José Manuel de Cortina y García (; 3 February 1880 in San Diego de Nuñez,
Pinar del Río
Pinar del Río is the capital city of Pinar del Río Province, Cuba. With a population of 191,081 (2022), it is the List of cities in Cuba, 10th-largest city in Cuba. Inhabitants of the area are called ''Pinareños''.
History
Pinar del Río was ...
,
Cuba
Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...
– 9 March 1970 in
Miami
Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...
,
Miami-Dade County
Miami-Dade County () is a county located in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of Florida. The county had a population of 2,701,767 as of the 2020 census, making it the most populous county in Florida and the seventh-most-populous coun ...
,
Florida
Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...
USA) was a Cuban politician, lawyer and journalist.
Biography
Cortina was the son of Constantino de Cortina y Arteaga, an
agriculturalist
An agriculturist, agriculturalist, agrologist, or agronomist (abbreviated as agr.) is a professional in the science, practice, and management of agriculture and agribusiness. It is a regulated profession in Canada, India, the Philippines, the Uni ...
of
Basque
Basque may refer to:
* Basques, an ethnic group of Spain and France
* Basque language, their language
Places
* Basque Country (greater region), the homeland of the Basque people with parts in both Spain and France
* Basque Country (autonomous co ...
descent, and wife María Luisa García y Gutiérrez.
He graduated from the Colegio de Belén (1898) and graduated as a lawyer in 1903. He wrote for ''Democracia'', ''El Mundo'', ''La Lucha'', ''La Revista de Derecho'', and ''La Nación''.
Cortina was first elected to public office in 1908 as a member of the Cuban House of Representatives and was later elected to the
Cuban Senate
The Congress of Cuba () was the legislature of Republic of Cuba (1902–1959), Cuba from 20 May 1902 until the Cuban Revolution of 1959.
The Congress consisted of the 130-member Chamber of Representatives (''Cámara de Representantes'') and the ...
. He served as Secretary of the Presidency under
Alfredo Zayas y Alfonso
Alfredo de Zayas y Alfonso (February 21, 1861 – April 11, 1934), usually known as Alfredo de Zayas under Spanish naming customs and also known as Alfredo Zayas, was a Cuban lawyer, poet and political figure who was President of Cuba.
He ser ...
. In 1927, he was the Cuban delegate to the
League of Nations
The League of Nations (LN or LoN; , SdN) was the first worldwide intergovernmental organisation whose principal mission was to maintain world peace. It was founded on 10 January 1920 by the Paris Peace Conference (1919–1920), Paris Peace ...
. He was Cuba's
Foreign Minister
In many countries, the ministry of foreign affairs (abbreviated as MFA or MOFA) is the highest government department exclusively or primarily responsible for the state's foreign policy and relations, diplomacy, bilateral, and multilateral r ...
from 1936–1937 under the presidency of
Miguel Mariano Gómez
Miguel Mariano Gómez y Arias (; October 6, 1889 – October 26, 1950) was a Cuban politician who served as the seventh President of Cuba for just over eight months in 1936. Compared to other administrations, there was general peace and tranqu ...
and again from 1940–1942 under the presidency of
Fulgencio Batista
Fulgencio Batista y Zaldívar (born Rubén Zaldívar; January 16, 1901 – August 6, 1973) was a Cuban military officer and politician who played a dominant role in Cuban politics from his initial rise to power as part of the 1933 Revolt of t ...
. Cortina was instrumental in the elimination of the
Platt Amendment
The Platt Amendment was a piece of United States legislation enacted as part of the Army Appropriations Act of 1901 that defined the relationship between the United States and Cuba following the Spanish–American War.Carlos Márquez Sterling at the convention that created the
1940 Constitution of Cuba
The 1940 Constitution of Cuba was implemented during the presidency of Fulgencio Batista on 10 October 1940. It was primarily influenced by the collectivist ideas that inspired the Cuban Revolution of 1933. Widely considered one of the most pro ...
. Among his many publications he is best known for his work "Ideales Internacionales de Cuba" (Cuba's International Ideals).
José Manuel de Cortina y García is considered one of Cuba's most outstanding orators and diplomats. He had two large haciendas one in
Arroyo Naranjo
Arroyo Naranjo is one of the 15 municipalities or boroughs (''municipios'' in Spanish) in the city of Havana, Cuba. It became part of Havana city while the capital grew.
The Managua Military Airport is located in the southern part of this munic ...
the other, La Güira in
Pinar del Río
Pinar del Río is the capital city of Pinar del Río Province, Cuba. With a population of 191,081 (2022), it is the List of cities in Cuba, 10th-largest city in Cuba. Inhabitants of the area are called ''Pinareños''.
History
Pinar del Río was ...
, which housed a rural public school. His family also had property in
Camagüey Province
Camagüey () is the largest of the provinces of Cuba. Its capital is Camagüey. Other towns include Florida and Nuevitas.
Geography
Camagüey is mostly low lying, with no major hills or mountain ranges passing through the province. Numerous lar ...
. All of his property was confiscated by the government of
Fidel Castro
Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz (13 August 1926 – 25 November 2016) was a Cuban politician and revolutionary who was the leader of Cuba from 1959 to 2008, serving as the prime minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976 and President of Cuba, president ...
. One of his properties, ''Las Cuevas de los Portales'', located in
La Palma
La Palma (, ), also known as ''La isla bonita'' () and historically San Miguel de La Palma, is the most northwesterly island of the Canary Islands, a Spanish autonomous community and archipelago in Macaronesia in the North Atlantic Ocean. La Pa ...
in
Pinar del Río
Pinar del Río is the capital city of Pinar del Río Province, Cuba. With a population of 191,081 (2022), it is the List of cities in Cuba, 10th-largest city in Cuba. Inhabitants of the area are called ''Pinareños''.
History
Pinar del Río was ...
; confiscated by the
Cuban Revolution
The Cuban Revolution () was the military and political movement that overthrew the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista, who had ruled Cuba from 1952 to 1959. The revolution began after the 1952 Cuban coup d'état, in which Batista overthrew ...
in 1959 was declared a Cuban National Monument in 1987.
Family
He married his first wife, María Josefa Corrales (1880-1962) who went by the name Josefa. José and Josefa had four children: Ofelia (1901-1972), Esther (1902-1994), José Manuel Jr. (1904-1978), and Humberto (1908-1960).
He later married Adela Ramírez y Blanco (1898-1992), his second wife, and they had a son Aníbal. Aníbal (1931-2010) married Elena Lavin y Corominas and together they had six children, Aníbal José, María Elena, José Antonio (deceased), Jorge Alberto, Ana María and Ignacio Agustín. Aníbal has sixteen grandchildren. Aníbal retired from a successful career as an economist and lawyer for The
Organization of American States
The Organization of American States (OAS or OEA; ; ; ) is an international organization founded on 30 April 1948 to promote cooperation among its member states within the Americas.
Headquartered in Washington, D.C., United States, the OAS is ...
(OAS).
His childhood sweetheart was Leocadia de la Concepción de Verna y Peñes (December 9, 1893 - 1982). Leocadia was nicknamed "Cheche". José and Cheche had two children, a daughter, Judith (1912–2005), and a son Aquiles (1916–1962). Judith de Verna Cortina married Mario Milian and had one daughter, Judith Marty née Milian (founder and principal of
Mater Academy Charter School
Mater Academy Charter Middle/High School (often called Mater by students and alumni) is a coeducational charter school for day students in grades 6 through 12, and offers more thatwenty-seven AP coursesto students. Located in Hialeah Gardens, Flor ...
). Aquiles married Daisy Breton and had one child, a daughter, Daisita. Other famous descendants of José Manuel Cortina include Nestor Carbonell, Aileen Marty, Elena Marty-Nelson,Sterling, Carlos Márquez and Sterling, Manuel Márquez. 'Historia de La Isla De Cuba" Regents Publishing Company, Inc. New York, 1975 and Bernie Aquiles Cueto.