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.
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