Gómez, José Miguel (1858–1921)

José Miguel Gómez (b. 1858; d. 1921), president of Cuba (1909–1913). General Gómez began his rise to prominence during the Ten Years' War and was governor of Santa Clara during the U.S. occupation under General Leonard Wood. An astute and clever politician, Gómez switched from the Conservative to the Liberal Party in 1906 when the former failed to support his bid for the presidency. He was also active in the insurrection against President Tomás Estrada Palma in 1906.

Running again on the Liberal Party ticket in 1908, Gómez won. During his presidency, the government was accused of corruption, patronage, and suspending duties on the exports of sugar and other products. The administration is perhaps better known for its expenditures that approached $140 million and for the 1912 military campaign against a black military force and its supporters, the Independent Party of Color.

Gómez was defeated in 1912 but remained in the political limelight. In 1920, opposed to Liberal policies and increasing internal strife, he plotted an unsuccessful revolution.

See alsoEstrada Palma, Tomás; Ten Years' War.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

William Fletcher Johnson, The History of Cuba (1920).

Louis A. Pérez, Cuba: Between Reform and Revolution (1988).

Additional Bibliography

Chomsky, Aviva. "'Barbados or Canada?' Race, Immigration, and Nation in Early-Twentieth-Century Cuba." Hispanic American Historical Review 80 (August 2000): 415-462.

Fuente, Alejandro de la. A Nation for All: Race, Inequality and Politics in Twentieth Century Cuba. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2001.

                                   Allan S. R. Sumnall