Cuban Presidents
The first Cuban to hold the office of president was Carlos Manuel
de Céspedes y Castillo. He was elected after freeing his slaves and
initiating the first war for Cuban independence, now remembered as the
Ten Year War.
The constitutional convention that met in Guaimaro (April 10
1869) not only elected de Céspedes as Cuba's first president, but
article 24 of the constitution passed at this meeting ended the practice of
slavery in Cuba. (Of course, their authority extended only to areas controlled
by the rebels, and it would not be until October 1886 that slavery in Cuba
legally ended.)
The Cuban rebels had six presidents before the Ten Year War
came to a stalemate ending in 1878, and neither the Spanish empire nor the U.S.
government recognized any of these presidents, nor the Cubans' right to define
their own government.
- Cuban Presidents During the Ten Year War
- Carlos Manuel
de Céspedes y Castillo ( April 12 1869 - October 27 1873)
- Salvador
Cisneros Betancourt (October 27 1873 - June 28 1875)
- Juan Bautista
Spotorno ( July 1 1875 - March 29 1876)
- Tomás Estrada Palma (March
29 1876 - October 19 1877)
- Francisco Javier de Jesús (October 19 -
December 13 1877)
- Vicente Garcia y Gonzalez (December 13 1877 - February
10 1878)
- Cuban presidents during the War for Independence
(1895-1898)
- José Martí y Pérez (May 5 1895 - May
19 1895)
- Salvador Cisneros Betancourt (September 16 1895 - October 30
1897)
- Bartolomé Masó Márquez (October 30 1897 -
November 7 1898)
- American Governors During the Military Occupations of 1898 &
1906
- John Rutter Brooke (January 1 - December 23 1899)
- Leonard
Wood (December 23 1899 - May 20 1902)
- William Howard Taft (September 29 -
October 13 1906
- Charles Edward Magoon (October 13, 1906 - January 28
1909)
- Presidents of the Cuban Republic
- Tomas Estrada Palma
(May 20 1902 - September 28 1906)
- 2nd Military Occupation (1906-1909)
-
José Miguel Gómez
(January 28 1909 - May 20 1913)
- Aurelio Mario García Menocal (May
20 1913 - May 20 1921)
- Alfredo Zayas Alfonso (May 20 1921 - May 20
1925)
- Gerardo Machado y Morales
(May 20 1925 - August 12 1933)
- Carlos Manuel de Céspedes Quesada
(August 12 - September 4 1933)
- Ramon Grau San Martín (September 4
1933 - January 15 1934)
- Carlos Hevia y de los Reyes (January 15 - January
18 1934)
- Carlos Manuel Marquez Sterling (January 18 - January 18
1934)
- Carlos Mendieta y Montefur (January 18 1934 - December 11 1935)
-
José A. Barnet y Vinajeras (December 11 1935 - May 20 1936)
- Miguel
Mariano Gómez (May 20 1936 - December 23 1936)
- Federico Laredo Bru
(December 23 1936 - October 10 1940)
-
Fulgencio Batista y Zaldivar
(October 10 1940 - October 10 1944)
- Ramón Grau San Martin (October
10 1944 - October 10 1948)
- Carlos Prío Socarrás (October 10
1948 - March 10 1952)
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Los Presidentes
From top:
Carlos Manuel de Céspedes, Tomás Estrada
Palma, José Miguel Gómez,
Mario Menocal, Alfredo Zayas,
Gerardo Machado