Alfredo Zayas y Alfonso

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Alfredo Zayas y Alfonso

Alfredo Zayas y Alfonso (born September 21, 1861 in Havana , Cuba ; † April 11, 1934 in Havana) was a Cuban lawyer , politician and poet ( pseudonym : "El Habanero"), from 1905 Senator for Havana, from 1909 Senate President, from Vice President of the Republic of Cuba from 1909 to 1913 and fourth President from 1921 to 1925.

  • After the end of the first phase of the war of independence against Spain ( Guerra Larga ), Zayas was a member of the Autonomist Party.
  • Member of the Constituent Assembly in 1901.
  • Chairman of the Liberal Party ( Partido Liberal de Cuba ).
  • Founder and Chairman of the Cuban People's Party ( Partido Popular de Cuba )

Life

Dr. Alfredo Zayas was the son of the well-known lawyer and professor Dr. José María de Zayas-Bazán y Jiménez (Director of the “Colegio el Salvador”). The family owned latifundia and sugar cane plantations, mainly in the Trinidad region in the Las Villas province , and a house in Tampa , Florida , where Cuban independence advocates, including José Martí (married to Carmen de Zayas), met.

Alfredo Zayas became prosecutor in 1889 and judge in 1891. As a young poet he was editor of the magazine "Habana Literaria" in 1891 (until 1894). Because of his anti-colonialist convictions, de Zayas dropped the title of nobility and became known simply as Alfredo Zayas in politics. His brother, the diplomat Dr. Francisco de Zayas , Cuban ambassador to France, was able to use the title of nobility better in diplomatic dealings and therefore kept it. His other brother, the doctor Dr. Juan Bruno de Zayas, died in 1896 as General of the Cuban Liberation Army under General Antonio Maceo in the Cuban War of Independence against Spain .

As one of the leaders of the Cuban independence movement, Alfredo was arrested in 1895 and deported to Spain. He spent the war years in prison ( Carcel Modelo de Madrid ) in Madrid and Ceuta , where he wrote about 100 poems, including "Al Caer la Nieve". It later appeared in book form and was taught in Cuba's schools as a classic homeland poem.

After the American intervention in the Cuban War of Independence and the defeat of Spain (see Spanish-American War , April 25 to August 12, 1898), Zayas returned to Cuba, became mayor of Havana, and led the opposition to the now planned Annexation of Cuba by the United States. He was elected to the Cuban Constituent Assembly and became its secretary. There he argued against the planned annexation of Cuba and voted against the " Platt Amendment " imposed by the US , but was defeated 11 to 16 in the last vote. The Platt Amendment gave the United States the Guantánamo naval base and the right to enter at any time Cuban politics to intervene.

When Zayas narrowly won the presidential election against General Mario García Menocal in 1916 , the United States from Guantánamo intervened militarily against Zayas to prevent him from becoming president. General García Menocal remained president and Zaya's opposition leader until 1920. But Zayas was re-elected and had to submit his entire cabinet to the American “protector” General Enoch Crowder for approval. By 1923, Zaya's position was consolidated and he was able to determine his own cabinet. However, he took over a bankrupt state with over $ 40 million in debt. During the years of the US presidency of Calvin Coolidge , Zayas succeeded in easing the burden of the Platt Amendment and improving the state finances somewhat through a loan of US $ 50 million from John Pierpont Morgan , especially since sugar prices on the after World War I. World market had fallen from 22 to 4 cents per pound (lb). The end of the so-called " Danza de los Millones " (dance of the millions), the sugar cane export boom with its enormous profits, had come.

As a citizen president and non-military, Zayas promoted democratic institutions, university reform and freedom of the press, even if his tenure was overshadowed by allegations of corruption. His merits included promoting the rights of Cuban women - especially the right to vote - (women's suffrage was passed by the Senate on June 16, 1921 , which required a later constitutional amendment), to recognize the railway workers' union, the 8-hour day and to introduce pension insurance (1924), to advance the difficult negotiations with the United States over Cuban sovereignty over the pine islands ( Isla de Pinos ) (2,204 square kilometers, since 1978: youth island / Isla de la Juventud , occupied by the USA from 1898 to 1924 ). His other achievements include the Hay-Quesada Treaty (Hay-Quesada Treaty, 1925), he also gave Cuba four relatively peaceful, albeit economically modest, years, and he did not arrest any political opponent.

This changed under his military successors, the autocratic dictators General Gerardo Machado and General Fulgencio Batista . Zayas no longer ran for a second term in 1925, but withdrew from political life in order to devote himself primarily to literature and to write books. He was also president of the "Academy of History" (Academia de la Historia ). He died at the age of 72, his last words are said to have been “Fe y adelante” (trust and forward). Zayas was buried in Havana's Cementerio Cristóbal Colón , where his mausoleum is famous for its magnificent stained glass windows and a life-size copy of Michelangelo's Pietà . In addition to his books of poetry and anthologies , his book “Lexicografia Antillana” in particular has lasting significance in Cuban literature. He was related to Antonio de Zayas y Beaumont , the Duke of Amalfi (Duque de Amalfi) and to the Marqueses (Counts) de Zayas in Barcelona . The de Zayas family comes from the house of Aragon ( Peter III and his wife Konstanze of Sicily) and the house of the Counts of Urgell .

Fonts

  • Alfredo Zayas, Obras Completas, Volume I: Poesias, Volume 2 Discursos y Conferencias, La Habana 1941-42.
  • Alfredo Zayas, Un Capítulo de la Historia de Cuba, La Habana, 1916.
  • Alfredo Zayas, Lexicografía Antillana, Vol. 1-2, La Habana, 1931-32.
  • Alfredo Zayas, La Poesía Patriotica en Cuba hasta 1868, Academia Nacional de Artes y Letras, La Habana, 1931.
  • Alfredo Zayas, El presbiterio don José Agustín Caballero y su vida y sus obras, La Habana, 1891.
  • Alfredo Zayas, La Evolución Social, La Habana, 1891.
  • Alfredo Zayas, Por la Gloria de Luz y Caballero, La Habana, 1909.

literature

  • Nestor Carbonell Cortina: Perfil Histórico del IV Presidente de Cuba Republicana Alfredo Zayas y Alfonso, San Juan, Puerto Rico 1985.
  • Fernando de Zayas, Prose y Versos, La Habana 1909
  • Francisco López Leiva: Juan Bruno Zayas, General de Brigada del Ejercito Libertador. La Habana, 1922.
  • Jose Manuel Carbonell, Evolucion de la Cultura Cubana, La Habana, Imp.Montalvo y Cardenas, 1928, Tomo III (La Oratoria en Cuba) pp.102-105.
  • Vidal Morales, Iniciadores y Primeros Martires de la Revolucion Cubana, La Habana, La Moderna Poesia, 1931, Tomo III pp. 113-14.
  • Enrique José Varona, De la Colonia a la Republica, La Habana, Biblioteca la Cultura Cubana, 1919 p. 42ff.
  • Harry Frank Guggenheim , “The United States and Cuba, A study in International Relations” New York, Arno Press, 1970, pp. 156-7.
  • Juan J. Remos, Historia de la Literatura Cubana, Miami, Mnemosyne Publishing Company, p. 136.
  • José Manuel Cortina, Caracteres de Cuba, La Habana, Editorial Lex, 1945, pp. 198ff, 204ff
  • Emilio Roig de Leuchsenring, Historia de la Enmienda Platt: Una Interpretacion de la Realidad Cubana, La Habana, 1935.

See also the articles in the “Enciclopedia universal Espasa Calpe” and in the Merriam Webster “New Biographical Dictionary”, and Francisco Xavier de Santa Cruz, Historia de Familias Cubanas, Editorial Hercules, La Habana, 1943.

Web links

Commons : Alfredo Zayas y Alfonso  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
  1. POEMAS ALFREDO ZAYAS - AL CAER LA NIEVE ( Memento from March 1, 2008 in the Internet Archive )

Time tables