Manuel Octavio Bisbé Alberni

Cuban intellectual and politician. University professor and acclaimed orator. Representative to the Chamber and founding member of the Cuban People's Party (Orthodox). Notable opponent of Fulgencio Batista's dictatorship; following the triumph of the Cuban Revolution, he was appointed Cuba's representative to the United Nations, a position he held at the time of his death.

Born in Santiago de Cuba, he was the third son of physician José Bisbé Pérez and Margarita Alberni Portuondo.

He completed his primary education in his native city and secondary education in Havana, where at the Institute he distinguished himself both for his academic results and for his political and cultural activism.

There he founded, along with several professors and students, the prestigious Conference Society, on whose platform prominent intellectuals of the time intervened and he himself would give early evidence of his oratorical abilities. Still without graduating from high school, he published the poetry collection In the Gardens of Silence, praised by poets of the caliber of Agustín Acosta.

Between 1923 and 1927 he studied at the University of Havana. Present from the very beginning of the University Reform movement, he was elected delegate of the Association of Law Students and was part of the first University Student Federation. Very active in the First National Congress of Students organized by Julio Antonio Mella, he participated in the work of various commissions, being one of the drafters of the motion that rejected North American interventionism in Cuba, embodied in the Permanent Treaty.

Graduated as a doctor in Public Law, Civil Law, and Philosophy and Letters, he served as a professor at the Normal School of Matanzas and at the Institute of Secondary Education in Havana.

In 1929 he received a scholarship to pursue studies of Greek in a summer course at Columbia University; upon completion of this he was appointed instructor of the Chair of Greek Language and Literature at the University of Havana.

Member of the faculty opposition movement against Gerardo Machado's dictatorship, he was expelled from his position at the Institute of Secondary Education in Havana when that center was shut down in late 1930. He participated in various actions in support of the revolutionary student movement, without abandoning his cultural work at the Lyceum and other Havana societies.

Following Machado's overthrow he was reinstated to his position at the Institute of Secondary Education in Havana and in 1935, already as an assistant professor at the University, he participated in the organization of the March strike, for which he was suspended from his position and salary. In the face of repression and the excesses of militarism, Bisbé, with his eloquent oratory, would be recognized as one of the most consistent voices in favor of the country's democratization.

Also notably active in acts of solidarity with the Spanish republic, in 1938 he was elected vice president of the Hispano-Cuban Institution of Culture presided over by Don Fernando Ortiz. The following year, after the University's reopening, he won through competitive examination the Chair of Greek Language and Literature at that institution.

As an intellectual, Bisbé not only excelled in his teaching work, but also through the intense effort deployed in the dissemination of classical literature, in which he frequently addressed various historical topics and reflected on essential aspects of universal culture.

A brilliant lecturer, his presence was often in demand at cultural societies, while his contribution to the University of the Air courses became highly notable. His lectures, almost always published as articles or pamphlets, dealt with topics of his specialty—"Root and Greek Trajectory of the West" or "Greek Lyric Poets," for example—but sometimes also addressed political topics or matters of national history.

President of the Federation of Doctors in Science and Philosophy and Letters, he was in charge of inaugurating the Second Congress of that institution in January of 1941.

Months earlier, Bisbé had joined the Cuban Revolutionary Party (Authentic), while denouncing and combating gangster actions at the Havana University. Elected as a representative to the Chamber in 1944, from that position he would promote various bills for the benefit of public education and the teaching profession.

In 1945 he was part of, by appointment of President Ramón Grau San Martín, the Cuban delegation to the Inter-American Conference on Problems of War and Peace, held in Chapultepec, Mexico. Aligned with the critical faction of "authenticism" led by Eduardo Chibás, Bisbé lashed out against government corruption and in May of 1947 participated in the founding of the Cuban People's Party (Orthodox).

A companion of Chibás in some of his most ardent campaigns, in the 1948 elections he was elected again as representative, now by the Orthodox Party and, in 1950, that organization had to proclaim him aspirant to the mayoralty of Havana. Very active in political struggle following Chibás' death, he was a candidate for the Senate for the 1952 elections, frustrated by Fulgencio Batista's coup d'état.

A vehement opponent of the Batista dictatorship, Bisbé lashed out against that regime incessantly, both from the pages of Bohemia magazine and other media outlets, as well as in public acts, which resulted in him being detained in the dungeons of the Military Intelligence Service shortly after the military coup.

Become a distinguished personality of the tendency, which within the Orthodox faction rejected pacts and participation in the electoral farce promoted by Batista to legitimize himself, he showed himself at the same time understanding of the rebelliousness of young people, embodied by the insurrectional line led by Fidel Castro.

After having ardently advocated for the amnesty of that young leader and of the other attackers of the Moncada barracks, in 1955, the Greek professor represented the Orthodox Party in the failed Civic Dialogue between opposition parties and the government.

Appointed in 1957 president of "historical orthodoxy," he backed from that position the Manifesto of the Sierra Maestra signed by Fidel Castro along with Raúl Chibás and Felipe Pazos, to promote the unity of forces opposed to Batista's dictatorship.

Object of constant persecution and threats for his support of the insurrectional struggle, Bisbé chose to go into exile. In the name of the Orthodox Party he signed the Pact of Caracas which in July of 1958 unified the forces supporting the Revolution.

After the revolutionary victory in 1959, he was appointed Cuba's representative to the United Nations. From that position he would be a protagonist in the shift of Cuban foreign policy toward genuine positions against colonialism, in defense of peace and democratic values, while at the same time it would fall to him to face, from a strategic position, the growing hostility of the United States government against his homeland.

He received the task of securing from Ambassador Vasily Kusnetzzov the support of the Soviet Union for Cuba in the midst of the conflict that led to the nationalization of foreign companies on the Island; at the same time, he maintained an active relationship with the Fair Treatment for Cuba Committee and other American organizations that expressed understanding and solidarity toward the Cuban revolutionary process. Also under his charge was the reception of the delegation presided by the Prime Minister, Fidel Castro, to the General Assembly of the United Nations in September of 1960.

On March 20, 1961, upon leaving a session of the UN, he died in New York from a heart attack. Days later he was buried in Havana with the highest honors.

Publications
He was a Professor of Greek at the University of Havana and collaborated with the publications:
"Bimestre".
"Lyceum".
"El Mundo".
"Universidad de La Habana".

Source: En Caribe.org