Policarpo Toro Hurtado was a Chilean naval officer, born in Melipilla on 1856. He enrolled in the Chilean Navy in 1871 and visited Easter Island in 1875. From 1877 to 1879 he participated in the English Navy as second lieutenant. In 1879, as the War of the Pacific started, he asked to return to Chile and participated in several actions. In 1883 visited Easter Island a second time and elaborated a document where he highlighted economic advantages for Chile in acquiring the island.
With government approval, he visited the island in 1887. After a year of negotiations with the islanders, in September 9 1888 he took possession of the island on behalf of Chile. In 1891 he refused to participate in the naval actions against José Manuel Balmaceda government (in the so-called 1891 Revolution) and was separated from the Army. In 1893, in the general amnesty enacted by the new government, he was pensioned. He died in Santiago in 1921.
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