Jorge Mañach y Robato (1898-1961)

One of Cuba’s most distinguished intellectuals, whose writings criticized civic indolence and the passive acceptance of American tutelage over political and economic life.  Born in Sagua La Grande, Cuba.  In 1923 he joined the Protesta de los Trece.  A Harvard-educated Professor at the University of Havana, he became an A.B.C. leader, drafting the group’s program for profund structural change in Cuban society.  He was also one of the original five editors of the Revista de Avance, 1927-1930. After the 1933 overthrow of Machado he was briefly education minister with unrealized ideas to disseminate Cuba’s culture to all its citizens.  In 1935 he became visiting professor of Spanish at Columbia University.  In 1945 he took over the managing editorship of the Diario de la Marina, but in 1947 he supported Eduardo Chibás in forming the Partido del Pueblo (Ortodoxo), only to brake with the party on Chibás’ death.  He opposed the Batista dictatorship, criticized the United States for supporting it, and was prominent in the aborted Diálogo Cívico.  Mañach was above all a writer and humanist much influenced in his style by the Spaniard José Ortega y Gassett.  His publications include La Crisis de la alta cultura en Cuba (1925); Doctrina del ABC (1942); Historia y estilo (1945): Indagación del choteo (1936); Martí: Apostle of Freedom, translated by Coley Talor (1950); and El Militarismo en Cuba (1939). He died in Puerto Rico in 1961.