Jose miguel gomez presidente de cuba
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He was appointed civil governor of Las Villas province (now central Cuba) by the American military administration that year, leveraging his status as a veteran independence leader to maintain order in a rural, veteran-heavy region.[4]Local elections shortly thereafter reaffirmed his position, reflecting support from former mambí insurgents and agrarian constituencies wary of foreign oversight yet seeking stability.[4] As governor, he focused on reconstruction efforts amid economic disruption from war, fostering loyalty among demobilized soldiers who viewed him as a defender of their wartime gains against both Spanish remnants and U.S.
tutelage.[1]Gómez also served as a legislator in the early republican assemblies, advocating for veteran pensions and land reforms to consolidate his base in Las Villas, a province with strong independence movement roots.
Editors of La Prensa and El Gordo were jailed in February 1910 for articles in their papers that had been critical of President Gómez, even though the articles in question were written by congressmen.
The National Council of Veterans announces in a circular that "neither traitors nor guerrillas" should be allowed in government, pointing out that many political appointees were supporters of Spain during the War of Independence. Después de la Guerrita de Agosto (1906) —una revuelta liberal contra la reelección fraudulenta de Estrada Palma—, se convirtió en una figura clave.
He warns that another intervention may become possible.
When the occupation ended, Gómez was elected governor of Santa Clara. Before congress, Gómez criticizes ex-President Estrada Palma for not going through with a railway project approved by Congress (on July 5, 1906).
May 20, 1912.
Sugar production averaged approximately 2.29 million short tons annually from 1909–1914, reflecting growth fueled by foreign investment and stable governance that encouraged agricultural development.[42] This period saw steady economic advancement, with rising sugar prices contributing to fiscal revenues that supported infrastructure projects like railroad construction.[22] While reliant on U.S.
economic ties and Platt Amendment oversight, Gómez's administration facilitated this boom by maintaining order amid potential unrest.[4]Gómez implemented army reorganization, transforming the military into a more disciplined force under civilian control, which helped avert coups and ensured a peaceful power transition to successor Mario García Menocal in 1913.[1][4] These reforms professionalized the institution inherited from independence struggles, reducing factional threats and bolstering early republican stability.
In 1910, the administration allocated budgets for rail expansion, offering incentives such as $6,000 per kilometer to the Cuba Railway Company for building authorized lines, as approved by Congress.
Public debt remained under scrutiny via the Platt Amendment's provisions, limiting borrowing and enforcing fiscal restraint amid growing revenues from exports.[1][3]While these policies spurred short-term prosperity for export-oriented sectors, they disproportionately advantaged large sugar planters and mills, concentrating benefits among landowners and reinforcing rural-urban disparities in income distribution.
José Miguel Gómez, representing the Liberal Coalition—an alliance of the Historical Liberal Party and Zayista Liberals—defeated Conservative candidate Mario G. Menocal with a margin exceeding 65,000 votes, carrying every province including a 25,000-vote plurality in Havana Province.[17] The vote proceeded under U.S. supervision to ensure order following the intervention, reflecting constraints imposed by the 1901 Platt Amendment, which permitted American oversight and potential future interventions to safeguard Cuban stability and U.S.
interests.[18]U.S. Some called him "the ruined planter who made himself a millionaire from night to morning, and not by the sweat of his brow." His presidency brought back the old Cuban tradition that "government existed for the benefit of office holders."
Gómez displayed a "Hispanic American tendency" to dominate all branches of the government.
Redacción Nacional
Nacido el 6 de julio de 1858 en Sancti Spíritus, José Miguel Gómez fue un militar, líder independentista y político que gobernó Cuba entre 1909 y 1913. Además, mantuvo una economía boyante gracias a los altos precios del azúcar.
Uno de los episodios más oscuros de su mandato fue la masacre de los Independientes de Color (1912).
The cry of the Negroes is "Down with the Morúa Law!"
May 25, 1912. U.S. secretary of State Knox sends President José Miguel Gómez a note expressing "grave concern" over the "Veterans" situation. He is killed the following night while "trying to escape."
April 5, 1909.
After the war he became a member of the Cuban Assembly, and civil governor of Santa Clara under the U.S. military occupation. Accusations of corruption proliferated, including the suspension of export duties on sugar and other commodities, depriving the treasury of revenue while benefiting connected elites; this patronage-driven approach was seen as prioritizing party loyalty over merit, fostering a culture of favoritism that contemporaries likened to predatory exploitation, earning Gómez the nickname "Tiburón" (the Shark).[2][3] Such practices, rooted in the Liberal Party's machine-style politics, were critiqued as causal drivers of inefficiency, with reports of fraud and embezzlement intensifying despite overall economic growth in export sectors.[15]Nationalist critics faulted Gómez for failing to curtail U.S.
dominance under the Platt Amendment, which retained intervention rights and perpetuated economic and political dependency; this shortcoming alienated independence veterans who viewed the era's stability as illusory sovereignty, achieved only through accommodation rather than assertive diplomacy or constitutional reform.[12] The 1912 deployment of U.S.
Marines to safeguard American interests during domestic unrest underscored this vulnerability, reinforcing perceptions of neocolonial oversight that hindered Cuba's autonomous development.[28]Gómez's response to the 1912 uprising of the Partido Independiente de Color, triggered by the Morúa Law's ban on race-based parties, provoked bipartisan condemnation for its brutality, with military campaigns resulting in an estimated 2,000 to 6,000 Afro-Cuban deaths and widespread atrocities in eastern provinces.[20][21] Leftist interpreters highlight how the repression exacerbated racial inequalities by suppressing demands for land reform and political inclusion, prioritizing elite order over addressing post-slavery disenfranchisement and economic marginalization.[43] Right-leaning assessments, conversely, justified the force as essential to avert fragmentation akin to prior separatist threats, arguing that unchecked ethnic mobilization risked national cohesion amid fragile post-independence institutions.[40] This episode alienated black communities, deepened social fissures, and exposed governance failures in balancing reform with stability.[44]
Historical Evaluations and Viewpoints
Historians in the early 20th century often evaluated Gómez's presidency positively for achieving political stability after the U.S.occupation ended on January 28, 1909, with American forces withdrawing upon his inauguration
José Miguel Gómez y Gómez (July 6, 1858 – June 13, 1921) was a Cuban General in the Cuban War of Independence who went on to become President of Cuba.
At the Constitutional Convention, Gómez was one of those who voted in favor of adopting the Platt Amendment.
Gómez ordenó una feroz campaña militar que dejó miles de muertos.