Sergio Carbó (born 1891 - April 18, 1971) was a prominent Conservative journalist and leader of the

Cuban Revolutionary party The Cuban Revolutionary Party (, PRC) was a political organization created by the Cuban intellectual José Martí on 10 April 1892 in order to organize the independence of Cuba and, as much as possible, Puerto Rico, the last two overseas provinces ...

Early history

Sergio Carbó was born in the

La Habana Province La Habana Province , formerly known as Ciudad de La Habana Province, is a province of Cuba that includes the territory of the city of Havana, the Republic's capital. The province's territory is the seat of the superior organs of the state and i ...

of Cuba.

Journalism

Sergio Carbó was the founder and the editor-in-chief of '' La Semana'', a weekly political commentary journal, in 1925. He started ''Zig-Zag'' in 1938 which was later re-established in Miami in 1960. From 1941 to 1960, he was the owner and director of the daily Havana newspaper '' Prensa Libre''. Carbó had been detained in the political prison at

La Cabaña Fortress LA most frequently refers to Los Angeles, the second most populous city in the United States of America. La, LA, or L.A. may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music *La (musical note), or A, the sixth note *"L.A.", a song by Elliott Smit ...

in January 1931, for publishing content in his newspaper, ''La Semana'', that the government found objectionable prior to his eventual release in February 1931.

Rise to power

Revolutionary expedition

In May 1931, Carbó and

Carlos Hevia Carlos Aurelio Hevia y de los Reyes-Gavilan (March 21, 1900 – April 2, 1964) was the interim President of Cuba, serving for less than three days. During the third week of 1934, Hevia was President from 5:00 p.m. on Monday, January 15, unt ...

equipped and led an expeditionary force from the United States which landed in Gíbara, a small community in the province of Oriente (now

Holguín Province Holguín () is one of the provinces of Cuba, the third most populous after Havana and Santiago de Cuba. It lies in the southeast of the country. Its major cities include Holguín (the capital), Banes, Antilla, Mayarí, and Moa. The provinc ...

). It was an attempt to oust

Gerardo Machado Gerardo Machado y Morales (28 September 1869 – 29 March 1939) was a general of the Cuban War of Independence and President of Cuba from 1925 to 1933. Machado was elected president in 1924 as the leader of the Liberal Party, a moderate reform ...

's dictatorship, but it was suppressed by Machado's army. Carbó was later charged with inspiring a rebellion in

Oriente Province Oriente (, "East") was the easternmost province of Cuba until 1976. The term "Oriente" is still used to refer to the eastern part of the country, which currently is divided into five different provinces. The origins of Oriente lie in the 1607 di ...

Cuban Revolution of 1933

In August 1933, an army revolt in

Havana Havana (; ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.Carlos Manuel de Céspedes y Quesada Carlos Manuel de Céspedes y Quesada (August 12, 1871 – March 28, 1939) was a Cuban writer, politician, diplomat, and President of Cuba. Early life and career He was the son of Carlos Manuel de Céspedes and Ana Maria de Quesada y Loynaz ...

. The Céspedes administration assumed power on August 12, 1933, until Sergeant

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 ...

staged a

coup d'état A coup d'état (; ; ), or simply a coup , is typically an illegal and overt attempt by a military organization or other government elites to unseat an incumbent leadership. A self-coup is said to take place when a leader, having come to powe ...

called the Sergeants' Revolt on September 4, 1933. Carbó was a leading factor in the uprising which brought the downfall of the Cespedes' presidency.

Pentarchy of 1933

An executive committee of five men including Carbó, Dr. Ramón Grau, José Irisarri, Dr. Guillermo Portela, and Porfirio Franca replaced the Céspedes cabinet as Cuba's governmental leaders. On the committee, Carbó, a member of the

Student Directory A student is a person enrolled in a school or other educational institution, or more generally, a person who takes a special interest in a subject. In the United Kingdom and most commonwealth countries, a "student" attends a secondary school ...

, acted as the Secretary of War. Following the coup, the five-member junta—also referred to as The Pentarquia—served as a transitional administration for just five days.

One Hundred Days Government

Within a week, Dr. Ramón Grau was promoted to president, replacing the Pentarchy with the

One Hundred Days Government The One Hundred Days Government (Spanish: ''Gobierno de los Cien Días'') is the name normally used in Cuba to refer to the Cuban government of Ramon Grau which lasted from 10 September 1933 until 15 January 1934. Background Leading up to thi ...

on September 10, 1933. On November 13, 1933, Carbó accused the United States ambassador to Cuba,

Sumner Welles Benjamin Sumner Welles (October 14, 1892September 24, 1961) was an American government official and diplomat. He was a major foreign policy adviser to President Franklin D. Roosevelt and served as Under Secretary of State from 1936 to 1943, dur ...

, of supporting an attempted uprising against President Grau's regime and asked that he be removed from his post. On January 15, 1934, Sergeant Batista forced Grau to resign, ending Grau's government of slightly more than a hundred days. On October 16, 1934, Carbó was declared not guilty in an urgency court of publishing articles against the government. Carbó was an officer of the exile group, the Cuban Revolutionary Council and on April 21, 1961, he was acting as coordinator-general of the anti-Castro Cuban Democratic Revolutionary Front (FRD).

Death

Sergio Carbó died in

Miami, Florida 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 ...

at Mercy Hospital on April 18, 1971.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Carbó, Sergio 1891 births 1971 deaths Cuban Revolutionary Council members Exiles of the Cuban Revolution in the United States People of the Cuban Revolution Cuban revolutionaries Cuban journalists Cuban male journalists