A VINTAGE ORIGINAL 8X10 INCH PHOTO FROM 1933 DEPICTING FORMER PRESIDENT OF CUBA GENERAL MACHADO
Gerardo Machado y Morales (28 September 1869 – 29 March 1939) 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. Many people objected to his running again for re-election in 1928, as his victory 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 against opponents.
Ultimately, in 1933, Machado 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. Machado has been described as a dictator.
Gerardo Machado y Morales, (born Sept. 29, 1871, Camajuaní, Cuba—died March 29, 1939, Miami Beach), hero in the Cuban War of Independence (1895–98) who was later elected president by an overwhelming majority, only to become one of Cuba's most powerful dictators.
Gerardo Machado y Morales
Gerardo Machado Y Morales
See all media
Born: September 29, 1871 Cuba
Died: March 29, 1939 (aged 67) Miami Beach Florida
Title / Office: president (1924-1933), Cuba
Leaving the army as a brigadier general after the war, he turned to farming and business but remained active in politics, heading the Liberal Party in 1920. His election to the presidency in 1924 was welcomed by most Cubans, especially the middle class, who thought a sensible businessman would restore order to Cuba's disrupted society. To counteract economic depression caused by declining sugar prices, Machado instituted a massive program of public works but was accused of enriching himself at public expense. In 1927 he seized control of the Cuban political parties. He was reelected in 1928, despite heated opposition from students and professional men, and began to rule even more dictatorially. Disorder became widespread, and in 1933 U.S. Ambassador Sumner Welles, under instructions from Pres. Franklin D. Roosevelt, tried to mediate between Machado and opposition forces, but a general strike was called, and even the army demanded Machado's ouster. He was forced into an exile (August 12) from which he never returned.
Gerardo Machado y Morales (1871-1939) was a general in Cubas War for independence of 1895-1898 against Spain. Later elected president, he developed into a harsh dictator.
Gerardo Machado was born in Santa Clara, Las Villas Province, on Sept. 28, 1871. He spent his childhood on his familys cattle estate, attended private schools, and in his early 20s engaged in growing and selling tobacco. During Cubas Ten Years War (1868-1878) against Spain, Machados father had joined the Cuban rebels, attaining the rank of major. Machado followed in his fathers steps, and when the Cubans resumed the war in 1895, he enrolled, rising to the rank of brigadier general.
After the war ended, Machado turned to politics and business. He became mayor of Santa Clara and during José Miguel Gómezs administration (1909-1913) was appointed inspector of the armed forces and later secretary of interior. Soon after, he engaged in farming and in business and, together with American capitalists, invested in public utilities. He grew wealthy, returning to politics in the early 1920s. He won control of the Liberal party and, with his slogan "Water, roads, and schools," was elected president in 1924.
Reform President
Machados first administration coincided with a period of prosperity. Sugar production expanded, and the United States provided a close and ready market. Machado embarked on an ambitious public works program which included the completion of the Central Highway, the construction of the national capital, the enlargement of the University of Havana, and the expansion of health facilities. He also sponsored a tariff reform bill in 1927 providing protection to certain Cuban industries. Despite these accomplishments, Cubas dependence on sugar continued, and United States influence and investments increased.
Before his first administration ended, Machado sought reelection. Claiming that his economic program could not be completed during his 4-year term and that only he could carry it out, Machado announced his decision to have himself reelected and to extend the presidential term to 6 years. He prevented the growth of political opposition by controlling the Conservative party and the small Popular party. Through bribes and threats he subordinated Congress and the judiciary to the executive will, and in 1928 he was reelected over virtually no opposition.
Repression and Reaction
Machados second term was fraught with problems. Affected by the shock waves of the world depression and oppressed by an increasingly ruthless dictator, many Cubans, led primarily by university students, organized resistance to the regime. In 1931 former president Mario García Menocal led a short-lived uprising in Pinar del Río Province. That same year an anti-Machado expedition landed in Oriente Province, only to be crushed by the army.
As urban violence increased, so did repression. Machados police raided secret meeting places, arresting students and opposition leaders, whom they tortured or killed. The United States, attempting to find a peaceful solution to Cubas political situation, sent special envoy Sumner Welles to mediate between government and opposition. The mediation was supported by most political factions and leaders with the exception of the conservatives and, particularly, the students. Welless efforts finally led to a general strike and an army revolt which forced Machado to leave the country on Aug. 12, 1933. Machado settled in the United States and died in Miami Beach, Fla., on March 29, 1939.
When Gerardo Machado y Morales was born on September 28 1871, the Ten Year War was in its third year, and the 30-year period of armed struggle and insurrection that finally separated Cuba from Spain had begun.
Machado was the youngest Cuban General in the war of independence that ended with U.S. occupation (in 1898) when he was 27. During the occupation he served as Mayor of Santa Clara, where he was born. Shortly after taking office as Mayor in 1899, a mysteriou /* s fire burned the records of his criminal past, hiding from the Americans the fact that prior to the war of independence, Machado and his father were cattle robbers. One fact he couldnt hide was that he only had three fingers on his left hand, the result of his early life in a butcher shop in Camajuaní.
After running unsuccessfully for governor of Las Villas, Machado went on to serve in various posts in the government of José Miguel Gómez.
Machado became involved in a number of business endeavors, such as a sugar mill called The Central Carmita, and served as vice president of the Compañía Cubana de Electricidad, which controlled most of the Havana utilities. He also remained an active member of the liberal party. He married his cousin Elvira Machado Nodal, and they had three daughters; Laudelina (Nena), Angela Elvira and Berta.
In 1924 Machado ran for president and defeated Mario G. Menocal of the Conservative Party to become Cubas 5th president. As a businessman/candidate, Machado tapped into the resurgent nationalism of the time, and with the support of outgoing president Alfredo Zayas (which he traded for future seats in the cabinet), he enjoyed a great deal of popularity and easily won 5 of the 6 provinces (losing only in conservative Pinar del Rio).
Machados campaign for national regeneration initially received wide support. He taxed American capital investments, initiated the construction of a 700-mile (1,127 km) central highway and promoted investments in tourism, industry and mining. His image at the time was what many to this day recognize as the most important achievement for a Cuban politician; he combined a genuine support for U.S. interests while defending the idea of Cuban sovereignty.
Wilfredo Fernandez, leader of the Conservative Party, said in December 1925 that Machados programs were so "full of patriotism" that to oppose them is "unpatriotic." But the general economic situation was not good for Cuba in the late 1920s, and Machados attitude towards opposing points of view was arrogant and dictatorial.
In April 1928, as dissension grew from university students against his "dictatorial tendencies," Machado ordered the University Council (made up of teachers and administrative officials), to convene disciplinary tribunals and expel the leaders of the Directorio Estudiantil Universitario (Student Directory). The students, which would later be recalled as the Generation of the Thirties, included Aureliano Sánchez Arango, Eduardo Chibás, Antonio Guiteras and others.
Through a combination of threats and bribes, Machado became the only legal candidate of the only legal political parties; the Liberal, the Conservative, and the Popular parties. He had earlier orchestrated the amending of the constitution to permit a 6-year term, and in November 1928 he won a second term, unopposed.
But the political climate was going through numerous changes. In 1929, exiled student leader Julio Antonio Mella was murdered in Mexico. Mella had been a leading opponent of Machado and a leftist thinker. The Cuban communists always blamed Machado, and Mellas surviving widow supported their suspicions.
Disenfranchised members of the political opposition, led by Mario G. Menocal (conservatives) Miguel Mariano Gómez and Carlos Mendieta (Liberals) made up the formal opposition. Along with the murder of Mella, and the economic crisis that followed the extreme drops in sugar prices during the Wall Street crash of 1929, opposition against Machado grew rapidly.
And just as the opposition grew, Machados retaliations became harsher and more violent than before. His secret police, known as the "Porra," went furiously after the opposition, and their brutality became another reason to oppose Machado.
In 1931, the old leaders of the independence movement lead a revolt against Machado that involved student groups, organized labor and secret societies of middle class professionals (such as the ABC). Out of this volatile and chaotic situation Dr. Ramón Grau San Martín emerged as a voice of reason, but Machado retaliated with the bloodiest campaign to date.
On December 23 1931, as the political opposition all over the island called for fair elections, Machado announced that he would stay in office until May 20 1935, "not a minute more or a minute less."
"By the end of 1932," wrote Jules R. Benjamin in The Hispanic American Historical Review (Vol. 55, #1 - Feb. 1975), "the militant response of the Cuban proletariat to both the depression and the dictatorship had become one of the major threats to the regime."
"United States attitudes during this period," Benjamin adds, "further complemented the disorientation of nationalist ideology. Washington began to take a stand in favor of political reform in Cuba and held forth the progressive goals of the early New Deal as indicative of its new policy toward the island."
By early 1933 the confrontations between Machados government (the police and the army) and the political opposition (students, organized labor, the ABC) had grown in violence and frequency, often resembling an all out war.
On May 8 1933 Sumner Welles arrived in Havana, sent by U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt to oversee the growing "Cuban situation." On July 21 Welles insisted on the reinstitution of the constitutional guarantees that Machado had removed in June 1931. Machado responded in a stern tone; "The re-establishment of the guarantees is a prerogative of the President of Cuba and will be done when the President considers it necessary."
Not being able to influence Machado, Welles negotiated an end to his presidency, and ushered in the age of Batista.
After Machado left Cuba, Carlos Manuel de Céspedes (son of the Cuban hero of the Ten Year War) became provisional president. He was unseated by Batistas infamous Revolt of the Sergeants on September 5 1933.
Machado died on March 29 1939, in Miami Beach, Florida.
When Gerardo Machado y Morales was born on September 28 1871, the Ten Year War was in its third year, and the 30-year period of armed struggle and insurrection that finally separated Cuba from Spain had begun.
Machado was the youngest Cuban General in the war of independence that ended with U.S. occupation (in 1898) when he was 27. During the occupation he served as Mayor of Santa Clara, where he was born. Shortly after taking office as Mayor in 1899, a mysteriou /* s fire burned the records of his criminal past, hiding from the Americans the fact that prior to the war of independence, Machado and his father were cattle robbers. One fact he couldnt hide was that he only had three fingers on his left hand, the result of his early life in a butcher shop in Camajuaní.
After running unsuccessfully for governor of Las Villas, Machado went on to serve in various posts in the government of José Miguel Gómez.
Machado became involved in a number of business endeavors, such as a sugar mill called The Central Carmita, and served as vice president of the Compañía Cubana de Electricidad, which controlled most of the Havana utilities. He also remained an active member of the liberal party. He married his cousin Elvira Machado Nodal, and they had three daughters; Laudelina (Nena), Angela Elvira and Berta.
In 1924 Machado ran for president and defeated Mario G. Menocal of the Conservative Party to become Cubas 5th president. As a businessman/candidate, Machado tapped into the resurgent nationalism of the time, and with the support of outgoing president Alfredo Zayas (which he traded for future seats in the cabinet), he enjoyed a great deal of popularity and easily won 5 of the 6 provinces (losing only in conservative Pinar del Rio).
Machados campaign for national regeneration initially received wide support. He taxed American capital investments, initiated the construction of a 700-mile (1,127 km) central highway and promoted investments in tourism, industry and mining. His image at the time was what many to this day recognize as the most important achievement for a Cuban politician; he combined a genuine support for U.S. interests while defending the idea of Cuban sovereignty.
Wilfredo Fernandez, leader of the Conservative Party, said in December 1925 that Machados programs were so "full of patriotism" that to oppose them is "unpatriotic." But the general economic situation was not good for Cuba in the late 1920s, and Machados attitude towards opposing points of view was arrogant and dictatorial.
In April 1928, as dissension grew from university students against his "dictatorial tendencies," Machado ordered the University Council (made up of teachers and administrative officials), to convene disciplinary tribunals and expel the leaders of the Directorio Estudiantil Universitario (Student Directory). The students, which would later be recalled as the Generation of the Thirties, included Aureliano Sánchez Arango, Eduardo Chibás, Antonio Guiteras and others.
Through a combination of threats and bribes, Machado became the only legal candidate of the only legal political parties; the Liberal, the Conservative, and the Popular parties. He had earlier orchestrated the amending of the constitution to permit a 6-year term, and in November 1928 he won a second term, unopposed.
But the political climate was going through numerous changes. In 1929, exiled student leader Julio Antonio Mella was murdered in Mexico. Mella had been a leading opponent of Machado and a leftist thinker. The Cuban communists always blamed Machado, and Mellas surviving widow supported their suspicions.
Disenfranchised members of the political opposition, led by Mario G. Menocal (conservatives) Miguel Mariano Gómez and Carlos Mendieta (Liberals) made up the formal opposition. Along with the murder of Mella, and the economic crisis that followed the extreme drops in sugar prices during the Wall Street crash of 1929, opposition against Machado grew rapidly.
And just as the opposition grew, Machados retaliations became harsher and more violent than before. His secret police, known as the "Porra," went furiously after the opposition, and their brutality became another reason to oppose Machado.
In 1931, the old leaders of the independence movement lead a revolt against Machado that involved student groups, organized labor and secret societies of middle class professionals (such as the ABC). Out of this volatile and chaotic situation Dr. Ramón Grau San Martín emerged as a voice of reason, but Machado retaliated with the bloodiest campaign to date.
On December 23 1931, as the political opposition all over the island called for fair elections, Machado announced that he would stay in office until May 20 1935, "not a minute more or a minute less."
"By the end of 1932," wrote Jules R. Benjamin in The Hispanic American Historical Review (Vol. 55, #1 - Feb. 1975), "the militant response of the Cuban proletariat to both the depression and the dictatorship had become one of the major threats to the regime."
"United States attitudes during this period," Benjamin adds, "further complemented the disorientation of nationalist ideology. Washington began to take a stand in favor of political reform in Cuba and held forth the progressive goals of the early New Deal as indicative of its new policy toward the island."
By early 1933 the confrontations between Machados government (the police and the army) and the political opposition (students, organized labor, the ABC) had grown in violence and frequency, often resembling an all out war.
On May 8 1933 Sumner Welles arrived in Havana, sent by U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt to oversee the growing "Cuban situation." On July 21 Welles insisted on the reinstitution of the constitutional guarantees that Machado had removed in June 1931. Machado responded in a stern tone; "The re-establishment of the guarantees is a prerogative of the President of Cuba and will be done when the President considers it necessary."
Not being able to influence Machado, Welles negotiated an end to his presidency, and ushered in the age of Batista.
After Machado left Cuba, Carlos Manuel de Céspedes (son of the Cuban hero of the Ten Year War) became provisional president. He was unseated by Batistas infamous Revolt of the Sergeants on September 5 1933.
Machado died on March 29 1939, in Miami Beach, Florida.
Gerardo Machado y Morales (28 September 1869 – 29 March 1939) 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. Many people objected to his running again for re-election in 1928, as his victory 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 against opponents.
Ultimately, in 1933, Machado 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. Machado has been described as a dictator.[1][2]
Contents
1Family and education
2Cuban War of Independence
3Post-war career
4First term as president
5Second term as president
5.11928 re-election
5.2Violence
6Regime change
7Bibliography
8Memoirs and papers
9References
9.1General references
10External links
Family and education
Machado was born in 1869 as the oldest child in his family, in the central Province of Las Villas (now Villa Clara). He had two younger siblings, a brother Carlos and a sister Consuelo. He and his siblings grew up on their familys cattle farm, during a period when their father served with Cuban rebels in the Ten Years War against Spain (1868-1878). He attained the rank of major. The war ended without Cuba achieving independence. When he was in his early 20s, Machado engaged in growing and selling tobacco.
As a young man, he married Elvira Machado Nodal (28 October 1868 in Villa Clara – 1968). They had three daughters together: Laudelina (Nena), Ángela Elvira, and Berta. He is survived today by his great, great, great, great grandchildren Morgan Machado, Olivia Machado, Jack Machado, and Alex Barnes.[3]
Cuban War of Independence
In 1895 Cubans launched a War of Independence against Spain. Machado joined the rebel forces and rose to the rank of brigadier general.[4] He was one of the youngest Cuban generals in the war.[5] He fought in the middle provinces.[6]
Post-war career
After the war ended, Machado turned to politics and business. He was elected as mayor of Santa Clara. During the national administration of José Miguel Gómez (1909–1913), Machado was appointed as inspector of the armed forces and later as secretary of interior.
After his return to private life, he engaged in farming and in business investing in public utilities. With his family provided for, he returned to politics in the early 1920s.[4]
Machado was said to be the partys war leader in Las Villas province, where he fought on the Liberal side in the "Little War of February 1917” La Chambelona (Chambelona War), with José Miguel Gómez, Alfredo Zayas, and Enrique Loynaz del Castillo. The Liberals were defeated. Calixto Enamorado fought on the Conservative side.
After the initial victories of the Liberals, things turned for the worse, yet Machado continued to fight even after the Liberals lost to the machine guns of Colonel Rosendo Collazo at Caicaje,[6] once the hacienda of Santiago Saura Orraque[7] and Juan Manuel Perez de la Cruz.[8] Finally they could not continue and Machado surrendered on 8 March 1917.[9]
President Mario García Menocal had definitively won the conflict. Technically there was no U.S. intervention in this war.[10] Cuban Army officers, notably Julio Sanguilí in Santiago, and their forces[11] regained control for the government.
In this war, against the background of the Great War raging in Europe, the Liberals were said to be pro-German. This resulted in U.S. President Woodrow Wilson adding Cuba to his worries, as he was already concerned about the Mexican civil conflict and actions of Pancho Villa on the Southern border. The Cuban war resulted in the death of Frederick Funston, a friend and ally of Menocal. President Menocal declared war on Germany 7 April 1917. John J. Pershing was reassigned to United States forces in Mexico and then Europe.
Machado was appointed as Interior Minister under José Miguel Gómez.[3] Allied with his predecessor, the outgoing president Alfredo Zayas, and running as a Liberal Party candidate in the 1924 election, Machado defeated Mario García Menocal of the Conservative Party by an overwhelming majority; he was elected as Cubas fifth president. He campaigned with the slogan, "Water, roads, and schools".[4]
First term as president
Machado took office as President of Cuba on 20 May 1925, and 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. Machados first term (1925–1929) coincided with a period of prosperity. Sugar production expanded, and 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."
In April, 1927, Machado visited the United States and on April 23, 1927 he met with President Calvin Coolidge. At such meeting Machado discussed with Coolidge, many issues including the Platt Amendment. Whether for the sake of gaining political favour, being tactful or whatever the reason Machado firstly stated that the Platt Amendment was in fact a positive benefit to the Cuban people but he insisted on a modification of its terms as the Platt Amendment was a stigma of embarrassment among the international community insofar that it represented Cuba as lacking complete sovereignty over its affairs.[12]
Among the public works completed during Machado's administration, there was the Carretera Central or Central Highway which ran practically the entire length of the island, from Pinar del Rio in the west to Santiago de Cuba, a distance of over 700 miles.[13] Machado was also responsible for the construction of El Capitolio (The Capitol), 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, confidence and elegance of the new democracy.[14]
Additionally, Machado oversaw the enlargement of the University of Havana, and the expansion of health facilities. Other key buildings constructed under his administration include the Hotel Nacional de Cuba, the Asturia Center (today National Museum of Fine Arts of Havana), the Bacardi Building (Havana), Lopez Serrano and the Hotel Presidente. He also sponsored a tariff reform bill in 1927 providing protection to certain Cuban industries. Despite these accomplishments, Cubas dependence on sugar continued, and United States influence and investments increased.
In order to complete the financing of these projects, the President, ignoring his original pledge against foreign loans, entered into transactions with the Chase Bank Syndicate resulting by his second term in the crease of Cubas public debt by $86 million.[15]
Second term as president
1928 re-election
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 almost permanent. It was under these circumstances that Machado was reelected without opposition in 1928.[16]
According to Pereza on 9 January 1931, the following newspapers were closed upon Machados presidential decree, Diario de la Marina, El Mundo, El Pais, Informacion, The Havana American, La Semana, Karikato, Carteles, and Bohemia, followed by the multiple arrests of numerous newspaper editors [17]
His detractors claimed that he became despotic and forced his way into a second term.[18] Throughout his campaign leading to the 1924 general election, Machado stated numerous times that he did not aspire to be reelected, but only two years into his presidency he changed his mind. In 1927 Machado pushed a series of constitutional amendments in order to enable him to seek re-election, which he obtained in the 1928 presidential election. This act of continuismo, coupled with growing economic depression caused by a decline in sugar prices starting in 1925, its aggravation due to the crash of 1929, and political repression, led to significant political instability.[19] Machado also faced backlash from university students after the formation of the Directorio Estudiantil Universitario in 1927. After various protests, and the death of the DEU members, most notably of Rafael Trejo, Machado closed the University in 1930.
U.S. Secretary of State Cordell Hull wrote, in a telegram to incoming U.S. Ambassador to Cuba Sumner Welles on 1 May 1933, with respect to Machados constitutional reforms of 1927:[citation needed]
Under the terms of the Cuban Constitution (1901 Constitution of Cuba), as promulgated in 1902, amendments to the Constitution proposed by the Congress did not become effective until approved by a constituent assembly specifically elected for that purpose. Consequently, after the project for constitutional reform had been enacted by the Cuban Congress, elections were held for delegates to the constituent assembly and those delegates were elected a revised form of the so-called "Crowed Electoral Code", the revisions selected, in their great majority, by members of the existing House and Senate, and in most instances the Senators and Representatives themselves served as delegates to the constituent assembly. It is obvious that the revision of the Electoral Code made possible at this time the election of delegates favorable to the proroguing of the terms of the President, of the members of the Senate and of the members of the House of Representatives, and that such delegates were by no means elected through the untrammeled vote of the Cuban people themselves. The constituent assembly so selected convened in the month of April, 1928. Under the terms of the then-existing Constitution, the duties of the constituent assembly were "limited either to approving or rejecting the amendment voted by the co-legislative bodies." Notwithstanding this clear provision and the clear intent thereof, the constituent assembly revised completely several of the provisions of the project submitted by the Cuban Congress. It would seem that there was a reasonable measure of doubt that the constituent assembly acted "ultra vires". The Supreme Court of Cuba has, however, consistently refrained from rending a decision upon this question.
Violence
Machado survived several attempts on his life. In the most famous, a violent opposition group, the ABC (abecedarios), assassinated the President of the Cuban Senate Clemente Vazquez Bello. They had constructed a tunnel to reach the Vazquez family crypt in Havanas Colón Cemetery and planted an explosive device there, anticipating that Machado would attend the funeral. The plan failed when the family decided to bury Vazquez in Santa Clara instead.[20]
Machado has also been credited for unleashing a wave of violence against his critics. In Machado: Crimenes y Horres de un Regime, Carlos G. Pereza details of some of Machado's alleged crimes. Pereza blames Machado for the death of numerous Cubans including Armando Andre y Alvarado (1926), Enrique Varona (1926), Claudio Bouzón –Noske Yalob (1928), Ponce de Leon y Perez Terradas (1928), Abelardo Pacheco (1930), Raoul Martin (1931), the three Freyre de Andrade brothers (1932) and most famously Rafel Trejo (30 September 1930) [21]
There were numerous murders and assassinations committed by the police and army under Machado's administration. The extent of his involvement in these is disputed. Writing to the U.S. Secretary of State, on 5 January 1933, U.S. ambassador to Cuba, Harry Frank Guggenheim noted as follows,
Last night I personally called on the [Cuban] Secretary of State in regard to Hernandez and was assured there was no cause for apprehension in this or other cases. Hernandez or Alvarez died shortly after midnight in a hospital to which he had been brought with a bullet in his head. Ferrara [Cuban Secretary of State] this morning explained that he had ascertained last night that no person named Hernandez was under arrest. These killings of prisoners have deeply stirred public opinion and have strengthened belief that no person under arrest is safe from official vengeance.[22]
The following day Harry Frank Guggenheim reported to the U.S. Secretary of State
I saw the President [Machado] this morning. He did not attempt to disclaim Government's responsibility for recent murders of students which he characterized as a stupid mistake.[23]
Writing to the U.S. Secretary of State, on 8 April 1933, The Chargee in Cuba, Edward Reed noted:
according to information furnished the Embassy from sources believed to be reliable, there were several killings in and near Habana on the night of 6 April.. the secret police arrested a young man named Carlos Manuel Fuertes outside of Payret Theatre in Habana. Fuertes is said to have been a member of the student directorate. Later in the night his body was found near the Eremita de las Catalinas on Ayesteran Street.[24]
Regime change
Gerardo Machado, Time, 1933
Gerardo & Elvira Machados crypt
In Cuba, Machado engaged in a long struggle with diverse insurgent groups, from the green shirts of the ABC to Blas Hernández to the conservative veterans of the Cuban War of Independence to the radical Antonio Guiteras group, and he clung on for several years.
In May 1933, newly-appointed US ambassador Sumner Welles arrived in Cuba and initiated negotiation with the opposition groups for a government to succeed Machados. A provisional government headed by Carlos Manuel de Céspedes y Quesada (son of Cuban independence hero Carlos Manuel de Céspedes) and including members of the ABC was brokered; it took power in August 1933 amidst a general strike in Havana.[25][3][26] Welles succeeded in weakening Machados government by extracting a series of concessions which tipped the balance of power in favor of the opposition.[25]
The collapse of Machados government was followed by a coup détat led by dissident students, labor activists, and non-commissioned military officers.
The collapse of Machados government can be traced to the beginning of negotiations between Machados government and opposition groups with Ambassador Welles as mediator. One of the proposed solutions to the political crisis was the appointment of a vice president who would be impartial and acceptable to all parties, followed by a leave of absence for President Machado until the 1934 general election. This plan would ensure that Machado no longer had power and, most importantly, could not tamper with the 1934 general election, while still keeping within the countrys constitutional framework. Eventually, as Machado resisted giving up power and the crisis escalated, the army revolted. Welles noted as follows on 12 August 1933 at 3 a.m.: "Since the abortive revolt of the first battalion of artillery yesterday afternoon there have been several threatened revolts in divers portions of the Army insisting upon the immediate resignation of President Machado."[27] Machado left Cuba on a flight to the Bahamas on the afternoon of 12 August 1933.
Machado died in Miami Beach in 1939 and was entombed in Miami at Woodlawn Park Cemetery and Mausoleum (now Caballero Rivero Woodlawn North Park Cemetery and Mausoleum).
Bibliography
Cano Vázquez, F. 1953: La Revolución de la Chambelona. Revista Bohemia. La Habana, 1 May 1953. 45 (19) 82-86, 184, 188.
González, Reynaldo 1978 Nosotros los liberales nos comimos la lechona. Editorial de Ciencias Sociales. Havana
Waldemar, León Caicaje: Batalla Final de una Revuelta. Bohemia pp. 100–103, 113
Montaner, Carlos Alberto 1982 Cuba: claves para una conciencia en crisis at the Wayback Machine (archived 9 April 2004).
Montaner, Carlos Alberto 1999 Viaje al Corazón de Cuba. Planes and Janés
Morales y Morales, Vidal 1959 (printed 1962) Sobre la guerra civil de 1917. Documentos del Siglo XX, Boletín del Archivo Nacional. Volume 58 pp. 178–256.
Parker, William Belmont 1919 Cubans of Today Putnams Sons, New York,
Portell Vila, Herminio La Chambelona en Oriente. Bohemia pp. 12–13, 112-125.
Primelles, L- 1955 Crónica cubana, 1915-1918: La reelección de Menocal y la Revolución de 1917. La danza de los millones - Editorial Lex, Havana.
Memoirs and papers
Machado y Morales, Gerardo (written in 1936 published in 1957 and later) Ocho años de lucha – memorias. Ediciones Universales, Ediciones Historicas Cubanas. Miami ISBN 0-89729-328-2 ISBN 0-89729-328-2
The papers of Gerardo Machado y Morales are available for research online,[28] at the University of Miami. Selected materials from these papers have been digitized and are available elsewhere online.[29]
Cuba,[c] officially the Republic of Cuba,[d] is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the northern Caribbean Sea, Gulf of Mexico, and Atlantic Ocean meet. Cuba is located east of the Yucatán Peninsula (Mexico), south of both Florida and the Bahamas, west of Hispaniola (Haiti/Dominican Republic), and north of Jamaica and the Cayman Islands. Havana is the largest city and capital. Cuba is the third-most populous country in the Caribbean after Haiti and the Dominican Republic, with about 10 million inhabitants. It is the largest country in the Caribbean by area.
The territory that is now Cuba was inhabited as early as the 4th millennium BC, with the Guanahatabey and Taíno peoples inhabiting the area at the time of Spanish colonization in the 15th century.[16] It was then a colony of Spain, through the abolition of slavery in 1886, until the Spanish–American War of 1898, when Cuba was occupied by the United States and gained independence in 1902. In 1940, Cuba implemented a new constitution, but mounting political unrest culminated in the 1952 Cuban coup détat and the subsequent dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista.[17] The Batista government was overthrown in January 1959 by the 26th of July Movement during the Cuban Revolution. That revolution established communist rule under the leadership of Fidel Castro.[18][19] The country was a point of contention during the Cold War between the Soviet Union and the United States, and nuclear war nearly broke out during the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962. Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Cuba faced a severe economic downturn in the 1990s, known as the Special Period. In 2008, Fidel Castro retired after 49 years; Raúl Castro was elected his successor. Raúl Castro retired as president in 2018 and Miguel Díaz-Canel was elected president by the National Assembly following parliamentary elections. Raúl Castro retired as First Secretary of the Communist Party in 2021 and Díaz-Canel was elected.
Cuba is a socialist state, in which the role of the Communist Party is enshrined in the Constitution. Cuba has an authoritarian government where political opposition is not permitted.[20][21] Censorship is extensive and independent journalism is repressed;[22][23][24] Reporters Without Borders has characterized Cuba as one of the worst countries for press freedom.[25][24] Culturally, Cuba is considered part of Latin America.[26] It is a multiethnic country whose people, culture and customs derive from diverse origins, including the Taíno Ciboney peoples, the long period of Spanish colonialism, the introduction of enslaved Africans and a close relationship with the Soviet Union during the Cold War.
Cuba is a founding member of the United Nations, G77, Non-Aligned Movement, Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States, ALBA, and Organization of American States. It has one of the worlds few planned economies, and its economy is dominated by tourism and the exports of skilled labor, sugar, tobacco, and coffee. Cuba has historically—before and during communist rule—performed better than other countries in the region on several socioeconomic indicators, such as literacy,[27][28] infant mortality and life expectancy. Cuba has a universal health care system which provides free medical treatment to all Cuban citizens,[29][30] although challenges include low salaries for doctors, poor facilities, poor provision of equipment, and the frequent absence of essential drugs.[31][32] A 2023 study by the Cuban Observatory of Human Rights (OCDH), estimated 88% of the population is living in extreme poverty.[33] The traditional diet is of international concern due to micronutrient deficiencies and lack of diversity. As highlighted by the World Food Programme (WFP) of the United Nations, rationed food meets only a fraction of daily nutritional needs for many Cubans, leading to health issues.[34]
Etymology
Historians believe the name Cuba comes from the Taíno language; however, "its exact derivation [is] unknown".[35] The exact meaning of the name is unclear, but it may be translated either as where fertile land is abundant (cubao),[36] or great place (coabana).
History
Main articles: History of Cuba and Timeline of Cuban history
Pre-Columbian era
Humans first settled Cuba around 6,000 years ago, descending from migrations from northern South America or Central America.[37] The arrival of humans on Cuba is associated with extinctions of the islands native fauna, particularly its endemic sloths.[38] The Arawakan-speaking ancestors of the Taíno people arrived in the Caribbean in a separate migration from South America around 1,700 years ago. Unlike the previous settlers of Cuba, the Taíno extensively produced pottery and engaged in intensive agriculture.[37] The earliest evidence of the Taíno people on Cuba dates to the 9th century AD.[39] Descendants of the first settlers of Cuba persisted on the western part of the island until Columbian contact, where they were recorded as the Guanahatabey people, who lived a hunter gatherer lifestyle.[40][37]
Spanish colonization and rule (1492–1898)
Main articles: Governorate of Cuba and Captaincy General of Cuba
After first landing on an island then called Guanahani on 12 October 1492,[41] Christopher Columbus landed on Cuba on 27 October 1492, and landing in the northeastern coast on 28 October.[42] Columbus claimed the island for the new Kingdom of Spain[43] and named it Isla Juana after John, Prince of Asturias.[44]
Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar, conquistador of Cuba
In 1511, the first Spanish settlement was founded by Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar at Baracoa. Other settlements soon followed, including San Cristobal de la Habana, founded in 1514 (southern coast of the island) and then in 1519 (current place), which later became the capital (1607). The Indigenous Taíno were forced to work under the encomienda system,[45] which resembled the feudal system in medieval Europe.[46] Within a century, the Indigenous people faced high incidence of mortality due to multiple factors, primarily Eurasian infectious diseases, to which they had no natural resistance (immunity), aggravated by the harsh conditions of the repressive colonial subjugation.[47] In 1529, a measles outbreak killed two-thirds of those few Natives who had previously survived smallpox.[48][49]
On 18 May 1539, conquistador Hernando de Soto departed from Havana with some 600 followers into a vast expedition through the American Southeast, in search of gold, treasure, fame and power.[50] On 1 September 1548, Gonzalo Perez de Angulo was appointed governor of Cuba. He arrived in Santiago, Cuba, on 4 November 1549, and immediately declared the liberty of all Natives.[51] He became Cubas first permanent governor to reside in Havana instead of Santiago, and he built Havanas first church made of masonry.[52][e]
A map of Cuba, c. 1680
By 1570, most residents of Cuba comprised a mixture of Spanish, African, and Taíno heritages.[54] Cuba developed slowly and, unlike the plantation islands of the Caribbean, had a diversified agriculture. Most importantly, the colony developed as an urbanized society that primarily supported the Spanish colonial empire. By the mid-18th century, there were 50,000 slaves on the island, compared to 60,000 in Barbados and 300,000 in Virginia; as well as 450,000 in Saint-Domingue, all of which had large-scale sugarcane plantations.[55]
The Seven Years War, which erupted in 1754 across three continents, eventually arrived in the Spanish Caribbean. Spains alliance with the French pitched them into direct conflict with the British, and in 1762, a British expedition consisting of dozens of ships and thousands of troops set out from Portsmouth to capture Cuba. The British arrived on 6 June, and by August, had placed Havana under siege.[56] When Havana surrendered, the admiral of the British fleet, George Pocock and the commander of the land forces George Keppel, the 3rd Earl of Albemarle, entered the city, and took control of the western part of the island. The British immediately opened up trade with their North American and Caribbean colonies, causing a rapid transformation of Cuban society.[56]
A painting of the British capture of Havana in 1762
Though Havana, which had become the third-largest city in the Americas, was to enter an era of sustained development and increasing ties with North America during this period, the British occupation of the city proved short-lived. Pressure from London on sugar merchants, fearing a decline in sugar prices, forced negotiations with the Spanish over the captured territories.[clarification needed] Less than a year after Britain captured Havana, it signed the 1763 Treaty of Paris together with France and Spain, ending the Seven Years War. The treaty gave Florida to Britain in exchange for Cuba.[f] Cubans constituted one of the many diverse units which fought alongside Spanish and Floridan forces during the conquest of British-controlled West Florida (1779–81).
The largest factor for the growth of Cubas commerce in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century was the Haitian Revolution. When the enslaved peoples of what had been the Caribbeans richest colony freed themselves through violent revolt, Cuban planters perceived the regions changing circumstances with both a sense of fear and opportunity. They were afraid because of the prospect that slaves might revolt in Cuba as well, and numerous prohibitions during the 1790s of the sale of slaves in Cuba who had previously been enslaved in French colonies underscored this anxiety. The planters saw opportunity, however, because they thought that they could exploit the situation by transforming Cuba into the slave society and sugar-producing "pearl of the Antilles" that Haiti had been before the revolution.[57] As the historian Ada Ferrer has written, "At a basic level, liberation in Saint-Domingue helped entrench its denial in Cuba. As slavery and colonialism collapsed in the French colony, the Spanish island underwent transformations that were almost the mirror image of Haitis."[58] Estimates suggest that between 1790 and 1820 some 325,000 Africans were imported to Cuba as slaves, which was four times the amount that had arrived between 1760 and 1790.[59]
Slaves in Cuba unloading ice from Maine, c. 1832
Although a smaller proportion of the population of Cuba was enslaved, at times, slaves arose in revolt. In 1812, the Aponte Slave Rebellion took place, but it was ultimately suppressed.[60] The population of Cuba in 1817 was 630,980 (of which 291,021 were white, 115,691 were free people of color (mixed-race), and 224,268 black slaves).[61][g]
19th century view of Havana
In part due to Cuban slaves working primarily in urbanized settings, by the 19th century, the practice of coartacion had developed (or "buying oneself out of slavery", a "uniquely Cuban development"), according to historian Herbert S. Klein.[63] Due to a shortage of white labor, blacks dominated urban industries "to such an extent that when whites in large numbers came to Cuba in the middle of the nineteenth century, they were unable to displace Negro workers."[55] A system of diversified agriculture, with small farms and fewer slaves, served to supply the cities with produce and other goods.[55]
In the 1820s, when the rest of Spains empire in Latin America rebelled and formed independent states, Cuba remained loyal to Spain. Its economy was based on serving the empire. By 1860, Cuba had 213,167 free people of color (39% of its non-white population of 550,000).[55][h]
Independence movements
Carlos Manuel de Céspedes is known as Father of the Homeland in Cuba, having declared its independence from Spain in 1868.[i]
Full independence from Spain was the goal of a rebellion in 1868 led by planter Carlos Manuel de Céspedes. De Céspedes, a sugar planter, freed his slaves to fight with him for an independent Cuba. On 27 December 1868, he issued a decree condemning slavery in theory but accepting it in practice and declaring free any slaves whose masters present them for military service.[64] The 1868 rebellion resulted in a prolonged conflict known as the Ten Years War. A great number of the rebels were volunteers from the Dominican Republic,[j] and other countries, as well as numerous Chinese indentured servants.[66][k][l]
Calixto García, a general of Cuban separatist rebels (right) with U.S. Brigadier General William Ludlow (Cuba, 1898)
The United States declined to recognize the new Cuban government, although many European and Latin American nations did so.[69] In 1878, the Pact of Zanjón ended the conflict, with Spain promising greater autonomy to Cuba.[m] In 1879–80, Cuban patriot Calixto García attempted to start another war known as the Little War but failed to receive enough support.[71] Slavery in Cuba was abolished in 1875 but the process was completed only in 1886.[72][73] An exiled dissident named José Martí founded the Cuban Revolutionary Party in New York City in 1892. The aim of the party was to achieve Cuban independence from Spain.[74] In January 1895, Martí traveled to Monte Cristi and Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic to join the efforts of Máximo Gómez.[74] Martí recorded his political views in the Manifesto of Montecristi.[75] Fighting against the Spanish army began in Cuba on 24 February 1895, but Martí was unable to reach Cuba until 11 April 1895.[74] Martí was killed in the Battle of Dos Rios on 19 May 1895.[74] His death immortalized him as Cubas national hero.[75]
Cuban victims of Spanish reconcentration policies
Around 200,000 Spanish troops outnumbered the much smaller rebel army, which relied mostly on guerrilla and sabotage tactics. The Spaniards began a campaign of suppression. General Valeriano Weyler, the military governor of Cuba, herded the rural population into what he called reconcentrados, described by international observers as "fortified towns". These are often considered the prototype for 20th-century concentration camps.[76] Between 200,000[77] and 400,000 Cuban civilians died from starvation and disease in the Spanish concentration camps, numbers verified by the Red Cross and United States Senator Redfield Proctor, a former Secretary of War. American and European protests against Spanish conduct on the island followed.[78]
The U.S. battleship USS Maine was sent to protect American interests, but soon after arrival, it exploded in Havana harbor and sank quickly, killing nearly three-quarters of the crew. The cause and responsibility for the sinking of the ship remained unclear after a board of inquiry. Popular opinion in the U.S., fueled by active yellow press, concluded that the Spanish were to blame and demanded action.[79] Spain and the United States declared war on each other in late April 1898.[n][o]
Republic (1902–1959)
Main article: Republic of Cuba (1902–1959)
First years (1902–1925)
Raising the Cuban flag on the Governor Generals Palace at noon on 20 May 1902
After the Spanish–American War, Spain and the United States signed the Treaty of Paris (1898), by which Spain ceded Puerto Rico, the Philippines, and Guam to the United States for the sum of US$20 million[84] and Cuba became a protectorate of the United States. Cuba gained formal independence from the U.S. on 20 May 1902, as the Republic of Cuba.[85] Under Cubas new constitution, the U.S. retained the right to intervene in Cuban affairs and to supervise its finances and foreign relations. Under the Platt Amendment, the U.S. leased the Guantánamo Bay Naval Base from Cuba.
Following disputed elections in 1906, the first president, Tomás Estrada Palma, faced an armed revolt by independence war veterans who defeated the meager government forces.[86] The U.S. intervened by occupying Cuba and named Charles Edward Magoon as Governor for three years. Cuban historians have characterized Magoons governorship as having introduced political and social corruption.[87] In 1908, self-government was restored when José Miguel Gómez was elected president, but the U.S. continued intervening in Cuban affairs. In 1912, the Partido Independiente de Color attempted to establish a separate black republic in Oriente Province,[88] but was suppressed by General Monteagudo with considerable bloodshed.
In 1924, Gerardo Machado was elected president.[89] During his administration, tourism increased markedly, and American-owned hotels and restaurants were built to accommodate the influx of tourists.[89] The tourist boom led to increases in gambling and prostitution in Cuba.[89] The Wall Street Crash of 1929 led to a collapse in the price of sugar, political unrest, and repression.[90] Protesting students, known as the Generation of 1930, turned to violence in opposition to the increasingly unpopular Machado.[90] A general strike (in which the Communist Party sided with Machado),[91] uprisings among sugar workers, and an army revolt forced Machado into exile in August 1933. He was replaced by Carlos Manuel de Céspedes y Quesada.[90]
Revolution of 1933–1940
The Pentarchy of 1933. Fulgencio Batista, who controlled the armed forces, appears at far right
In September 1933, the Sergeants Revolt, led by Sergeant Fulgencio Batista, overthrew Céspedes.[92] A five-member executive committee (the Pentarchy of 1933) was chosen to head a provisional government.[93] Ramón Grau San Martín was then appointed as provisional president.[93] Grau resigned in 1934, leaving the way clear for Batista, who dominated Cuban politics for the next 25 years, at first through a series of puppet-presidents.[92] The period from 1933 to 1937 was a time of "virtually unremitting social and political warfare".[94] On balance, during the period 1933–1940 Cuba suffered from fragile political structures, reflected in the fact that it saw three different presidents in two years (1935–1936), and in the militaristic and repressive policies of Batista as Head of the Army.
Constitution of 1940
A new constitution was adopted in 1940, which engineered radical progressive ideas, including the right to labor and health care.[95] Batista was elected president in the same year, holding the post until 1944.[96] He is so far the only non-white Cuban to win the nations highest political office.[97][98][99] His government carried out major social reforms. Several members of the Communist Party held office under his administration.[100] Cuban armed forces were not greatly involved in combat during World War II—though president Batista did suggest a joint U.S.-Latin American assault on Francoist Spain to overthrow its authoritarian regime.[101] Cuba lost six merchant ships during the war, and the Cuban Navy was credited with sinking the German submarine U-176.[102]
Batista adhered to the 1940 constitutions strictures preventing his re-election.[103] Ramon Grau San Martin was the winner of the next election, in 1944.[96] Grau further corroded the base of the already teetering legitimacy of the Cuban political system, in particular by undermining the deeply flawed, though not entirely ineffectual, Congress and Supreme Court.[104] Carlos Prío Socarrás, a protégé of Grau, became president in 1948.[96] The two terms of the Auténtico Party brought an influx of investment, which fueled an economic boom, raised living standards for all segments of society, and created a middle class in most urban areas.[105]
Coup détat of 1952
Slum (bohío) dwellings in Havana, Cuba in 1954, just outside Havana baseball stadium. In the background is advertising for a nearby casino.
After finishing his term in 1944 Batista lived in Florida, returning to Cuba to run for president in 1952. Facing certain electoral defeat, he led a military coup that preempted the election.[106] Back in power, and receiving financial, military, and logistical support from the United States government, Batista suspended the 1940 Constitution and revoked most political liberties, including the right to strike. He then aligned with the wealthiest landowners who owned the largest sugar plantations, and presided over a stagnating economy that widened the gap between rich and poor Cubans.[107] Batista outlawed the Cuban Communist Party in 1952.[108] After the coup, Cuba had Latin Americas highest per capita consumption rates of meat, vegetables, cereals, automobiles, telephones and radios, though about one-third of the population was considered poor and enjoyed relatively little of this consumption.[109] However, in his "History Will Absolve Me" speech, Fidel Castro mentioned that national issues relating to land, industrialization, housing, unemployment, education, and health were contemporary problems.[110]
In 1958, Cuba was a well-advanced country in comparison to other Latin American regions.[111] Cuba was also affected by perhaps the largest labor union privileges in Latin America, including bans on dismissals and mechanization. They were obtained in large measure "at the cost of the unemployed and the peasants", leading to disparities.[112] Between 1933 and 1958, Cuba extended economic regulations enormously, causing economic problems.[97][113] Unemployment became a problem as graduates entering the workforce could not find jobs.[97] The middle class, which was comparable to that of the United States[how?], became increasingly dissatisfied with unemployment and political persecution. The labor unions, manipulated by the previous government since 1948 through union "yellowness", supported Batista until the very end.[97][98] Batista stayed in power until he resigned in December 1958 under the pressure of the US Embassy and as the revolutionary forces headed by Fidel Castro were winning militarily (Santa Clara city, a strategic point in the middle of the country, fell into the rebels hands on December 31, in a conflict known as the Battle of Santa Clara).[114][115]
Revolution and Communist Party rule (1959–present)
Che Guevara and Fidel Castro, photographed by Alberto Korda in 1961
In the 1950s, various organizations, including some advocating armed uprising, competed for public support in bringing about political change.[116] In 1956, Fidel Castro and about 80 supporters landed from the yacht Granma in an attempt to start a rebellion against the Batista government.[116] In 1958, Castros July 26th Movement emerged as the leading revolutionary group.[116] The U.S. supported Castro by imposing a 1958 arms embargo against Batistas government. Batista evaded the American embargo and acquired weapons from the Dominican Republic.[p]
By late 1958, the rebels had broken out of the Sierra Maestra and launched a general popular insurrection. After Castros fighters captured Santa Clara, Batista fled with his family to the Dominican Republic on 1 January 1959. Later he went into exile on the Portuguese island of Madeira and finally settled in Estoril, near Lisbon. Fidel Castros forces entered the capital on 8 January 1959. The liberal Manuel Urrutia Lleó became the provisional president.[122]
According to Amnesty International, official death sentences from 1959 to 1987 numbered 237 of which all but 21 were carried out.[123] The vast majority of those executed directly following the 1959 Revolution were policemen, politicians, and informers of the Batista regime accused of crimes such as torture and murder, and their public trials and executions had widespread popular support among the Cuban population.[124]
Since 1959, Cuba has regarded the U.S. presence in Guantánamo Bay as illegal.[125]
The United States government initially reacted favorably to the Cuban Revolution, seeing it as part of a movement to bring democracy to Latin America.[126] Castros legalization of the Communist Party and the hundreds of executions of Batista agents, policemen, and soldiers that followed caused a deterioration in the relationship between the.
PHOTO GÉNÉRALE CUBAINE MACHADO CUBA soldes ANCIEN PRÉSIDENT 1933 ORIGINALE
This product is sold to you by .
This product will be sold by and is therefore only available for delivery to addresses within .
Returns must be sent to and will be eligible for refund only, no exchanges are available.
In accordance with our privacy policy, we will share details of your order with using a platform provided by CommerceHub.
Promotions and discounts are unavailable on this item. Gift cards cannot be used on this purchase.
For full terms and conditions, click here.
Learn more
-
Order by 9pm (excludes Public holidays)
-
Order by 9pm (excludes Public holidays)
-
Order by 9pm (excludes Public holidays)
-
Delivered within 3 - 7 days (excludes Public holidays).
-
Spend over €400 (excluding delivery charge) to get a €20 voucher to spend in-store
-
International Delivery is available for this product. The cost and delivery time depend on the country.
You can now return your online order in a few easy steps.
Select your preferred tracked returns service. We have print at home, paperless and collection options available.
You have 28 days to return your order from the date it’s delivered.
Exclusions apply, view our full Returns and Exchanges information here.
Our extended Christmas returns policy runs from 28th October until 5th January 2025, all items purchased online during this time can be returned for a full refund. Click here for full details.
Back to top
