Antonio Guiteras

Cuban politician who established the Unión Revolucionaria in 1931. A proponent of revolutionary socialism, he participated in the radical government installed after the overthrow of the autocratic right wing Cuban President Gerardo Machado y Morales in 1933. Guiteras' political beliefs were nurtured in the volatile political climate of the 1920s. He first became widely known as a student leader and associate of Julio Antonio Mella, a young Communist revolutionary. He believed that the liberation of the people would be achieved through violent confrontation with the established authorities, but simultaneously held firm to the ideal of democracy. Antonio Guiteras was named Minister of the Interior under President Dr. Ramón Grau San Martín. Many reforms were introduced, including a minimum wage, minimum labour regulations, academic freedom, and nationalisation of important sectors of the economy. After the "government of 100 days," Guiteras became even more radical and founded Joven Cuba, a proletarian political organisation inspired by anti-capitalism and the nationalism of José Martí. He died on 8 May 1935 in Matanzas, Cuba, aged 28. Link to Wikipedia biography