GREAT COMBO FIND for the numismatic and/or POLITICAL Cuba collector!!

BEAUTIFUL COLORS AND VERY CRISP BILL signed by Cuba's SHORT TERM (7 months)PRESIDENT MIGUEL MARIANO GOMEZ...

aka another of BATISTA'S PUPPETS!!...

President of the Cuban Republic in 1936 after having been the MAYOR OF LA HABANA in 1934. ...

SON OF CUBA's 2nd President JOSE MIGUEL GOMEZ......

“Hay que encerrar a Batista en los cuarteles y devolver al poder civil todas las prerrogativas usurpadas por los militares”, repetían una y otra vez amigos y colaboradores al doctor Miguel Mariano Gómez y el presidente de la República, excitado en su celo civilista y con olvido de que debía su posición al jefe del Ejército, quiso serlo de hecho y de derecho. Duró siete meses en el cargo.

El Senado, convertido en tribunal de justicia, lo destituía el 24 de diciembre de 1936 y Miguel Mariano salía del Palacio Presidencial como bola por tronera.

VUELTA A LA NORMALIDAD

El año de 1935 se caracterizó por una represión sangrienta. Atentados, ataques policiacos a la prensa, agitación estudiantil y pugnas insalvables entre los revolucionarios de antaño precedieron a la huelga de marzo, que fue sofrenada con saña. Se clausuró la Universidad de La Habana, la única que existía entonces, y tanto los auténticos como los comunistas y los seguidores de Antonio Guiteras eran considerados al margen de la ley. Regían leyes de excepción y funcionaban los tribunales de urgencia. Las cárceles se llenaban de presos políticos, las embajadas, de refugiados, y buques y aviones trasladaban al exterior a los que se expatriaban.

El doctor Grau San Martín, que capitalizaba, al frente del Partido Auténtico, fundado un año antes, las esperanzas de la ciudadanía, se hallaba en el exilio, y el gobierno posponía la convocatoria a la asamblea constituyente por la que clamaba el país. Se promulgó una Ley Constitucional que calcaba la Constitución de 1901 y dejaba fuera de su texto las conquistas populares conseguidas tras la caída de Machado, durante el período grausista de los cien días.

Es en ese clima enrarecido en que se preparó la vuelta a la “normalidad” con los comicios previstos a celebrarse en un inicio en el propio 1935 y que a sugerencia de un asesor norteamericano llamado a La Habana se pospusieron para enero del año siguiente. Carlos Mendieta, dócil instrumento de Batista, renunció a la presidencia y lo sustituyó uno todavía más feble, el inocuo José Agripino Barnet Vinajeras.

Eduardo Chibás, entonces en las filas del autenticismo, decía en la revista Bohemia: “¿Qué validez moral pueden tener unas elecciones que prescinden de la voluntad, expresa o tácitamente manifestada, de un millón cuarenta y cuatro mil electores? ¿Qué elecciones son estas que se van a celebrar... con miles de presos políticos en las cárceles y millares de cubanos en el destierro?”.

Pero de otra opinión eran los políticos tradicionales ansiosos de llevarse el jamón. Así, para la justa electoral el Conjunto Nacional Cubano nominó a su caudillo natural, el general Mario García Menocal, y el Partido Liberal, a Carlos Manuel de la Cruz, íntimo de Batista y a quien despostuló luego para apoyar, junto al Partido Acción Republicana y la Unión Nacionalista, a Miguel Mariano Gómez que, con el respaldo del jefe del Ejército, se alzaría con la presidencia gracias al fraude y con la abstención de la mayoría ciudadana.

ALCALDE MODELO

Miguel Mariano nació en Sancti Spíritus el 6 de octubre de 1889, y en su ciudad natal cursó los primeros estudios mientras su padre, el general José Miguel Gómez, peleaba por la independencia de Cuba, y su madre, América Arias, trasegaba medicinas y correspondencia en la manigua. Hizo el bachillerato con los jesuitas de Cienfuegos y cursó la carrera de Derecho. En 1909, como delegado de la República, asistió a las fiestas por la coronación del rey Jorge V, de Inglaterra, y tres años más tarde formó parte del cuerpo de abogados de la Havana Electric Railway Co. En febrero de 1917 estuvo junto a su padre en la llamada Revolución de La Chambelona y guardó prisión por ese suceso en el Castillo del Príncipe. En tres ocasiones resultó electo representante a la Cámara.

En 1926 ganó, por elección, la Alcaldía de La Habana e inauguró al año siguiente, cuando tomó posesión, una administración municipal que le valió el sobrenombre de Alcalde Modelo, no solo por las obras de beneficio público que impulsó –dispuso además la restauración de El Templete y del Palacio de los Capitanes Generales— sino por su honradez, ya que al cesar en el cargo, en 1931, dejó más de cuatro millones de pesos en las arcas del Ayuntamiento. Se opuso a Machado, y en 1934, de facto, volvió a ocupar la Alcaldía. La renunció en 1935 para, al frente de Acción Republicana, aspirar a la presidencia, a la que accedió el 20 de mayo de 1936.

EL VETO

Pronto surgieron las divergencias entre el Ejecutivo y el coronel Batista. Miguel Mariano se negó a someterse a los caprichos del líder de las Fuerzas Armadas, pero no pudo hacerse de la autoridad que exigía su alta investidura. La situación tocó fondo cuando partidarios del coronel presentaron en el Senado un proyecto de ley que establecería un impuesto de nueve centavos sobre cada saco de azúcar producido a fin de costear el proyecto batistiano de las escuelas cívico-militares.

En sus devaneos fascistas Batista entendería que solo al Ejército le era posible combatir el analfabetismo en el país y emprender una guerra exitosa contra las enfermedades que diezmaban a la población rural. Para ello restaba atribuciones a los ministerios de Educación y Salubridad y las traspasaba a los institutos armados. El Presidente opinaba que la solución de tan graves problemas era de la incumbencia del poder civil y ordenó a los parlamentarios de los tres partidos que apoyaron su candidatura que se opusieran a la propuesta legislativa de los batistianos. Si la iniciativa se convertía en ley, anunció, la vetaría. Miguel Mariano era un representante de la burguesía agrícola, en su condición de rico hacendado ganadero, y jamás arremetería contra su clase. La ley se aprobó en el Congreso y el Presidente, en uso de una prerrogativa constitucional, la vetó. A partir de ahí sus días estuvieron contados.

Tres parlamentarios, entre los que figuraba Carlos M. Palma, que mucho se arrepintió después de su actuación, lo acusaron ante la Cámara de coartar el libre funcionamiento del Poder Legislativo. Miguel Mariano se defendió: “Entiendo que es a la Secretaría de Educación, y no al Ejército, a la que corresponde la erradicación del analfabetismo porque es la enseñanza civil, dirigida por un maestro y no por un militar, la que debe infiltrarse en el espíritu de la niñez...”, pero la acusación prosperó y pasó al Senado. Fue inútil el alegato del republicano Manuel Gutiérrez, senador por Matanzas, en defensa del mandatario contra la catilinaria del representante conservador villareño Antonio Martínez Fraga. La decisión estaba tomada de antemano y el Senado, bajo la presidencia del titular del Tribunal Supremo, lo encontró culpable del delito que se le imputaba y lo destituyó.

FINAL

Miguel Mariano salió entonces al extranjero. Regresó a la palestra en 1939 cuando obtuvo un acta de delegado a la convención que elaboró la Constitución de 1940. En ese mismo año aspiró a la Alcaldía habanera y fue derrotado por Raúl Menocal. El viejo Menocal había determinado apoyar a Batista en sus aspiraciones presidenciales y a cambio de ese apoyo recabó que la coalición batistiana, conformada por seis partidos, respaldara a su hijo. Pronto Miguel Mariano sorprendió al país al anunciar, en plena juventud política, su retirada de la vida pública. Se reintegró a los asuntos propios de su bufete y a los negocios particulares y aceptó la presidencia de la Asociación de Ganaderos, a la que renunció por no prestarse a los manejos especuladores y agiotistas de algunos de sus miembros en días de la Segunda Guerra Mundial. Enfermó gravemente y los médicos recomendaron una intervención quirúrgica que debía practicársele en Estados Unidos. Todo fue en vano. Falleció en La Habana, el 26 de octubre de 1950.

Ese mismo año el Congreso aprobó la ley que disponía la rehabilitación moral del mandatario depuesto y la anulación del proceso arbitrario al que se le sometió. El presidente Carlos Prío convocó al Palacio Presidencial a los familiares del extinto y, en ceremonia solemne, hizo entrega a Josefina Diago, viuda de Gómez, de un pergamino que reproducía la ley.

Una tarja de bronce, donde se consignó la reparación del Congreso, se colocó entonces en la tumba de Miguel Mariano... ....Cuba, 1934-52 Fulgencio Batista y Zaldívar was the power behind the throne as Cuba went through three presidents between 1934 and 1940, when Batista was elected President.

For years, his chief rival was Ramón Grau San Martín, who formed the Authentic Cuban Revolutionary Party, known as the Auténticos, in 1934.

There was a wave of strikes in the mid-1930s. By March, 1935, it looked as if the economy was going to collapse. On March 8th, Batista launched a bloodbath, suppressing dissent.

One of the instigators of the troubles, Antonio Guiteras, a former Cabinet minister, tried to leave Cuba in order to organize an armed invasion a la José Martí but the army killed him. The last half of 1935 saw considerable calming. In the January, 1936 general elections, former president Mario G. Menocal regrouped the Old Conservatives and runs against the Liberal Dr. Miguel Mariano Gómez, son of the former president José Miguel Gómez. In December, 1935, Menocal asserted that President Carlos Mendieta would rig the election in favor of Gómez. Mendieta resigned and replaced by Jose A. Barnet.

In January 1936, Miguel M. Gomez (son of former president José Miguel Gomez) won the presidential election, in which women were allowed to vote for the first time. In a maneuver engineered by Batista, the president was impeached in December 1936 for having vetoed a bill to create rural schools under army control. Vice President Federico Laredo Bru served the concluding years of Gomez' term. The task of the Gómez administration was to create/write a new constitution but it had to deal with General Batista first for he controlled the army. Batista devised a plan whereby the army would staff rural schools as teachers and the costs would be paid by a tax on bags of raw sugar and had it introduced into Congress.

Gómez understood that this bill would undercut his power, so he indicated that he would veto it. Batista had him removed in December, 1936. Vice President Federico Laredo Bru took office. Under him, amnesties were granted including to the former dictator Gerardo Machado. Congress passed many impressive social welfare measures.

He pushed for the passage of the Law of Sugar Coordination in 1937.

It organized small farmers into cooperatives and unionized agricultural workers. Debt peonage was outlawed. Tenant farmers were guaranteed a share of the crop and were not to be deprived of their fields if they worked them. In addition, Congress passed laws creating pensions, insurance, minimum wages. Working hours were limited as well. Laredo Bru issued a decree that the heads of all businesses should be Cuban nationals. Workers unionized, particularly into the Confederation of Cuban Workers, a union in which Communists had substantial influence. Laredo Bru and Batista, when he became president, allowed this freedom of association.

The US presence was lessened but the US had been the dominant force in Cuban politics since 1898 that there was considerable anti-Americanism, especially among the educated.

In November, 1939, elections were held for a constituent assembly whose task was to write a new constitution. Some 57% of the voting population participated. The government parties received 558,000 votes but only 35 delegates whereas the opposition parties received 551,00 votes and garnered 41 delegates.

Grau San Martín was chosen president of the convention when it first met in February, 1940.

Grau San Martín and Batista competed for leadership of the Left and Batista won, causing Grau San Martín to resign. The constitution was proclaimed on July 5, 1940. The Constitution of 1940 was a very progressive document, one largely shaped by General Batista.

The president could not be re-elected until after eight years after finishing his first term.1 The Cabinet was only partly responsible to Congress; it was a cross between a parliamentary system and the traditional Cuban system. The Prime Minister had to be acceptable to both the President and Congress.

The judiciary was once again made independent. Municipios2 were given more independence but not as much as US cities and counties had for Cuba was a unitary not a federal government. Civil liberties were defined at great length although they would not be rigorously followed in practice.

Workers were guaranteed a paid vacation, minimum wages, and job tenure. Co-operatives and unions were given more legal protections. Cubans were to be favored over foreigners. Industrialization was to be fomented. Ownership of land was to be limited to a thousand acres.3

In late 1939, General Batista became the presidential candidate of his Democratic Socialist coalition. He also was supported by the Communists. His opponent, Dr. Ramón Grau San Martín ran as the candidate of the Auténticos. Hope may spring eternal but it was dashed in this instance. Batista easily won.

As president for the 1940-44 term, Batista was a strong, democratic president. He had to suppress an attempted coup by his chief of staff.

He rounded out social welfare measures including, in 1941, the extension of social security to the countryside. Cuba declared war on the Axis Powers on December 9, 1941 and, in 1943, recognized the Soviet Union, one of the Allied Powers.

Cuba benefited from US aid. The US purchased the entire national sugar production at 2.65¢ a pound with only a .75¢ tax from 1942 to 1947. Sugar production was 5 million tons a year. This created tremendous wealth for sugar producers and even trickled down some to the average person but, of course, this easy money meant that investment rarely went into other enterprises. Cuban was too dependent upon one crop, one whose prices were artificially high because of the war.

Inevitably, the end of the war and the drop in prices would bring economic distress. Batista was a masterful politician. He enjoyed the confidence and support of the propertied classes while he cultivated the Left. Even though he appointed two Communists to his Cabinet, those with money understood that they need not fear him. He had become quite conservative as he became wealthy. When 1944 and the end of his term came, he acted properly, allowing free elections and then not interfering with his successor. Grau San Martín, who was nearing sixty years of age, beat Prime Minister Carlos Saladrigas by 924,000 to 720,000 votes. He ran as the candidate of his Conservative Republican Party and also had the support of the Communists, now known as the Popular Socialist Party. After Grau San Martín was inaugurated, Batista went on a South American tour and praised democracy. He settled in the United States and watched while Grau San Martín mismanaged things.

Grau San Martín was a bitter disappointment. In 1933, he had been a leader of the reformers in the "Revolution of '33," an ardent anti-American, and a strong economic nationalist. His supporters thought, naturally, that he would support the average person and insure that Cubans controlled their own economy. They assumed that he would work to diversify the economy as well.

The economy was prosperous because of the war and the government bureaucracy was competent. He seemed to have the necessary tools to change things. His Auténtico party began feeding at the public trough, making up for years in the "wilderness." Grau San Martín's government set new records for graft and corruption with the President an enthusiastic participant.

When the diamond embedded on the floor under the dome of the newly-built Capitol was stolen, wages said the police would find it on Grau San Martín's desk. His irresponsibility meant that Cuba squandered opportunities to forge a better economy. Public works were begun and not finished. The war and the immediate post-war periods saw shortages and the rise of black markets, giving Grau San Martín and his cronies amble opportunities to line their pockets. Post-war Cuba became a mecca for tourists, many of whom came for gambling, cheap liquor, narcotics, and whores.

The Communists saw how politically corrupt he was and, in response to Cold War tensions, created problems for him after World War II. The Latin American headquarters of the Comintern had moved to Cuba from Mexico in 1940 and the Communists had a strong presence in the Cuban Labor of Federation. There were chronic strike and labor disputes. When the President tried to curb the power of labor and the Communists, he failed, making them even bolder. When Congress refused to cooperate with his proposals, he began using wartime decree powers.

To many in 1947-48, it appeared that the nation was coming apart. Students rioted (including Fidel Castro Ruz); the national university was a hotbed of armed students who were willing to shoot; armed band roamed the countryside; and political assassination became common. There were fifty in one year.

The 1948 election of Dr. Carlos Prío Socarrás over Senator Eduardo Chibás made little difference. Chibás had formed the Partido del Partido Cubano (known as the Ortodoxos). Chibás was a popular radio announcer who had been exposing government scandals on his radio show. Two others also ran and Prío won without a majority. Prío, a student leader in 1933 had been seen as a hero.

People hoped he would restore effective administration and bring an end to the public violence. He couldn't. He did get a conviction of Grau San Martín for stealing $174 million dollars but the former president stayed out of the country. Prío's government was not the most honest, however, creating even more disillusionment with democratic politics, but prosperity, in part from the Korean War, masked much of the mismanagement. By 1951, Chibás was running for president against an Auténtico candidate and likely to win.

To focus attention on corruption, he committed suicide on his radio show that year. The Ortodoxos nominated a replacement but it appeared that He had argued Prío Socarrás would rig the election. On March 10, 1952, Senator Batista overthrew the government in two hours. Almost no one protested. Batista had governed better than his two predecessors.

THIS IS A MUST FOR THE CUBAN HISTORIAN...the son of the patriotic Ejercito Libertador GENERAL JOSE MIGUEL GOMEZ, both father and son, like the BUSH family, became presidents of their country at different times.

GREAT INVESTMENT ON THIS PRIDE OF OWNERSHIP PACKAGE!!