Thomas Estrada Palma

Tomás Estrada Palma (Bayamo, July 9, 1835 - Santiago de Cuba, November 8, 1908). He was a Cuban professor and politician, the first President of the Republic of Cuba.

Participant in the Ten Years' War, he was president of the Republic of Arms from March 29, 1876 to October 19, 1877. After the signing of the Zanjón Pact and the subsequent end of the war, he was one of the organizers, together with the hero José Martí, of the movement of Cuban exiles in the United States and of the organization of the Cuban Revolutionary Party. Upon the death of José Martí, on May 19, 1895, during the War of 1895, Estrada Palma assumed the leadership of the Party as Delegate and was in charge of organizing the shipments to the "mambisas". After the end of the War and the subsequent surrender of Spain to the United States after the Spanish-Cuban-North American War, Estrada Palma, as Party Delegate, approved its dissolution considering that it "had accomplished its mission" 34;.

Once independence was achieved, Estrada Palma, with the support of various factions of the independence camp and with the help of the United States, assumed the presidency of the nascent Republic. His political and government inexperience, as well as his claim to carry out an austerity policy, characterized his government stage, described by many historians as "weak". In addition, he had to deal with the establishment consequences of the Platt Amendment and the increasing influence of the United States in national politics. After an internal crisis, derived from his intentions to be re-elected, he requested the presence of the United States military forces, motivating the Second North American Intervention in Cuba facilitated by his resignation.

Origins and early years

Coming from a wealthy Spanish family, Tomás Estrada Palma was born on July 9, 1835, in the city of Bayamo, in eastern Cuba. His first studies were done at home until his parents sent him to Havana to study at a private school.

He began studying Law at the University of Havana, which he continued at the University of Seville, Spain, although he had to interrupt his studies to take care of the family after the death of his father.

Ten Years' War

After the outbreak of the Ten Years' War, Estrada Palma was working as a teacher in Cuartón de Guamón, in the Guantánamo region. Spanish authorities appointed him as a member of a commission that tried to persuade then-independence leader Carlos Manuel de Céspedes to lay down his arms; However, after his contact with the independence side, he decided to get involved in the movement, being appointed alderman of the Bayamo city council after its occupation by the "mambisas" forces. Between 1871 and 1872 he took part in the invasion of Guantanamo led by Máximo Gómez and Antonio Maceo.

In February 1875, as a member of General Vicente García's troops, he supported the removal of President Salvador Cisneros Betancourt, and was later appointed by President Juan Bautista Spotorno as Secretary of Foreign Relations. Later, in May 1876, the House of Representatives appointed them President of the Republic in Arms. His tenure was brief since in October 1877 he was arrested by Spanish forces and sent to prison in Cádiz.

Fruitful Truce and Necessary War

Freed, after the amnesty resulting from the Zanjón Pact, he traveled to France and then to the United States, where he settled, founding a school in the town of Central Valley, 50 miles from New York. He collaborated with the revolutionary cause in exile in the United States, where he enjoyed great prestige for his work as an intellectual and educator.

In 1895, when he left for Cuba, José Martí commissioned him to advise those who remained in charge of the leadership of the Cuban Revolutionary Party. After José Martí died in Dos Ríos, the government of the Republic in Arms, constituted in 1895 in Jimaguayú, appointed him Delegate of the Cuban Revolutionary Party and Agent of the Government of the Republic in Arms Abroad.

US military occupation

Once independence from Spain was achieved, but under the tutelage of the United States, Estrada Palma reluctantly accepted to be a presidential candidate, receiving the support of Máximo Gómez, former head of the Liberation Army and having as his opponent General Bartolomé Masó (1830- 1907), to whom as a conciliatory gesture and seeking greater unity, Estrada Palma had proposed the nomination to the vice-presidency of the country. But Masó did not accept it, and preferred to face him as an opponent, and then at the last minute withdrew from the elections alleging premeditated electoral fraud.

Presidency

Elected in the absence of a rival, Tomás Estrada Palma became president of Cuba, leaving behind the 25 years he had lived in exile. From power he made a remarkable effort to move the destroyed island forward.

A North American financial institution requested a loan to pay the debts that were owed to the members of the liberation army. It is a remarkable fact that in 1943, that $3 million debt had already been paid off.

The resignation of President Tomás Estrada reads as follows:

"To Congress:

The course that the disturbance of public order has taken since the armed rebellion began in the province of Pinar del Rio; the fact that an American Peace Commission is operating in this capital, representing the Government of Washington, and that, as a result, the Executive branch has almost completely lost its authority, while the rebels continue with arms in hand in threatening attitude; On the other hand, the undersigned sincerely and ardently wishing that the country return to its normal state of order and general tranquility, and not being able to accept, in any way, the conditions that the mentioned Commission proposes as the only way to end the rebellion, resolves, considering it patriotic and decent, to present before Congress, as he formally does, with the irrevocable character, the resignation of the position of President of the Republic, so that he was elected by the vote of his fellow citizens on March 19 of current year.
Trusting that it will be accepted, of course, he thanks the members of both Co-Legislative Bodies and offers them the testimony of his highest consideration.
Signed in the Palace of the Presidency, Havana, on September 28, 1906."

T. Palma Road

Last years and death

At the end of his term, he moved to Finca La Punta, owned by his family, located in the Eastern zone. He died on November 4, 1908, at dawn, in the city of Santiago de Cuba.