Alexander Bustamante

Alexander Bustamante ( February 24, 1884 - August 6, 1977 ) was Jamaica's first Prime Minister and Mayor of Kingston . He is one of the country's seven national heroes .

Life

Bustamante was born as William Alexander Clarke . His father was a farm laborer of Irish descent and his mother had European and African ancestry. According to his own statement, the name Bustamante comes from an Iberian captain with whom he was friends in his youth. He also claimed that his mother was a Taíno .

In 1905 he left Jamaica and toured the Caribbean and the USA. In Cuba he worked as a police officer, in New York as a dietician . In 1932 he returned to the island and subsequently became the leader of a resistance movement against the British colonial administration. He first drew attention to himself as the author of several letters to the Daily Gleaner newspaper. In 1937 he became treasurer of the Jamaica Worker's Union . During the 1938 workers' strike he was the spokesman for the striking workers, the Worker's Union became the Industrial Trade Union , Bustamante himself became The Chief . He was also involved in founding the People's National Party (PNP) at the time.

In 1940 he was arrested and held until February 8, 1942 for "subversive activities". After his release, he founded the Jamaica Labor Party (JLP). Together with the PNP, a constitutional reform actually succeeded which guaranteed universal suffrage from 1944 onwards. In the first election, the JLP won 27 out of a possible 32 seats. Bustamante became the unofficial head of government and finally chief minister in 1953.

In 1955 his party lost the majority and his former friend Norman Washington Manley replaced him as Chief Minister. As an opposition member, he was able to prevent Jamaica from joining the West Indian Federation by means of a referendum .

Jamaica gained independence from Great Britain in 1962. In the elections at the beginning of the year, Bustamante was able to regain the upper hand. He remained in office as the first prime minister until 1967. In 1969 he and Manley were named one of the island's seven official national heroes.

Web links

• Bustamante's biography on the Prime Minister's website ( Memento of April 3, 2010 in the Internet Archive )

predecessor	Office	successor
Norman Washington Manley (as Chief Minister)	Prime Minister of Jamaica April 29, 1962-22. February 1967	Donald Sangster