Emilio Núñez Portuondo (September 13, 1898, in

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, U.S. – August 19, 1978, in

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Panama Panama ( , ; es, link=no, Panamá ), officially the Republic of Panama ( es, República de Panamá), is a transcontinental country spanning the southern part of North America and the northern part of South America. It is bordered by Co ...

) was a Cuban politician, lawyer, and diplomat. He was the 13th

Prime Minister of Cuba The Prime Minister of Cuba ( es, Primer Ministro de Cuba), officially known as the President of the Council of Ministers ( es, Presidente del Consejo de Ministros de Cuba) between 1976 and 2019, is the head of government of Cuba and the chairma ...

in 1958. He received the

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among other decorations from many countries.

Education and career

Dr. Núñez attended La Salle School in Cuba and graduated as doctor of civil and public law in 1919 from the

University of Havana The University of Havana or (UH, ''Universidad de La Habana'') is a university located in the Vedado district of Havana, the capital of the Republic of Cuba. Founded on January 5, 1728, the university is the oldest in Cuba, and one of the firs ...

. He served as a

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and senator from the Las Villas Province and also as the Cuban

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and Envoy Extraordinary to Panama,

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and

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. He was secretary of the Constitutional Convention of 1940. Dr.

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was the president of the Constitutional Convention which drafted the

1940 Constitution of Cuba The 1940 Constitution of Cuba was implemented during the presidency of Federico Laredo Brú and took effect on 10 October 1940. It was primarily influenced by the collectivist ideas that inspired the Cuban Revolution of 1933. Widely considered on ...

. Dr. Núñez Portuondo served as the Cuban Permanent Representative with the rank of ambassador to the

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in 1952–1958; and was also Minister of Labor in 1954. He served as president of the

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in September 1956 and 1957. He was Prime Minister of Cuba from March 6 to March 12, 1958. Dr. Núñez Portuondo is best remembered as the president of the UN Security Council during the USSR invasion of Hungary. Dr. Núñez Portuondo helped Cardinal Mindzenty of Hungary in assisting refugees into

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and the United States.

Family

He was the son of General Emilio Núñez Rodriguez, vice president of Cuba during the second administration of General

Mario García Menocal Aurelio Mario Gabriel Francisco García Menocal y Deop (December 17, 1866 – September 7, 1941) was the 3rd President of Cuba, serving from 1913 to 1921. His term as president saw Cuba's participation in World War I. Youth Born in Jagüey Gra ...

in 1917-1921, and who was also governor of Havana from 1899 to 1902 as well as Minister of Agriculture, Commerce and Labor in 1913. Dr. Núñez Portuondo's brother was the 1948 Cuban presidential candidate, Dr. Ricardo Núñez Portuondo. He was married three times and had five children, Emilio Núñez Blanco, Ricardo Núñez Garcia, Maria Stana Núñez Garcia, Brunilda Núñez Fábrega and Fernando Núñez Fábrega, a former Minister of Foreign Relations of the Republic of Panama. His eldest son, Emilio Núñez Blanco, elected to the Cuban House of Representatives in 1958, though unable to take office, was the second husband of Myrta Diaz-Balart (the first wife of Fidel Castro). He is buried in Panama City next to his third wife, Panamanian, Olga Fábrega y Fábrega (married December 3, 1937).

References

* ''Los Propietarios de Cuba 1958'', Guillermo Jimenez Soler (Havana, Cuba: Editorial de Ciencias Sociales, 2007) * ''Cuba The Pursuit of Freedom'', Hugh Thomas (London, Great Britain:Eyre & Spottiswoode Ltd., 1971) SBN 413-27470-5 * http://www.amigospais-guaracabuya.org/oagrn007.php * * http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/cuban-rebels/NYT-11-1-58b.htm * http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F20B11FB385B1B728DDDA80894DC405B848AF1D3 {{DEFAULTSORT:Nunez Portuondo, Emilio Cuban diplomats 20th-century Cuban lawyers Prime Ministers of Cuba 1898 births 1978 deaths Cuban senators Members of the Cuban House of Representatives Permanent Representatives of Cuba to the United Nations 1950s in Cuba 20th-century Cuban politicians University of Havana alumni