CONTENDERS IN 1958 CUBAN
PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS
[GENTE
Magazine, Vol. 1, Havana, January 5, 1958, No. 1, American
Edition]
Page 33
PHOTO CAPTION
- Andres
Domingo Morales del Castillo, ex President of the
Republic and now
Secretary of the Presidency, looks as one of the most
eligible men for
the president elections.
POSIBLE [POSSIBLE]
CONTENDERS IN NEXT PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS
Dr. Andres Domingo y
Morales del Castillo
For most government partisans, this Cuban with his pleasing
personality
and his look of extreme self-confidence is the greatest
guarantee that
the Batista program will be carried forward by the
constitutional
authority.
Andres Domingo y Morales del Castillo is reported for many
years to
have been one of the closest and most highly regarded
advisors to the
President in all spheres of government.
He has advised the President on intellectual matters on
affairs of
state, on administration of the government and even when the
impatient
Batista was living a quiet family life in exile.
As minister to the President, Andres Domingo has held one of
the most
confidential and arduous posts in the President's inner
circle.
For some Batista supporters, Morales del Castillo is the
ideal man for
the job due to his experiencia [experience] of serving as
chief
executive o the nation on one occasion.
He was the illustrious Cuban who filed the presidential post
at the
time when the general-president was forced to abandon the
palace to run
for election in 1954.
While his numerous backers go around constantly boosting his
candidacy,
Andres Domingo himself remains silent. He smiles when
friends
bring up the subject and says nothing that can be taken as a
serious
indication of his thinking on the matter.
With a stoic capacity for work, and amazing seriousness of
purpose and
an unruffled composure (which stood him in good stead on
March 13
during the attack on the Presidential Palace), Andres
Domingo at year's
end looms as another of the leading aspirants to the
position of
president of the nation.
Page 34
PHOTO CAPTION
- Andres
Rivero Agüero, a young high talented politian
[politician] Prime
Minister of the Government is working hard for his
nomination.
Dr. Andres Rivero
Agüero
Among the leaders of the PAP figure of the primer minister,
Dr. Andres
Rivero Agüero, has come to the fore as a possible
presidencial
[presidential] candidate for consideration by the
coalition's general
staff.
As one of the President Batista's most loyal friends, he
didn't
hesitate to join the revolutionary movement of the 10th of
March in the
first shaky moments of its formation.
Essentially a politican [politician], Rivero Agüero has
shown the
solidarity of his character and his energetic temperament by
defending
his leader against the subtle allegations of the opposition.
He has taken part in all the important attempts at
conciliation between
the government and opposition as the President's
representative.
When some of his own companions have remained silent for
fear of
committing dialectic errors, Rivero Agüero has on many
occasions
assumed the legal offensive for the regime.
He is, therefore, one of the outstanding figures of the
present
government. His main attributes and defects are as
follows:
He has the intelligence to know what is best both for his
own party and
for the enemies of the regime. He is cautious in that he
knows when to
remain silent and when to advance his arguments.
He is excessive. There are those who believe that his
major
defect is that he talks too much. It is possible,
however, that
for the dynamic prime minister this is his best weapon.
In at atmosphere in which politicians are constantly
reducing the hours
in which they receive visitors and when they are cutting
down their
conferences, Rivero Agüero is noted for doing just the
reverse.
He is too empassioned.[impassioned]. Without doubt the
prime
minister is one of those who transforms his immense energies
into
lightning, or something very similar to what the Israelites
termed the
wrath of God.
(Text Continued on Page 67)
Page 67
PHOTO CAPTION
- Anselmo
Alliegro, a great politician, President of the Senate
looks like one of
the most eligible candidates to the Republic Presidency.
(Text from Page 34)
DR. ANSELMO ALLIEGRO MILA
The gravity of his expression is only a manifold reflection
of his true personality.
The president of the Senate, Dr. Anselmo Alliegro, another
of the many
highly eligible figures under consideration for the
presidency by
parties composing the National Progressive Coalition, hides
under the
rigidity of his facial expression a political acumen of the
first order.
His advanced legislative rank is not the only factor which
qualifies
Alliegro as an aspirant for the nation's highest
office. He also
symbolizes for Cubans a permanent school of exceptionally
fine quality
politics.
He started his political career as a councilman in the wild
regions of
Oriente Province. There he filed away in his memories
the history
of Cuban independence and the heroic story of the Mambis
fighting in
zones saturated with colonial oppression.
There also he forged his political career. He learned
first hand
to appreciate the unmistakable foundations of true
democracy. And
as the Bronze Titan had done 50 years previously, he started
his march
towards the capital with only one goal: triumph.
Anselmo Alliegro Mila has been proclaimed presidential
candidate by the
provisional assembly of the Progressive Party of
Oriente. He can
count also on the unconditional support of a majority of
mayors and
councilmen of the republic and strong liberal nuclei in the
coalition
government.
A champion of the farmer and of historic phrases, Alliegro
has carried
out a policy of progressive understanding among all sectors
of the
nation during his term as president of the Senate. He
has worked
vigorously, patriotically and willingly for the creation of
a sense of
impersonal good-fellowship in all question of state.
His adversaries find little ground on which to oppose
him.
Alliegro also knows how to give forth with a spontaneous
smile and mix
with the humble classes of the population. Silently,
but with a
firm step, he had laid the groundwork for his own elevation
to the
presidency of the republic.
Page 68
PHOTO CAPTION
- Amadeo
Lopez Castro, a well-known politician and had of the
Partido Union
Radical is one of the main aspirants to the Presidential
nomination.
ING. [Engineer] AMADEO LOPEZ
CASTRO
The supporters and leaders of the Partido Union Radical, one
of the
group of government coalition parties, has proclaimed their
party
spokesman as an eminently able substitute for President
Batista in the
general elections scheduled for 1958.
But despite the enthusiasm and drive of this element of the
party, the
rank and file does not feel the necessary confidence in
engineer Amadeo
Lopez Castro.
They look very well that Lopez Castro can count on
sufficient votes and
support among the top echelons of the government to make a
hot fight
for the nomination.
But at the same time t hey fear that Lopez Castro is not
sufficient interested in the chief executive post.
Apathy? Indifference? No. Lopez Castro has
dedicated
his entire person to the economic problems of
government. He is
one of a small group of highly trained Cubans who direct and
control,
in accordance with the instructions of the President, the
country's
sugar policies abroad.
Lopez Castro is a man whose axioms and theories are of
absolute and
proven worth and efficiency. But he foregoes the
social
amenities, protocol and other social obligations which form
an
important part of the duties of a president.
An indefatigable worker who takes in utmost seriousness the
responsibilities of his post, he leaves little time for the
public
aspects of his work.
Some say that Amadeo does not wish to be a candidate.
But to date
he has not stated that desire publicly, with the result that
his ardent
supporters and his figures and take an active part in the
democratic
rough-and-tumble of continue to push his name to the fore in
the hopes
that he will leave his desk the political forum.
Page 69
PHOTO CAPTION
- Jorge Garcia
Montes, talented lawyer and Minister of Education, waits
for his nomination trough the Progressive Action Party.
DR. JORGE GARCIA
MONTES
To his friends, the active pace of Dr. Jorge Garcia Montes
means just
one thing –that the minister of education is ready and
waiting.
Too much interest is dangerous, but too little is more so.
Garcia Montes' path since that memorable date of March 10
has not led
the minister to sensational peaks. But, as a discreet,
hard
working and intimate advisor of the administration, his
presidential
star has risen steadily over the past six years in keeping
with his
high party post.
Previous to that March day he had thrown his support to the
presidential candidacy of Fulgencio Batista and the historic
Partido
Accion Unitaria.
Afterwards, when Batista had ascended to power, Jorge Garcia
Montes was
introduced onto the national scene slowly until his full
emergence in
the post which he now occupies.
Like Raul Menocal, the former pre-
In all important events Garcia Montes has held a front-line
post.
He is an imperturbable man, always with a cigar between his
lips, who
gives the impression of knowing what is about to happen and
being "on
the inside" in all important events. But if such is
the case, he
maintains a discreet silence on them.
Possessor of an eloquent personality, he is a
self-contained,
purposeful man from dawn till dusk, playing his large part
in the march
of events with amazing serenity.
His collaborators see him from afar as a little too
energetic, a little too indifferent. But that is a
false impression.
The provincial assembly of Las Villas Province has
proclaimed his its presidential candidate for the coming
elections.
The radar of the partisan Batista supporters has detected
unusual
activity within education circles on recent occasions.
Does this
mean that the former premier is abandoning his reflective,
British pose
and moving into the political arena? Until something
more
definite is known, until a sign is received or the
assemblies decide on
the man for the job, "Yoyo" Garcia Montes will remain among
the ranks
of the potential candidates for president.
End of Page
Copyright
1998-2014 Cuban Information Archives. All Rights
Reserved.
