Carlos Mendieta y Montefur

Carlos Mendieta

Carlos Mendieta y Montefur (born November 4, 1873 in San Antonio de las Vueltas, Las Villas , † 1960 ) was a Cuban doctor and politician and from January 18, 1934 to December 12, 1935 President of the Republic of Cuba.

Carlos Mendieta took part as a colonel on the side of the Cuban independence movement against Spanish colonial rule in the War of Independence (1895–1898). After the war, he founded the Federal Republican Party ( Partido Republicano Federál ) with José Miguel Gómez , for which he was elected to parliament.

Also together with José Miguel Gómez in 1904 he founded the "Conservative Party" ( Partido Conservador ). Mendieta separated politically from Gómez and supported Alfredo Zayas y Alfonso against President Mario García Menocal . In 1916 he ran with Zayas: Zayas as presidential candidate, Mendieta as vice president. In 1917 Mendieta and Zayas attempted a coup against Menocal and after the defeat went into exile for a year. In 1918 he returned to Cuba and was again a member of parliament. In internal disputes of the " Liberal Party " he was defeated by the candidate Gerardo Machado . At the end of the electoral term he retired to Camagüey into private life and devoted himself to his business. Mendieta was arrested in 1931 because of a newspaper article ("¡Adios, dictadura!") Directed against Machado's dictatorship.

Mendieta founded the “Party of National Unity” ( Partido Unión Nacionalista ) and on January 18, 1934, after a period of constantly changing presidents, one of whom was in office for only six hours, the first to hold office longer (two years ). His candidacy was supported by the army chief Fulgencio Batista , who exercised real political power in the background.

During his presidency, the Platt Amendment was removed from the Cuban constitution under public pressure .

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1. ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original from September 29, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
2. ↑ Cuba en la mano. Enciclopédia popular ilustrada. Havana 1940, p. 1198.