Alberto Herrera y Franchi
General Alberto Herrera y Franchi was the provisional President of Cuba from August 12 to August 13, 1933. General Herrera was the Secretary of Navy during the presidency of Gerardo Machado, he was married to Ofelia Rodríguez Arango and they had three children, Alberto and Ofelia Herrera y Rodríguez-Arango. On August 11, 1933, when Cuban Army rebels took hold of the Castillo de la Real Fuerza, General Herrera attended the fortress in order to reach a resolution or pact with the rebels, he met with Erasmo Delgado. After much debate and given that the rebels did not want Herrera to secure the presidency after Machado’s departure, it was agreed that giving his powers as General the actions committed by the rebels did not constitute a revolt but were ordered on his behalf. After the departure of Machado on August 12, 1933, a power vacuum was created and Sumner Welles proposed the replacement of Machado with Herrera; the army rebels were not in accord with this proposal. Sumner Welles noted on August 12, 1933 "After the promise of certain of the Army leaders at 4 o'clock this morning that they would agree to the ad interim Presidency of any Cuban provided President Machado would retire from the office I was advised at 7 that they had again changed their minds and would accept anyone other than General Herrera to whom they were devoted but whom they feared the great mass of the opposition would not accept on account of his past intimate connection with President Machado."As a result, Sumner Welles devised a new plan in which Herrera would remain the only Cabinet member who would not resign from Machado's administration thus by default becoming the interim President for the purpose of appointing Carlos Manuel de Céspedes y Quesada, the son of Carlos Manuel de Céspedes, as member of Herrera's Cabinet.
Thereafter, Herrera would resign and as Carlos Manuel de Céspedes y Quesada would be the only one left in the Cabinet, he would by default become the new President. Sumner Welles' intention was to keep a form of constitutional continuance between the departure of Machado and the installation of a new government; some scholars, such as Rolando Rodriguez, have questioned whether the appointment of Carlos Manuel de Céspedes y Quesada as a Cabinet member followed by his appointment as President thereafter was constitutional at all. After the appointment of Carlos Manuel de Cespedes y Quesada as President, Herrera fled to the Hotel Nacional and secured passage to flee Cuba. Rodriguez Garcia, Rolando. "Rebelion en la Republica Auge y Caida de Gerardo Machado" Editorial Ciencias Sociales, 2013. Argote-Freyre, Frank. Fulgencio Batista: Volume 1, From Revolutionary to Strongman. Rutgers University Press, New Jersey. ISBN 0-8135-3701-0. 2006. Chester, Edmund A. A Sergeant Named Batista. Holt. ASIN B0007DPO1U.
1954. Otero, Juan Joaquin. Libro De Cuba, Una Enciclopedia Ilustrada Que Abarca Las Artes, Las Letras, Las Ciencias, La Economia, La Politica, La Historia, La Docencia, Y ElProgreso General De La Nacion Cubana - Edicion Conmemorative del Cincuentenario de la Republica de Cuba, 1902-1952
Carlos Mendieta
Carlos Mendieta y Montefur was a Cuban politician and Provisional President of Cuba. A chief opponent of Gerardo Machado, Mendieta was installed as provisional President of Cuba in 1934 by a coup led by Fulgencio Batista. During his presidency, women gained the right to vote and the Platt Amendment was rescinded. Mendieta resigned in 1935, he was married to Carmela Ledon and they had one child, Carmen Mendieta-Ledon, who married Calixto Garcia Velez. Otero, Juan Joaquin. Libro De Cuba, Una Enciclopedia Ilustrada Que Abarca Las Artes, Las Letras, Las Ciencias, La Economia, La Politica, La Historia, La Docencia, Y ElProgreso General De La Nacion Cubana - Edicion Conmemorative del Cincuentenario de la Republica de Cuba, 1902-1952
Caballero Rivero Woodlawn Park North Cemetery and Mausoleum
Caballero Rivero Woodlawn North Park Cemetery and Mausoleum is one of the oldest cemeteries in Miami, Florida. Woodlawn Park Cemetery – North was established in 1913 by three pioneers in Miami’s early history – Thomas O. Wilson, William N. Urmey and Clifton D. Benson; the Woodlawn group of cemeteries grew throughout the years, funeral homes were added as well. They invested thousands of dollars importing rare tropical trees and shrubs, including the first schefflera and mahogany trees, to this country. Woodlawn Park in 1926 commissioned a noted mausoleum architect, McDonald Lovell, to design a mausoleum for the park; the present building covers more than a city block, accented with marble, stained glass and hand-wrought bronze gates. The cemetery contains 13 British Commonwealth war graves of World War II, comprising one British and two New Zealand airmen, ten Royal Navy personnel. In 1990, Caballero Funeral Homes joined Woodlawn Park Cemeteries and Funeral Home and in 1993, Rivero Funeral Homes, the largest funeral home business in Florida, was acquired and the name was changed to Caballero Rivero Woodlawn North Park Cemetery and Mausoleum.
Caballero Rivero Woodlawn North Park Cemetery and Mausoleum is located at 3260 SW 8th St, Miami FL 33135, on SW 8 Street, between 32 and 33 Avenue. Desiderio Alberto Arnaz II – youngest mayor of Santiago de Cuba, former Representative of Cuba and father of Desi Arnaz Manuel Artime – led the Bay of Pigs invasion William Brickell and his wife, Mary – one of the founders of Miami Fernando Bujones – Ballet dancer Pat Cannon – former U. S. Representative Max Carey – Baseball Hall of Famer Rafael Guas Inclan – former Vice President of Cuba. Matthew Gribble – Olympic swimmer. William C. Lantaff – former U. S. Representative Gerardo Machado y Morales – former President of Cuba Jorge Mas Canosa – Cuban-American activist George Merrick – Founder of Coral Gables and the University of Miami Kirk Munroe – American writer Antonio Prío Socarrás- former minister of Cuba Sandy Amoros - Professional Baseball player Carlos Prío Socarrás- former President of Cuba María Dolores "Mary" Tarrero-Serrano – former First Lady of Cuba, wife of Carlos Prío Socarrás Francisco Prío Socarrás – former Senator of Cuba Maria Regla Prío Socarrás – former Representative of Cuba Antonio Prohias – cartoonist who created the comic strip Spy vs. Spy for MAD Magazine Manolo Reyes – pioneering Spanish-language news broadcaster Ramon Santamaria - Grammy Hall of Famer Dixie Dunbar - Singer and Actress Anastasio Somoza Debayle – former President of Nicaragua Hope Portocarrero – former First lady of Nicaragua Anastasio Somoza García- former President of Nicaragua Luis Somoza Debayle – former President of Nicaragua Alfonso, Prince of Asturias, Count of Covadonga, entombed there from Caballero Rivero Woodlawn Funeral Homes and Crematory
Carlos Manuel de Céspedes y Quesada
Carlos Manuel de Céspedes y Quesada was a Cuban writer, politician and President of Cuba. He was the son of Ana Maria de Quesada y Loinaz, he was a distant cousin of Perucho Figueredo. In 1915, he married Laura Bertini y Alessandri, an Italian, first in Rome and later again at City Hall in New York City by Mayor John Purroy Mitchel, they had the daughter Alba de Céspedes y Bertini. He was educated first in New York City until 1885, when his mother took him and his twin sister to Germany, he earned degrees in international law and diplomacy from the Instituto Stanislas in Paris, France. In 1895, he returned to Cuba and from 1895 to 1898 he fought in the War of Independence, becoming a teniente coronel and the revolutionary post of governor of the Province of Santiago de Cuba, he entered Cuban politics and from 1902 to 1908, was vice president of the Cuban House of Representatives. In 1909, he joined the Cuban diplomatic service and represented his country as minister to Italy, to Argentina, as a special envoy to Greece.
In 1914, he was Cuban Ambassador to the United States. He returned to Cuba in 1922, to become Foreign Minister under Gerardo Machado but resigned after a year. President Machado named him Ambassador to Mexico but Céspedes delayed his departure for reasons of ill health. Thereafter he was active in trying to overthrow Machado. In August 1933, Machado left Céspedes was offered the position of President, he took office on his 62nd birthday. De Cespedes’ Cabinet included: Gobernación, Colonel Federico Laredo Bru, Union Nacionalista Justicia, Dr. Carlos Saladrigas Zayas, A. B. C. Hacienda, Dr. Joaquin Martinez Saenz, A. B. C. Obras Públicas, Dr. Eduardo J. Chibas, Liberal Agricultura, Dr. Rafael Santos Jimenez, Marianista Instrucción Pública, Dr Guillermo Belt, Union Nacionalista Sanidad y Beneficencia, Dr. Antonio Presno, University of Habana Comunicaciones, Dr. Nicasio Silverior, O. C. R. R. Guerra y Marina, Demetrio Castillo Pokorny, non-partisan Presidencia, Dr. Raul de Cardenas y Echarte, ConservativeAlready by August 19, 1933, Sumner Welles noted the increasing tension that remained within the Cuban army after De Cespedes’ assumption of the presidency.
The reasons for the tensions within the army were mainly: the fact that various officials of Machado’s administration were allowed to leave the country. Welles noted the following on August 24, 1933: “I am coming to the conclusion that my original hope that the present Government of Cuba could govern as a constitutional government for the remainder of the term for which General Machado had himself elected must be abandoned. If the solid and unwavering support of the Army could be counted on, if the groups and parties represented in the present Government were unanimous in their support of the administration, it might be possible for the existing Government to maintain itself, pass the necessary legislation of all kinds required, hold the general national elections in November 1934 as anticipated; as a matter of fact, however, a general process of disintegration is going on. The Army is by no means in a satisfactory condition and the relapse in the health of General Sanguily, Chief of Staff and the one ranking officer in the Cuban Army who can command the support of his subordinates, has delayed the taking of the measures necessary to enforce discipline within the Army which he alone could have undertaken satisfactorily.”Given these circumstances, Welles proposed that “general elections may be held 3 months from now so that Cuba may once more have a constitutional government in the real sense of the word.”
De Cespedes agreed, on August 25, 1933, issued Presidential decree 1298, which basically: annulled the 1928 constitutional reforms and reestablished the 1901 Constitution of Cuba in its entirety, terminated the presidential mandate of Gerardo Machado, dissolved the Cuban Congress, vacated the seats of the Supreme Court of Cuba, declared that a general election would be held on February 24, 1934, for a new presidential term to begin on May 20, 1934. Despite these measures, on September 3, 1933, the Sergeants' Revolt took place while De Cespedes was in Matanzas & Santa Clara after a hurricane had ravaged those regions. Upon returning and reaching the presidential palace, Ramon Grau and members of the DEU or Directorio Estudiantil Universitario were awaiting him. "At 1 p.m. the Cespedes Cabinet resigned and President Cespedes left the Palace to go to his own house. Little disorder took place. Thereafter the Committee of five members of the revolutionary group took possession of the Palace as the executive power of the Cuban Republic".
He returned to the Foreign Service and became the Cuban Ambassador to Spain. In 1935, he returned to Cuba and wrote several books including: Carlos Manuel de Céspedes, Las Banderas de Yara y de Bayamo, Manuel de Quesada y Loynáz, he received numerous honors and awards including the Grand Cross of the Order of Carlos Manuel de Céspedes of Cuba, the Grand Cross of Belgium, the Grand Cross of Italy, the Grand Cross of Peru, the Grand Cross of the Spanish Republic, the Grand Ribbon of the Order of the Liberator of Venezuela, Order of Merit, Commander of the National Order of the Legion of Honour of France, of the Order of St. Lazaro and St. Maurice of Italy, he died on March 28, 1939, in Vedado, Havan
Gerardo Machado
Gerardo Machado y Morales was a general of the Cuban War of Independence and President of Cuba from 1925 to 1933. Machado entered the presidency with widespread popularity and support from the major political parties. However, his support declined over time following his 1928 re-election, which violated his promise to serve for only one term; as protests and rebellions became more strident, his administration curtailed free speech and used repressive police tactics. In 1933, he was forced to step down in favor of a provisional government headed by Carlos Manuel de Céspedes y Quesada and brokered by US ambassador Sumner Welles, he has been described as a dictator. Machado was born in the central Province of Las Villas, he had a brother Carlos and a sister Consuelo. He married Elvira Machado Nodal and they had three daughters: Laudelina, Ángela Elvira and Berta, he spent his childhood on his family's cattle farm and in his early 20s engaged in growing and selling tobacco. During Cuba's Ten Years' War against Spain, Machado's father joined the Cuban rebels and attained the rank of major.
When the Cubans launched their War of Independence against Spain in 1895, Machado joined the rebel forces and rose to the rank of brigadier general. He was one of the youngest Cuban generals in the war, he fought in the middle provinces. After the war ended, Machado turned to politics and business, he became mayor of Santa Clara and during the administration of José Miguel Gómez, he was appointed inspector of the armed forces and secretary of interior. Soon after, he engaged in business investing in public utilities, he returned to politics in the early 1920s. Machado, said to be the party's war leader in Las Villas province, fought on the defeated Liberal side in the "Little War of February 1917” La Chambelona, with José Miguel Gómez, Alfredo Zayas and with Enrique Loynaz del Castillo. Calixto Enamorado fought on the Conservative side. After the initial victories of the Liberals, things turned for the worse, yet Machado continued to fight after the Liberals lost to the machine guns of Colonel Rosendo Collazo at Caicaje, once the hacienda of Santiago Saura Orraque and Juan Manuel Perez de la Cruz on 8 March until his cause was unsustainable and surrendered.
President Mario García Menocal had won. Technically there was no U. S. intervention in this war, Cuban Army officers, notably Julio Sanguilí in Santiago, regained control. Since in this war the Liberals were said to be pro-German, U. S. President Woodrow Wilson, worried about Mexico and Pancho Villa, the loss of able general, Menocal's friend and Cuba hand Frederick Funston had one less distraction on his hands. Menocal declared war on Germany 7 April of that same year. John J. Pershing, less tactful than Funston, in the Cuban circumstance, would be sent first to Mexico and Europe. A political figure, he served as Interior Minister under José Miguel Gómez. Allied with his predecessor, the outgoing president Alfredo Zayas, running as a Liberal Party candidate in the 1924 election, he defeated Mario García Menocal of the Conservative Party by an overwhelming majority to become Cuba's fifth president, he campaigned with the slogan, "Water and schools". Machado took office as President of Cuba on 20 May 1925, left office on 12 August 1933.
He is noted for stating that at the end of his term he would ask for the abrogation of the Platt Amendment. Elected at the time of a fall in world sugar prices, he was a Cuban industrialist and member of the political elite of the Liberal Party. Machado's first term coincided with a period of prosperity. Sugar production expanded, the United States provided a close and ready market. Machado embarked on an ambitious public works program, he determined to make Cuba the "Switzerland of the Americas." Among the public works completed during Machado’s administration, there was the Carretera Central or Central Highway which ran the entire length of the island, from Pinar del Rio in the west to Santiago de Cuba, a distance of over 700 miles. Machado was responsible for the construction of El Capitolio, the elegant home of the Cuban Congress from 1929 to 1959; the new building, designed by Raúl Otero and Eugenio Rayneri Piedra and constructed in 1926–1929 had a neoclassical design that borrowed elements from the U.
S. Capitol building and the Pantheon in Paris, its purpose was to portray the optimism and elegance of the new democracy. Additionally, Machado oversaw the enlargement of the University of Havana, the expansion of health facilities. Other key buildings constructed under his administration include the Hotel Nacional de Cuba, the Asturia Center, the Bacardi Building, Lopez Serrano and the Hotel Presidente, he sponsored a tariff reform bill in 1927 providing protection to certain Cuban industries. Despite these accomplishments, Cuba's dependence on sugar continued, United States influence and investments increased. Cosme de la Torriente y Peraza, Cuban statesman and President of the League of Nations in the 1920s, said: In 1925 General Machado succeeded Dr. Zayas as President. In spite of his promise not to stand for reelection, Machado sought to have the Constitution of 1901 modified so that he could maintain himself in power; as a result, a widespread state of public disorder became permanent. It was under these circumstances that Machado was reelected without opposition in 1928.
His detractors claimed that he forced his way into a second term. Throughout his campaign leading to the 1924 general election, Macha
José Miguel Gómez
José Miguel Gómez y Gómez was a Cuban, one of the leaders of the rebel forces in the Cuban War of Independence and President of Cuba from 1909 to 1913. At the Constitutional Convention, Gómez was one of those who voted in favor of adopting the Platt Amendment. Born in Sancti Spíritus, in the former Las Villas Province, Gómez went on to govern Santa Clara and became quite popular in Cuba. In 1905 Gómez planned to run for the presidency with Alfredo Zayas on behalf of the Liberals. Violence prevented the Liberals from winning much in the election so Gómez dropped out of the running. Gómez and Zayas began to split the Liberal party. A strong showing by the Conservatives against the divided Liberals convinced them to rejoin. Gómez and Zayas won the 1908 election as the candidates for the Liberal Party, he was well liked among the people and Gómez was viewed as a kind president in the eyes of the people. However, political corruption boomed during his presidency and several major scandals occurred. During his presidency the government began funding newspapers, influencing them towards pro-government positions.
José Miguel Gómez died in New York City. His remains were brought back to Cuba for burial in the Colon Havana. In 1907 José López Rodríguez, financed the electoral campaign that would propel Gómez to the Presidency of the Republic. A friend of Gómez, Gerardo Machado, became the president of Cuba a few years later, he was married to América Arias y López, their son, Miguel Mariano Gómez, served as the sixth President of Cuba. Otero, Juan Joaquin. Libro De Cuba, Una Enciclopedia Ilustrada Que Abarca Las Ates, Las Letras, Las Ciencias, La Economia, La Politica, La Historia, La Docencia, Y ElProgreso General De La Nacion Cubana - Edicion Conmemorative del Cincuentenario de la Republica de Cuba, 1902-1952. Cuba, The Pursuit of Freedom
University of Havana
The University of Havana or UH is a university located in the Vedado district of Havana, the capital of the Republic of Cuba. Founded on January 5, 1728, the university is the oldest in Cuba, one of the first to be founded in the Americas. A religious institution, today the University of Havana has 15 faculties at its Havana campus and distance learning centers throughout Cuba, it was first called Real y Pontificia Universidad de San Gerónimo de la Habana. During those times, universities needed a royal or papal authorization in order to be created and thus the names Real y Pontificia; the two men who gave that authorization to the university were Pope Innocent XIII and King Philip V of Spain. In 1842, the university changed its status to become a secular and literary institution, its name became Real y Literaria Universidad de La Habana and when Cuba was a free republic, the name was changed to Universidad Nacional. The university had first been established in San Juan de Letrán before it was transferred on May 1, 1902, to a hill in the Vedado area of Havana.
The interiors of the building were decorated by Armando Menocal y Menocal. The seven frescos represent Medicine, Art, Liberal Arts and Law. At the main university entrance there is a bronze statue of Alma Mater, created in 1919 by artist Mario Korbel; the model for the statue's face was lovely 16-year-old Feliciana "Chana" Villalón, the daughter of José Ramón Villalón y Sánchez, a professor of analytical mathematics at the University. Chana married Juan Manuel Menocal, who went on to become the Dean of the Business School. Juan Manuel Menocal was a professor at the law school when Fidel Castro was a student there in the 1940s. Maria Rosa Menocal, former Director of the Whitney Humanities Center at Yale, was the granddaughter of Chana and Juan Manuel Menocal.. The main library "Rubén Martínez Villena" was established in 1936. After the government was taken over by Fulgencio Batista in 1952, the University became a center of anti-government protests. Batista closed the University in 1956. From January 1, 1959, the date on which Fidel Castro seized power in Cuba, until January 1, 1962, the University went through a period of reformation to eliminate "anti-revolutionary ideas".
In 2002, Rutgers University–Camden and the University of Havana signed a Memorandum of Understanding to formalize research and exchange opportunities for students and faculty. The MOU was re-signed in October 2016 with the addition of encompassing all of Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey; the University of Havana is made up of 16 faculties and 14 research centers in a variety of fields, including economics, social science and humanities. In total, up to 25 specialties are taught at the university. Now, it has about 60,000 degree students in regular classes. There are 16 faculties into which the university is divided: Natural Sciences Faculty of Biology Faculty of Pharmacy and Foods Faculty of Physics Faculty of Geography Faculty of Mathematics and Computer Science Faculty of Psychology Faculty of Chemistry Social Sciences and Humanities Faculty of Arts and Letters Faculty of Communication Faculty of Law Faculty of Philosophy and History Faculty of Foreign Languages Economic Sciences Faculty of Accounting and Finance Faculty of Economics Faculty of Tourism Distance Education Before the Cuban Revolution of 1959, students joined different organizations, aligning themselves directly or indirectly with some political party.
The strongest of all these organisations was the FEU created by Julio Antonio Mella, a co-founder of the Cuban Communist Party in the 1920s. The European revolutionary tradition of college-based political activism, practiced in Cuba and in many other Latin American countries and the alleged corruption of Cuban political parties at the time turned the FEU, a stronghold of communist ideology, into the most influential of Cuban political organizations before 1959, it was a major participant in the overthrowing of Cuban President Gerardo Machado. The FEU initiated the national general strike of 1933, resulting in the imprisonment of many of its members. Founder Julio Antonio Mella, himself had been killed at the hands of two assassins sent by Machado while exiled in Mexico in 1929 After the coup d'état by Fulgencio Batista in 1952, when free and democratic elections were suspended, the violent clashes between university students and Cuban police reached its extremes. Students known to be members of the FEU were violently tortured and killed in the streets of Havana, the organization reacted with an irregular war in the city, aiming to assassinate police officers of high rank, like the chief of the police in Havana, Blanco Rico, killed by 4 FEU members.
After the assault on the Moncada barracks by Fidel Castro, an attorney who graduated from Havana University School of Law, who had contacts in the FEU, the FEU became an ally of Castro's new July 26th Movement, though there were discrepancies between the leaders in the form that the forthcoming revolution should be carried out. While Fidel Castro was hiding in the Sierra Maestra mountains, the FEU, led by Jose Antonio Echeverria, attempted to kill Fulgencio Batista in an armed assault at the Cuban Presidential Palace on March 13, 1957. Batista managed to escape, man
