable for its fountains and for the various monuments it contains. The historic Parque de Bombas and Ponce Cathedral buildings are located within Plaza Las Delicias. Plaza Las Delicias is actually composed of...

 in the building now called Parque de Bombas

Parque de Bombas

Parque de Bombas is a historic firehouse building in Ponce, Puerto Rico. It is one of Puerto Rico's most notable buildings, with some considering it "by far the most easily recognized landmark in the Island". It is located at the Plaza Las Delicias town square, directly behind the Ponce Cathedral...

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Musician

Otero founded the first publishing house to publish and distribute Puerto Rican music, called the “Bazar Atocha”. His efforts made possible the circulation and distribution of music from the most important composers of his time, such as Manuel Gregorio Tavarez

Manuel Gregorio Tavarez

Manuel Gregorio Tavarez , was Puerto Rico's first renowned classical and danza composer and the inspiration behind future generations of composers.-Early years:...

 and Juan Morel Campos

Juan Morel Campos

Juan Morel Campos , sometimes erroneously spelled Juan Morell Campos, was a Puerto Rican composer, considered by many to be responsible for taking the genre of danza to its highest level.-Early years:...

. The Bazar, also known as "Bazar Otero" was also a gathering point for the musicians of the area.

Politician

In October, 1887, Otero led a three-member commission that organized an expedition to Madrid, Spain, for Julio Vizcarrondo

Julio Vizcarrondo

Julio Vizcarrondo Coronado was a Puerto Rican abolitionist, journalist, politician and religious leader. He played an instrumental role in the development and passage of the Moret Law which in 1873 abolished slavery in Puerto Rico...

 and Juan Bautista Arrillaga Roque to denounce the injustices perpetrated by Spanish governor General Romualdo Palacios Gonzalez

Romualdo Palacios Gonzalez

Romualdo Palacios Gonzalez was a Spanish general and governor of Puerto Rico in 1887. He is best remembered for his political persecution of Puerto Rican Autonomistas called Componte, a term than means "to rectify" or "to pacify". His favorite detention centers were the jails at the Ponce Military...

. It resulted in the removal of General Palacios from office.

Otero is also known for his promotion and creation of a road, now PR-10, to link Ponce and Adjuntas

Arecibo, Puerto Rico

Arecibo is a municipality in the northern midwest coast of Puerto Rico and located by the Atlantic Ocean, north of Utuado and Ciales; east of Hatillo; and west of Barceloneta, and Florida. Arecibo is spread over 18 wards and Arecibo Pueblo...

 in the early twentieth century. In 1903, the Puerto Rico Legislature named a bridge on the Ponce to Adjuntas, Puerto Rico

Adjuntas, Puerto Rico

Adjuntas is a small mountainside municipality in Puerto Rico located central midwest of the island on the Central Mountain range , north of Yauco, Guayanilla and Peñuelas; southeast of Utuado; east of Lares and Yauco; and west of Ponce. Adjuntas is spread over 16 wards and Adjuntas Pueblo...

 section of the road to his memory. The bridge is located in the Magueyes barrio of the municipality of Ponce. A prominent local politician, Otero was also a member of the organizing board that made possible the 1883 Ponce Fair.

Abolition of slavery

In 1880 Otero, together with the Juan Mayoral Barnés and Román Baldorioty de Castro

Román Baldorioty de Castro

Román Baldorioty de Castro distinguished himself as one of Puerto Rico's foremost abolitionists and spokesman for the island's right to self-determination...

, was instrumental in creating the concept for a park in Ponce—now known as Abolition Park

Abolition Park

Parque de la Abolicion is a city park in Ponce, Puerto Rico. The park is the only park in the Caribbean dedicated to commemorating the abolition of slavery.-Location and features:...

—dedicated to the abolition of slavery, the only such memorial in the Caribbean

Caribbean

The Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...

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Legacy

• In Ponce, there is school named after him.
• A bridge between Ponce and Adjuntas is called the Otero Viaduct, to his memory.
• A plaque recognizes him at Ponce's Park of the Illustrious Ponce Citizens.