- Emilio Ochoa
Infobox Person
name=Emilio Ochoa
caption=
birth_date=July 4, 1907
birth_place=Holguin, Cuba
death_date=June 21, 2007
death_place=Miami, Florida USAEmilio Ochoa (born Emilio Ochoa y Ochoa on July 4, 1907
Holguin ,Cuba - June 27, 2007Miami ,Florida ) was a Cuban politician and formerSenator . He was believed to be the last living signatory of Cuba's 1940 Constitution at the time of his death in 2007. cite news |first=|last=|title= Emilio Ochoa|url= http://www.legacy.com/Obituaries.asp?Page=APStory&Id=13115|work=The Associated Press |publisher=The Associated Press |date=2007-06-28 |accessdate=2007-07-17 ]Dr. Ochoa was one of seven children in a poor family. He studied dentistry in
Santiago de Cuba and graduated in 1937. During this time he became involved in politics and was one of the delegates of thePartido Autentico to the constitutional convention which wrote the Cuban Constitution of 1940.Dr. Ochoa helped found two political parties: the Partido Autentico in 1934 and the
Partido Ortodoxo in 1947. Ochoa was first elected as a Senator in 1940 and served in that office until 1948.. He was opposed toFulgencio Batista , who suspended the Cuban Constitution of 1940 in the 1950's.Dr. Ochoa was arrested 32 times because of his political beliefs and went into exile in 1960 following the
Communist takeover of the country byFidel Castro . However, he returned to Cuba in 1961 hoping that Cuba's 1940 Constitution would be reinstituted following theBay of Pigs invasion . However, the Communist government stayed in power and Ochoa left Cuba for good in the 1960s.He first went to
Venezuela where he practiced dentistry until 1965 when he went to the United States. He later taught atWayne State College inNebraska and then in aCatholic school inChicago . In 1971, he moved to Miami and lived in government-subsidized apartment.In the 1980's, he practiced dentistry with a Miami medical team that traveled to
Nicaragua to help the contras fighting theSandinistas .In 1933, he married Domitila Nunez (died 1969) and they had two children, Pura America and Carlos Emilio Ochoa Nunez (died 1996). In 1986 he married Martha Herrera.
Ochoa died of
cardiac arrest at his home in Miami on June 27, 2007, according to hisson-in-law , Rafael Sosa. He was 99 when he died. He is buried atFlagler Memorial Park .External links
* [http://www.legacy.com/Obituaries.asp?Page=APStory&Id=13115 Legacy.com: Emilio Ochoa]
References
* "The Miami Herald" - Last Surviving Signer of Cuban Constitution Dies at 99; June 28, 2007.
* "Directorio Social de la Habana 1948" (Havana, Cuba: P. Fernandez y Cia, 1948)es icon
* "Libro de Ora de la Sociedad Habanera 1949" (Havana, Cuba: Editorial Lex, 1949)es icon
* "Libro de Ora de la Sociedad Habanera 1950" (Havana, Cuba: Editorial Lex, 1950)es icon
* "Libro de Ora de la Sociedad Habanera 1953" (Havana, Cuba: Editorial Lex, 1953)es icon
* "Anuario de Familias Cubanas 1988" (Costa Rica: Trejos Hermanos Sucrs.,Inc., 1988)es icon
* "Directorio Internacional de Familias Cubanas - Volumen XI - 1996-1997" (Miami, Florida, 1997)es icon
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
