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Tomás Estrada Palma (July 9, 1835 – November 4, 1908) was a Cuban political figure. He served as the first President of Cuba between May 20, 1902 and September 28, 1906.

Contents [hide] 1 Fight for independence 2 First term 3 Second term 4 Personal life 5 Continuation of the Name 6 Honours 7 Notes 8 References 9 External links Fight for independence[edit | edit source] Tomás Estrada Palma became president of the Cuban Republic in Arms during the Ten Years' War.

Estrada Palma was captured by Spanish troops and sent into exile. While in exile, he traveled to New York where he worked with José Martí.

After Martí's death, Estrada Palma became the new leader of the Cuban Revolutionary Party. His role in the Cuban revolutionary party was to be the chief representative of the party. With this authorization, he was able to make diplomatic relations with other countries including the United States.[1]

When the revolutionaries established a Government in arms, Estrada Palma was sent to Washington as its diplomat. With the help of an American banker, he tried offering Spain $150 million to give up the island, a plan that failed. Other support that Estrada Palma had established was spreading the cause of the Cuban Revolutionary Party through papers owned by William Randolph Hearst. The papers would assist the revolutionaries in gaining materials, support and popularity for the movement.[2]

He was, however, successful in getting the US Congress to pass the Joint Resolution in April 19, 1898. The Joint Resolution disavowed the Spanish colonization of the Cuba and allow the independence of the Republic of Cuba. The resolution had also highlighted that the United States had no intention of occupying or annexing the island.[3] (see Spanish–American War)

After the Spanish American War, Estrada Palma dissolved one of the leading factions of the Cuban revolutionary armies. Estrada Palma dissolved the Liberation Army who were mainly black, rural and ideological section. He gave more political power to the Asemblea de Representantes who were more pragmatic, composed of white urban dwellers, the neo-annexationist and the elite of Cuba.[4] He effectively given power to the former revolutionaries and the pragmatic section of the revolutionary armies to achieve political dominance within the Cuban political realm. At the same time, it was a manner in which to attract United States assistance in Cuba to rebuild.

First term[edit | edit source] After a few years of General Leonard Wood's rule in Cuba, elections were to be held. The Republican Liberals, headed by José Miguel Gómez, and the National Liberals, headed by Alfredo Zayas, both supported Estrada Palma. He did not campaign though, staying the full-time in the U.S., where he was a citizen.

Palma's opponent, General Bartolomé Masó withdrew his candidacy in protest against favoritism by the occupational government and the manipulation of the political machine by Estrada Palma's followers. Thus Estrada Palma was left as the only candidate.[5] On December 31, 1901, Estrada Palma was elected President.

Estrada did not want to make a presidency based on any racial barriers. Like many other Cuban revolutionaries, he had seen the new republic as a non-racial republic. In this republic, Estrada Palma seen white and black Cubans as equal in Cuban society.[6]

The Platt Amendment was signed in March 2, 1902. The amendment allowed the United States to Interfere in the domestic policies of Cuba. The amendment permitted the United States to lease land for naval bases or coal stations.[3] American troops left after the Cuban government signed a bill lowering tariffs on American products and incorporated the Platt Amendment into their constitution. Many American companies came to do business in Cuba.

On February 16, 1903, Estrada Palma signed the Cuban-American Treaty of Relations, agreeing to lease the Guantanamo Bay area to the United States, in perpetuity, for use as a naval base and coaling station. This was a minor victory for the Estrada Palma administration for Washington had wanted five naval bases in the island. It is a testament to his diplomatic skills that Estrada Palma was able to obtain the reduction even with American troops stationed in the island. His policies were also responsible for improvements in education, communications and public health which had suffered from the devastation created by the war of independence from Spain.[3] As an example, land prices between 1902 and 1905 went up and he built over 328 kilometers of road in Cuba.[7]

Second term[edit | edit source] Estrada Palma was re-elected unopposed in 1905, but this time against violent opposition by the liberals, who claimed electoral fraud. Despite the use of fraud by both sides through the use of 'el capo' to prevent the use of fraud on both sides.[7] The main issue in the second election was the equal representation of the Cuban provinces. Critics of Estrada Palma such as General Faustino Guerra Puente accused him of ignoring the constitution. Still, other politicians and generals like Guerra Puente recognized Estrada Palma as the only person able to lead Cuba.[8]

A response to the opponents Alfredo Zayas to have the force of the police and the rural guard to allow Estrada Palma to claim victory. Estrada Palma and the moderate camp appealed to the US for intervention, and in 1906 the US began the Second Occupation of Cuba and installed a provisional occupation government which lasted from 1906 to 1909. Another pro-American government was established in Cuba under Charles Magoon.[9]

After his presidency, Cubans did not remember Estrada Palma for his accomplishments. Rather, he is remembered as being apart of a United States annexation agenda and being subservient to the United States.[10]

Personal life[edit | edit source] Born in Bayamo, Cuba, Estrada Palma was the son of Andrés Duque de Estrada y Palma and wife and cousin María Candelaria de Palma y Tamayo. He married on May 15, 1881 in Honduras with Genoveva Guardiola Arbizu (1854–1926), daughter of General José Santos Guardiola, President of Honduras, and wife Ana de Arbizu, and they had six children: Manuel José Estrada Palma Guardiola (b. 1875); Tomás Andrés Estrada Palma Guardiola (1884–1960), married in 1910 to Helen Douglas Browne and had issue; Carlos Joaquín Estrada Palma Guardiola; María de la Candelaria Estrada Palma Guardiola (b. 1887); Mariana de la Luz Estrada Palma Guardiola; and Rafael Morales Estrada Palma Guardiola. He was an attorney, and died in Santiago de Cuba.

Continuation of the Name[edit | edit source] Tomás Andrés Estrada-Palma Guardiola and Helen Douglas Browne continued the name, Tomás Estrada Palma, with their first-born child, Tomás Douglas Estrada-Palma III, born on May 12, 1911 in New York. Tomás Douglas Estrada-Palma III and Alyce Mae Carroll married and continued the name with their first-born child, Tomás Ramón Estrada-Palma IV, born in Miami, Florida and who currently resides in Edgewater, MD. They also had three more children, Patrick Carroll Estrada-Palma, Candita Margaret Estrada-Palma, and Kathleen Riordan Estrada-Palma. The name stops with Tomás Ramón Estrada-Palma IV since he decided to not continue this name with his children.

Honours[edit | edit source] A statue of Estrada Palma was erected in the "Avenida de los Presidentes" in Havana. It was pulled down by Fidel Castro's revolutionaries, reportedly because they blamed Estrada Palma for starting the trend of U.S. intervention in Cuba. The plinth, with a pair of shoes, remains.

Palma spent many years of his U.S. exile in the Town of Woodbury, in Orange County, New York. Along a road that now bears his name (Estrada Road, in the hamlet of Central Valley), he ran a summer camp which has since been abandoned. During his presidency Estrada Palma kept an "T. Estrada Palma Fund" to purchase prizes for academic achievements in Orange County, New York.[3]

Notes[edit | edit source] Jump up ^ Auxier, George W. (1939). "The Propaganda Activities of the Cuban Junta in Precipitating the Spanish-American War, 1895-1898". The Hispanic American Historical Review. Vol. 19: pp. 286–305. Jump up ^ Sweig, Julia E. (2009). Cuba: What Everyone Needs to Know. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 9. ISBN 0199896704. ^ Jump up to: a b c d Garcia, Margarita (2016). Before "Cuba Libre": The Making of Cuba's First President Tomas Estrada Palma. Denver, Colorado: Outskirt Press. pp. Kindle Location 61. ISBN 9781478773917. Jump up ^ Kapcia, Antoni (2000). Cuba: Island of Dreams. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 62. ISBN 185973331X. Jump up ^ Navarro, José Cantón: History of Cuba, Editorial SI-MAR, Havana, Cuba, 1998, p. 81, ISBN 959-7054-19-1 Jump up ^ Fuente, Alejandro de la (1999). "Myths of Racial Democracy: Cuba, 1900-1912". Latin American Research Review. Vol. 34, No. 3: 39–73. ^ Jump up to: a b Thomas, Hugh (1971). Cuba: The Pursuit of Freedom. New York: Harper & Hugh. p. 472. ISBN 978-0060142599. Jump up ^ Puente, Faustino Guerra (September 1906). "Causes of the Cuban Insurrection". The North American Review. Vol. 183, No. 599: 538–540. Jump up ^ Charles Magoon at library.thinkquest.org Jump up ^ Utset, Marial Iglesias (2011). A Cultural History of Cuba during the US Occupation, 1898-1902. Chapel Hill, NC: The University of North Carolina Press. p. 42. ISBN 978-0807871928. References[edit | edit source] Mellander, Gustavo A. (1971). The United States in Panamanian Politics: The Intriguing Formative Years. Daville,Ill.:Interstate Publishers. OCLC 138568. Mellander, Gustavo A.; Nelly Maldonado Mellander (1999). Charles Edward Magoon: The Panama Years. Río Piedras, Puerto Rico: Editorial Plaza Mayor. ISBN 1-56328-155-4. OCLC 42970390. Garcia, Margarita. (2016). Before "Cuba Libre" The Making of Cuba's First President Tomas Estrada Palma. Denver, Colorado: Outskirt Press. pp. Kindle Location 1950. ISBN 9781478773917. Auxier, George W. (1939). "The Propaganda Activities of the Cuban Junta in Precipitating the Spanish American War, 1895-1898," The Hispanic American Historical Review. Vol. 19: pp. 286-305. Sweig, Julia E. (2009). Cuba: What Everyone Needs to Know. New York: Oxford University Press. P. 9. ISBN 0199896704. Kapcia, Antoni. (2000). Cuba: Island of Dreams. New York: Oxford University Press. P. 62. ISBN 185973331X. Fuente, Alejandro de la. (1991). "Myths of Racial Democracy: Cuba, 1900-1912." Latin American Research Review. Vol. 34, No. 3: 39-73. Thomas, Hugh. (1971). Cuba: The Pursuit of Freedom. New York: Harper & Hugh. p. 472. ISBN 978-0060142599. Puente, Faustino Guerra. (September 1906). "Causes of the Cuban Insurrection." The North American Review. Vol. 183, No. 599: 538-540. Utset, Marial Iglesias. (2011). A Cultural History of Cuba during the US Occupation, 1898-1902. Chapel Hill, NC: The University of North Carolina Press. p. 42. ISBN 978-080781928. Otero, Juan Joaquin (1954). Libro De Cuba, Una Enciclopedia Ilustrada Que Abarca Las Artes, Las Letras, Las Ciencias, La Economia, La Politica, La Historia, La Docencia, Y ElProgreso General De La Nacion Cubana - Edicion Conmemorative del Cincuentenario de la Republica de Cuba, 1902-1952. (Spanish) External links[edit | edit source]