Born in Peralta, New Mexico, Otero attended private and parochial schools and Saint Louis University.

He engaged in commercial pursuits and stock raising, and subsequently became a banker.

He was also nominated by the Democratic State convention as a candidate for Delegate to the Forty-fourth Congress, but declined.

He moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico, in 1889, and was interested in the manufacture of sulphur and engaged in banking.

This article incorporates public domain material from the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress