The URL can be used to link to this page

Home My WebLink AboutM-86-0583CITY OF MIAMI, FLORIDA Y INTER -OFFICE MEMORANDUM 84 TO: Cesar Odio DATE: July 2, 1986 RILi: City Manager SUBJECT: Dr. Gilberto Campa-Lizama/ "Juan Gualberto Gomez Memorial" FROM: Joe Carol to _, , REFERENCES: Commissioner ENCLOSURES: ( 1 Dr. Gilberto Campa-Lizama has contacted my office requesting a personal appearance on the July loth City Commission agenda to discuss the "Juan Gualberto Gomez Memorial". Enclosed please find a copy of a letter regarding this matter. M oT DID/ 86-563 M- t^� INSTITUTO JUAN GUALBERTO GOMEZ Box ebb. MVEReiflE STATION MIAMI- FWRIDA 33135 Miami, Fla. June 10,1986. _ Mr. Joe Carollo Commissioner* City of Miami. Dear Mr, Carollo:- We are soliciting your help in officially proposing to the City of Miami to enclosed petition, related with " Juan - Gualberto Gomez Memorial". $o et r. G L za DIRECTOR. _... Juam Gualberto omez Institute. Phone 85$2960. i 8t;-5�33� 1 0 i I N STITUTO JUAN GUALBERTO GOMEZ BOX 855. RIVERSIDE STATION MIAM1. FLORIDA 33135 P E 11 T I 0 N TO: The Mayor do Commissioner: City of Miami, Fla. I hereby declare that as law-abiding citizen of the United States and voters of the City of Miami. We explain: FIRST: On Saturday, July 12,1986, it will be the 132nd. anniversary of the Cuban patriot Don Juan Gualberto Gomez y Ferrer's birth, at - "Vellocino" Sugar Mill, municipality of Sabanillas del Encomendador Province of Matanzas, Cuba. Born cf slaves, these bought his liberty at the price of 25 pesos -- (dollars), under the legislation existing on the Island, and governed by Spain. SE�: By the age of ten (in 1864) Juan Gualberto Gomez could already read and write, a situation which permitted him to be acquainted with the state of affairs in the United States of America, under the Govern - went of President Abraham Lincoln, and the revolutionary process against -slavery. In 1869, the slave parents of Juan Gualberto Gomez sent their son to the capital of the Republic, Havana, to study under the direction of the black professor Antonio Medina Cespedes, and later sendig him to Paris, France to study a trade. Continuance Page # 2. 86-583: I N STITUTO JUAN GUALBERTO GOMEZ BOX 855. RIVERSIDE STATION MIAMI. FLORIDA 33135 Page # 2. THIRD: In Paris, Juan Gualberto Gomez, had the opportunity to understand more cieary that all men are equal by nature, so it was imperative that a they should be equal socially and politically as well. In 1874, the first war of Independence was taking place on the island of Cuba; and in France, Juan Gualberto met Don Francisco Vicente Agui- lera,Vice-President of the embattled republic, for whom he worked as interpreter to traslate his patriotic endeavors. j In Paris he become a journalist, working in several important newspapers and adopting this profession as the principal instrument of his apostolat FOURTH: In 1877, he returned to his hoemaland, Cuba, to struggle for two principal ideals: Cuban Independence and the_Freedom of his black brothel and sisters,: In 1879 he met Jose Marti, and trQm then on,their two lives were intertwined together in a common ideal. In 1890, both were arrested and deported: MARTI to Spain, and JUAN GUALBERTO to the Castle of Deeds - in Ceuta, Africa. Afterwards released, he settled in Spain, where he worked for the - - •. i newspapers 11 The Abolitionist" and the Tribune, On this occasion he defi- ned his thoughts on the racial issue,on the following terms: - - - - - - 0 "Yle will never separate from the white people of Cuba. although they haven't always conducted themselves as our brothers, in reality they are, and neither they •• nor we can undo what nature has formed. We are no - longer Africans any more than they are Europeans. The irresistible influence of the middle works on some and then others, and the inevitable result is the law of adaptation. WE AFL& CUBANS t1.... FIFTH: In 1890 he once more returned to Cuba, protected by a clause of the Supreme Tribunal of Justice which established that it was legal to poac2fully defend republican ideas. His first endeavor was to found the N-zt•;spcper }1 La Fraternidad (or f1 Brotherhood) where he affirmed Continuance Page # 3 86 -583 Page # 3. INSTITUTO JUAN GUALBERTO GOMEZ BOX 855. RIVERSIDE STATION MIAMI. FLORIDA 33135 "...that it is not convenient to peace and the progress,civilization and freedom of Cuba for blacks and whites to keep their differences which should be erased in order to obtain a bigger objective: - - con,gtitute a Nation and a_Repub1i. . i His open defense of the ideals of liberty led him to a new confron- tation whith the Spanish Autthorities; his newspaper was kidnapped and a new tribunal judged him for rebellion. This provoked a reaction among the Cubans exiled in Tampa, Fla. and Europe. From Spain, General Calixto Garcia hero of the war 1868,sent him this message: = = = = -_ ...."You are the only Cuban who has had sufficient courage " to maintain your ideals in the Cuban press"..... Even though he was sentenced by the islan's tribunal, his sentence was revoked by the Supreme Tribunal of Spain. SIXTH: In 1892, Jose Marti founded the Cuban Revolutionary Party in the United States, and one of the first people he addressed in Cuba was - _ Juan Gualberto Gomez, of whom he says: - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - "..He knows how to love and forgive in a society where " forgiving is very necessary. He has the character of a journalist, the energy of an organizer, and the distant vision of a man of —state." Marti sent an emissary to Cuba to accomplish the movilization of the L I future combatants for independence, with instructions to consult first o with Juan Gualberto Gomez, who by_riaht1 was Nartite re2rPsentativ_e_in 1 Cuba,, In a letter from Marti to Juan Gualberto Gomez he said: - - - - - - - " You know the feeling of my heart, because all you need to do is look at yours"..... Continuance Page JV 4. 86-563 Page # # • I N STITUTO JUAN GUALBERTO GOMEZ BOX 855. RIVERSIDE STATION MIATII. FLORIDA 33135 In 1895, Juan Gualberto Gomez following orders from A' Iarti,organized a revolution in Eastern Cuba, and on the 24th of February, with a - 4 small group of patriots in Ibarra, province of Matanzas, near his i birthplace, he began to bear arms. Defeated, he was conducted to the Morro Castle, where he learned of Marti's death in Dos Rios, Oriente. s After suffering 5 years imprisonment, a military tribunal condemned - him to 20 years in prison, and once more he was taken to Ceuta, Africa. He was freed two years later. He went to Barcelona,from there to France and from this last place to New York(USA). - A joint resolution from the US Congress was passed for this country to enter the war againts Spain. M - As a consequence of the defeat of Spanish colonialismi the protocol of ' Peace was signed. Spain abandoned the territory of the island of Cuba. A Cuban commission was elected to take charge of the transfer of power and Juan Gualberto Gomez was elected by two branches of the liberating _ army to form a part of it. From then on his participation in the process of the founding of the independent Republic of Cuba was made indispensable L because of his talent and personal prestige, and his itinerary is as - 1 o follows:. i F 1890: The Assembly of the Republic was inaugurated and.a permanent 5 member commission was elected. Juan Gualberto was elected spokesman. (1899)The Intervening goverment of the United States named him a member of the Board of Education. He acted energitically to eliminate racism and favoritism in the naming of teachers. (1900) He was elected to the Constitutional Conven- tion, and designated by the same to make a resolution towards the PlAtt Ar.nendment, which regulated the relations between the United States and the infant republic of Cuba. 86-583. crF�, i Page I N STITUTO JUAN GUALBERTO GOMEZ BOX 855. RIVERSIDE STATION MIAMI. FLORIDA 33135 1907) A provisional goverment was stablished,and he was designated a member of the consulting commission . (1909) He is designated a - founding member of the Academy of Cuban History. (1914) He was elected Representative of Congress. ( 1917).- He was elected Senator of the - Republic. (1929)president General Gerardo Machado presented him with the Cross of the Order of Merit "Carlos Manuel de Cespedes".- 1931) On the occasion of the commemoration of General Antonio Maceo's death , hero of the Cuban Independence,he spoke publicly for the last time, at the inauguration of a bust in memory of the maceost mother.- .. - ON MARCH 5,1933: He ceased to exist and he was buried in a modest tomb a L at Colon Cementery in Havana. Continuance Page �- - To resolve. 86-583' I N STITUTO JUAN GUALBERTO GON EZ HOX 855. RIVERSIDE STATION MIAMI. FLORIDA 33135 WE CALL TO RESOLVE_ FIRST: To declare Saturday, the 12th.of July of 1986, Don Juan j Gualberto Gomez y Ferrer Day, in the City of Miami. SECO1i'D: To authorize the erection of a bust perpetuating the memory of such an illustrious public figure,in Jose Marti Park, in the City of Miami, since it is the place of greatest symbolic meaning, considering the friendship and revolutionary and patriotic identifi- cation that existed between both founders of the - Cuban nation -and, likewise as a recognition of his struggle for social equality in the human brotherhood. The above mentioned bust would be paid by private citizens subscribing to this cause,through the public efforts of the"Juan Gualberto Gomez Institute". THIRD: To rename S.:t1 4th Avenue, up to 8th Avenue and including 0 1 S.W 8th Street, naming it Juan Gualberto Gomez Boulevard Given in the city of Miami on 12 of the month of June of 1986. / lDr.._G ' President. Juan Gualberto Gomez Institute, 548 SVI. 6th St. #4 Miami Fla. 33135, Phone; 858 2960. 86 -563