Laredo Bru, Federico (1875–1946)

views updated

Laredo Bru, Federico (1875–1946)

Federico Laredo Bru (b. 23 April 1875; d. 8 July 1946), president of Cuba 1936–1940. A veteran of the war of independence, Bru served as governor of Las Villas Province and as secretary of the interior under President José Miguel Gómez. In 1923 he led an uprising of disgruntled veterans against President Alfredo Zayas. Bru was elected vice president of Cuba in January 1936, and when President Miguel Mariano Gómez was impeached by a Senate subservient to army chief Fulgencio Batista, he was installed as the new figurehead president. He nevertheless discharged the duties of his office with great aplomb and dignity, counterbalancing military interference as much as possible. A law completely restructuring the sugar industry, one of the most important pieces of legislation of the period, was passed during his term in office. It was also under Laredo Bru that the 1940 constitution was framed by a freely elected constituent assembly.

See alsoCuba, War of Independence .

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Herminio Portell-Vilá, Nueva historia de la República de Cuba (1986), pp. 474-510.

Additional Bibliography

Whitney, Robert. State and Revolution in Cuba: Mass Mobilization and Political Change, 1920–1940. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2001.

                                             JosÉ M. HernÁndez