Cuban woman of letters Rosa Leonor Whitmarsh y Dueñas passed away on October 18, 2023. Born in Havana, Cuba on May 9, 1930 she earned a Doctorate in Philosophy and Letters and dedicated her life as a pedagogue in Cuba, Mexico and the United States at all levels of education. She was a lecturer, essayist, and scholar of history.

Rosa Leonor taught at Vassar College, University of Anahuac, Tarbut Hebrew School in Mexico, Miami Dade College, Miami Dade Public School System as well as in private academic institutions. She was a founding member of the Centre for Human Rights of the Christian Democratic Movement of the Mexican delegation in Exile. Organizer of the Christian Democratic Training Seminars (1960-1970) that included the Social Christian Doctrine.

Rosa was also the great-granddaughter of Cuban independence general Calixto Garcia Iñiguez. Calixto Garcia beginning at age 18, fought in the 10 Years’ War (1868-1878), the Little War (1878) and the Cuban War of Independence (1895-1898). He fought in all the insurrections against Spanish colonial rule in Cuba over thirty years becoming a general, before succumbing to pneumonia while on a diplomatic mission to Washington DC on December 11, 1898. Like her great grandfather Rosa Leonor was steadfast in her opposition to the Castro regime, but hers was a non-violent struggle in the realm of culture, history, and education.

On the eve of the centennial of the Cuban Republic, Rosa Leonor Whitmarsh, then a professor at Miami-Dade Community College, who was part of the committee organizing events for the anniversary on May 20, 2002, observed, “The weekend will be bittersweet” … ”The history of Cuba is also the history of families,” … “It’s something you can’t let die.”

On December 10, 2022 Rosa Leonor Whitmarsh y Dueñas took part in a conversation with Carolina Barrero, and Yoel Suárez on “Recovering Cuba’s human rights legacy“. She gave an important message for this and future generations. Below is an excerpt from her presentation.

Rosa Leonor represents the Cuban Republic, demonized by Cuba’s communist dictatorship, that for fifty years saw Cuba progress on the political, economic, and international front.

It was this democratic tradition in Cuba that helped draft the Universal Declaration of Human Rights 77 years ago. Carlos Prío Socarrás, Cuba’s last democratic president, was elected in free and fair elections and took office on October 10, 1948. President Prío valued human rights, as seen by the activities of his diplomats during the United Nations’ founding,but the path to the UN Human Rights Declaration in 1948 to the Varela Project in 2002 began much earlier. It is also important to remember important men, and women who made a positive contribution to Cuba’s history.

One of them was Gustavo Gutiérrez Sánchez, who you’ve never heard of, he has been called the “forgotten man.” who throughout his career, as a diplomat, lawyer, and scholar made positive contributions to both Cuba, and the international community.

Gutiérrez Sánchez drafted, and the Cuban delegation presented in 1947, during the Inter-American Conference on Problems of War and Peace held in San Francisco, two drafts that were included in the foundational document of the community of nations. He was not only an architect of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights but also of the 1940 Cuban Constitution, and Article 88g of the 1992 Cuban Constitution, which made the Varela Project possible, was largely the result of his work, although few today remember or acknowledge him.

Gustavo had been part of the Bicameral Commission that drafted the 1940 Cuban Constitution. One of its clauses, drafted years earlier by him, became “Article 135, Section F, stipulating that laws could be proposed by congressmen and senators, government officials, courts, and by citizens. In this case,” the Constitution states, “it shall be an indispensable condition that the initiative be exercised by at least ten thousand citizens who have the same status as voters.”

Cuba, Panama, and Chile were the first three countries to submit full drafts of human rights charters. Latin American delegations, especially Mexico, Cuba, and Chile inserted language about the right to justice into the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, in what would become Article 8.

Cuban delegate Guy Pérez-Cisneros addressed the UN General Assembly on December 10, 1948 proposing to vote for the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The Cuban Ambassador celebrated that it condemned racism and sexism, and addressed the importance of the rule of law:

“My delegation had the honor of inspiring the final text, which finds it essential that the rights of man be protected by the rule of law, so that man will not be compelled to exercise the extreme recourse of rebellion against tyranny and oppression.” 

Fulgencio Batista overthrew this democratic Cuba on March 10, 1952, Guy Pérez-Cisneros died of a stroke in 1953, and hopes for democratic restoration were dashed by the Castro brothers in 1959 when they imposed a communist dictatorship.

This shared democratic Cuban heritage that in 1948 made world history must be restored and celebrated.