Nicolás Dionisio Castellanos Rivero (December 6, 1911 in Limonar, Cuba – February 10, 1985) was a Cuban politician and mayor of Havana from 1947 to 1952. Castellanos was the president of the Havana City Council until succeeding Manuel Fernández Supervielle as mayor. He was a member of the Authentic Party when taking the mayoral position. He was married to Laudelina Fernández Castellanos and had three children. Castellanos and his family left Cuba after the Cuban Revolution.

Mayor of Havana

Castellanos took office in 1947 after the mayor, Manuel Fernández Supervielle, committed suicide. When Castellanos took office Havana's main issue was a lack of water. Castellanos allocated 26 million pesos to complete the third expansion of

Acueducto de Albear The Acueducto de Albear is the name of a water supply system of the city of Havana, Cuba, built in the 19th century by Francisco de Albear. Background At the beginning of the 19th century, there was a severe shortage of water. After having ne ...

. He ran for a second term in 1950, using his accomplishments of solving Havana's water issues as the focus of his campaign, causing the election to be termed "The Bathtub Election". He won the nomination over his opponent,

Antonio Prío Socarrás Antonio is a masculine given name of Etruscan origin deriving from the root name Antonius. It is a common name among Romance language-speaking populations as well as the Balkans and Lusophone Africa. It has been among the top 400 most popular male ...

, with 171,828 votes to 119,555.

Visit to Key West

In 1951, then mayor, Castellanos, had an official visit to

Key West, Florida Key West ( es, Cayo Hueso) is an island in the Straits of Florida, within the U.S. state of Florida. Together with all or parts of the separate islands of Sigsbee Park, Dredgers Key, Fleming Key, Sunset Key, and the northern part of Stock Isla ...

with his wife Laudelina "Lila" Fernandez Castellanos. They arrived on February 24 and were greeted by C.B. Harvey, then mayor of Key West, and his wife Wilhelmina Harvey. This visit was important as Cuba and The United States faced political troubles, with Havana and Key West having only 93 miles of separation.

References

1911 births 1985 deaths Mayors of places in Cuba 20th-century Cuban politicians Cuban emigrants to the United States {{Cuba-mayor-stub