Carlos Manuel de Céspedes y Quesada

Infobox President
name =Carlos Manuel de Céspedes y Quesada

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caption =
order = 6th
office = President of Cuba
term_start = 13 August 1933
term_end = 5 September 1933
vicepresident =None
predecessor = Gerardo Machado
successor = Ramón Grau
birth_date = 12 August 1871
birth_place = New York City, New York USA
death_date = 28 March 1939
death_place = Havana, Cuba
nationality = flagicon|Cuba Cuban
party = A.B.C. Revolutionary Society
otherparty =
spouse = Laura Bertini y Alessandri
relations =
children =Carlos Manuel and Alba de Céspedes y Bertini
residence =
alma_mater =
occupation =
profession =


website =
footnotes =

Carlos Manuel de Céspedes y Quesada (August 12, 1871 in New York City, New York - March 28, 1939, in Vedado, Havana, Cuba) was a Cuban writer, politician, diplomat, and 6th President of Cuba.

He was the son of Carlos Manuel de Céspedes and Ana Maria de Quesada y Loinaz. He was also a distant cousin of Perucho Figueredo. In 1915, he married Laura Bertini y Alessandri, an Italian, first in Rome and then later again at City Hall in New York City by Mayor John Mitchel. They had two children, Carlos Manuel and Alba de Céspedes y Bertini.

He was educated first in New York City until 1885, when his mother took him and his twin sister to Germany. He later earned degrees in international law and diplomacy from the "Instituto Stanislas" in Paris, France.

In 1895, he returned to Cuba and from 1895 to 1898 he fought in the War of Independence, becoming a "teniente coronel" ( [lieutenant colonel) and the revolutionary post of governor of the Province of Santiago de Cuba. He later entered Cuban politics and from 1902 to 1908, was vice president of the Cuban House of Representatives. Then in 1909, he joined the Cuban diplomatic service and represented his country as minister to Italy, and to Argentina, and as a special envoy to Greece. In 1914, he was Cuban Ambassador to the United States.

He returned to Cuba in 1922, to become Foreign Minister under Gerardo Machado but resigned after a year. President Machado then named him Ambassador to Mexico but Céspedes delayed his departure for reasons of ill health.

Thereafter he was active in trying to overthrow Machado. In August 1933, Machado left Cuba and Céspedes was offered the position of president. He took office on August 12, 1933 on his sixty second birthday. On September 6, 1933, the "sergeants' revolution" took place and Fulgencio Batista demanded and received his resignation. He then returned to the foreign service and became the Cuban Ambassador to Spain. In 1935, he returned to Cuba and wrote several books including: "Carlos Manuel de Céspedes", "Las Banderas de Yara y de Bayamo", and "Manuel de Quesada y Loynáz".

He received numerous honors and awards including the "Grand Cross of the Order of Carlos Manuel de Céspedes of Cuba", the "Grand Cross of Belgium", the "Grand Cross of Italy", the "Grand Cross of Peru", the "Grand Cross of the Spanish Republic", the "Grand Ribbon of the Order of the Liberator of Venezuela", "Order of Merit of Chile", "Commander of the Order of the Legion of Honor of France", and of the "Order of St. Lazaro and St. Maurice of Italy".

He died on March 28, 1939, in Vedado, Havana of a heart attack and is buried at Cementerio de Cristóbal Colón in Havana.

References

* [http://figueredo.freeservers.com/Carlos%20Manuel%20de%20Cespedes%20y%20Quesada.htm The Perucho Figueredo Page bio]
* cite book
last = Otero
first = Juan Joaquin
authorlink =
title = Libro De Cuba, Una Enciclopedia Ilustrada Que Abarca Las Artes, Las Letras, Las Ciencias, La Economia, La Politica, La Historia, La Docencia, Y ElProgreso General De La Nacion Cubana - Edicion Conmemorative del Cincuentenario de la Republica de Cuba, 1902-1952
publisher =
series =
year = 1954
doi =
isbn = (Spanish)