José Miró Cardona (1902-1974)

Lawyer.  As president of the Cuban bar association, he supported the call for President Fulgencio Batista to step down in1956.  He was also influential in the so-called Diálogo Cívico, intended to find a peaceful solution to the Cuban government crisis.  Miró Cardona was forced to seek asylum in the Uruguayan Embassy in Havana in 1958, after a document circulated by the president of the Cuban medical association calling for Batista’s resignation was attributed to him.  While in exile, he acted as secretary general coordinating the forces comprising the Frente Cívico Revolucionario Democratico.  Following the triumph of the Revolution of 1959 he returned as prime minister of the new Cuban government, but resigned after a month, realizing that true power was really in Fidel Castro’s hands.  Appointed ambassador to Spain, he was recalled after an incident between the Spanish ambassador and Fidel.  Miró lost favor with the Cuban leader by opposing his revolutionary reforms in the University of Havana. In June 1960 he went into exile and in March 1961 was chosen president of the Cuban Revolutionary Council.  He would have become president of Cuba had the Bay of Pigs invasion been successful. Afterwards he continued his political work against Castro’s government from Puerto Rico, where he settled, becoming a University of Puerto Rico professor.