Guiteras, Antonio

Born 1905 in Philadelphia, USA; died May 8, 1935, in El Morillo, in Matanzas Province. Social activist and statesman of Cuba.

Guiteras in the 1920’s became one of the leaders of the révolutionary student movement. He was an active participant in the struggle against the dictatorship of Machado. In the révolutionary provisional government (September 1933 to January 1934) Guiteras occupied the posts of minister of war and minister of internal affairs, and he carried out a number of reforms to limit the activity of imperialist monopolies and to defend the rights of the working people. In 1934 he founded the nationalistic and revolutionary organization Young Cuba, which fought against the dictatorship of Batista and Zaldívar. Guiteras was one of the leaders of the general strike in March 1935. He died as a hero in the unequal battle with the forces of Batista.