# Mario García Menocal

**Date of birth:** December 10, 1866

**Date of death:** September 7, 1941

**Categories:** Society, Patriot, military, Science

A military professional, he obtained the rank of major general during the War of Independence. He was the third president of the Republic of Cuba, reelected for a second term (1913-1921).

The sixth son of a wealthy sugar mill owner, he was born in Jagüey Grande, province of Matanzas. When the Ten Years' War began, he left the country with his family for Brooklyn and later to Mexico, where they would reside for 10 years.

His father sent him to a military academy in the United States and later he studied civil engineering at Cornell University. After completing his studies he returned to the Island and from there he traveled with his uncle to Nicaragua to conduct studies related to the canal being planned in that area.

Back in Cuba, he was entrusted with directing a section of the railroad construction that would connect Camagüey with Santa Cruz del Sur. He was engaged in these tasks when the War of Independence began (1895).

In June of 1895 he took up arms in the company of Federico Mendizábal and León Primelles. Shortly after he would serve under the orders of commander Paco Recio, with whom he joined the general headquarters of Máximo Gómez and was transferred by him to the forces of Alejandro Rodríguez.

At the Assembly of Jimaguayú he was elected subsecretary of War of the Council of Government of the Republic of Cuba in Arms and until the arrival of general Carlos Roloff on the Island he was in charge of that Secretariat.

He was promoted to captain and transferred to Manzanillo. In the eastern zone he joined the invading contingent that Antonio Maceo was preparing, with whom he crossed the Trocha from Júcaro to Morón. Already in Camagüey he had been promoted to the rank of commander and later by seniority to lieutenant colonel.

He was serving as chief of staff of general Mayía Rodríguez, when general Calixto García Íñiguez requested his presence in Oriente and he was put in charge of his staff. With the rank of colonel he deployed the most important combat actions of his military career; among them, the assault on the town of Guáimaro which earned him promotion to brigadier.

Máximo Gómez entrusted him with taking charge of the 5th Army Corps, weakened after the fall of general Maceo. The order took time to be carried out. In 1898, Menocal crossed the trocha and was promoted to major general. Shortly after the armistice of peace between the United States and Spain was signed.

By virtue of the Treaty of Paris of 1898, Cuba came to be occupied militarily by the United States. During the First military occupation of the United States in Cuba he was chosen to take charge of organizing the police force in Havana and shortly after he served as inspector of Public Works.

He also held responsibilities in foreign companies; among others, as administrator of the Chaparra sugar mill, the most important productive unit of the Cuban American Sugar Co. at that time.

In 1906, when the reelection of Tomás Estrada Palma led to the so-called Little War of August 1906, Menocal traveled to Havana to mediate in the conflict. From his arrival on September 4 he dedicated himself to conferring with the president and the principal leaders of the warring factions.

After the American intervention in the Cuban conflict, Menocal integrated the disarmament commission chosen by William Taft and presided over by brigadier of the American army Frederick Funston. However, Menocal declined this responsibility and was replaced by general Tomás Padró Griñán.

On June 9, 1912, as a result of the uprising of the Party of the Independents of Color, general Menocal offered general José de J. Monteagudo 3,000 men, a gesture imitated by many other party leaders in different regions.

In the elections of 1912, the National Patriotic Coalition promoted Menocal as a candidate alongside Enrique José Varona. This time his party triumphed and on May 20, 1913 he took charge of the country's presidency. His cabinet included former combatants of the War of Independence, former autonomists and professionals linked to conservatism.

During his government the secretariats of Health and Welfare and Public Education and Fine Arts were reorganized, and the first normal schools of the republic were created.

The circumstances of the First World War would create a favorable climate to strengthen the alliance of interests around sugar and the greater identification of Menocal's government with the postulates and orientations of the American State Department.

During his first presidential term (1913-1917) monetary unification was achieved under a national standard and parity with the dollar was used as the basis. The republic's income budgets were increased, to which was added the use of the National Lottery as a means to obtain additional revenue.

Menocal's second presidential term (1917-1921), this time with general Emilio Núñez as vice president, was preceded by the so-called Little War of the Chambelona, characterized by military actions between conservatives and the liberal faction opposed to Menocal's reelection, a revolt that was suppressed.

By means of the law of 1917 taxes on insurance premiums were increased and, for the first time in the Cuban tax system, a tax was introduced on the fundamental sector of the national industry, by establishing a contribution of 10 cents per sack of sugar and 0.25 cents per gallon of molasses.

The strengthening of the presidential system during Menocal's administration was favored by the adoption of a new structure in the armed forces, more in line with times of war. The Permanent Army and the Rural Guard were merged into a single armed institute: the National Army and the so-called military aviation was created as well.

With the victory of Alfredo Zayas Alfonso in the elections of November 1, 1920, Menocal headed to Europe. He visited Switzerland, Madrid, Paris, and on November 2 he arrived at the seat of the English court; in all the cities he visited he was honored, including the lunch offered at the Royal Palace by the Spanish monarch.

In April of 1924, the National Conservative Party issued a manifesto in which the Menocal-Méndez Capote candidacy was launched in opposition to the liberal formula with Gerardo Machado at its head. Despite the intense Menocal electoral campaign, on May 20, 1925, Machado took office as president after winning in the elections.

On March 28, 1927, a bill for constitutional amendment was presented in the Chamber of Representatives along with that for the extension of powers and modification of the Electoral Code. Three years later, on October 5, a military conspiracy encouraged by Menocal and Carlos Mendieta Montefur, principal leader of the Nationalist Union, was discovered.

In New York, both were part of a Revolutionary Junta to which were added the supporters of Miguel Mariano Gómez, the University Student Directorate (DEU) and other Cuban organizations of diverse political orientations. In August of 1931, they unleashed an armed uprising that culminated with the surrender of those involved. Menocal and Mendieta suffered imprisonment for a few months, under conditions in keeping with their "worth and hierarchy," according to Machado's words, and later went abroad, under the protection of the consequent guarantees of the tyranny.

The constitution of the governments of the pentarchy and, a few days later, the so-called Government of the Hundred Days, after Machado's fall on August 12, 1933, was not well received by Menocal, nor by the bourgeois-landowning oligarchy or by the United States government.

During this period he remained in Miami and only returned to the Island when the coup d'état of January 15, 1934 occurred and Carlos Mendieta came to power with the support of American ambassador Jefferson Caffery and the chief of the armed forces Fulgencio Batista.

For the elections announced by the Constitutional Law of June 12, 1935, the National Democratic Coalition presented him as its candidate for the presidency. However, Colonel Fulgencio Batista strove to consolidate the electoral alliance of Republican Action, Nationalist Union and the Liberal Party through the nomination of Miguel Mariano Gómez, always with the approval of the United States government, which sent professor Harold W. Dobbs, an expert in electoral matters to resolve conflicts in the elections in favor of Batista's proposal.

Upon the opening of the Constitutional Convention of 1940, he presided over the Republican Democratic Party. After more than two months of sessions he became part of the Democratic Socialist Coalition, this time reinforcing Batista's presidential candidacy for the general elections.

He would not be presented again as a candidate for the executive office of the nation. On September 7, 1941, in the early morning hours, the third president of the Republic of Cuba passed away.

Source: EnCaribe.org