GUSTAVO GUTIERREZ Y SANCHEZ: El Banco Nacional 1954

Jurist Politician Diplomat Economist

Professor of International Law, School of Law, University of Havana-1919-1934.

Secretary/treasurer-Cuban Society of International Law, 1920.

Legal Counsel to Secretary of State-1925-29

Delegate- VI American International Conference, 1928

Delegate/Technical Counsel-Conference on Conciliation and Arbitrage, Washington-1928

Secretary General-First Pan-American Conference of Municipalities, 1928

Delegate Plenapotentiary-Conference on Trademarks, Washington, 1929

Director of the International American Office for the Protection of Trademarks and Commerce, 1930.

Liberal Party - President-Havana province, 1930

Delegate-IV Pan-American Commercial Conference, Washington, 1931

Secretary of Justice, 1933

Member-House of Representatives, 1938-1942

Technical Advisor-Commission on Foreign Relations for the Senate, 1937

Technical Advisor-Commission for the Study of the New Constitution, 193?

President of the Foreign Relations Commission for the House of Representatives, 1939

Technical Director -Pan-American Commission for Intermuncipalities Cooperation, Chicago-1939

Delegate- VIII American Scientific Congress, Washington-1940

Speaker of the House of Representatives, 1940-1941

Cuban delegation head and Sub-Committee President, United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA) Atlantic City, 1943, 1944 and 1945.

G.A.T.T. Chairman Legal Drafting Committee and Tech. Dir., Cuban Delegation) Geneva-1947; (Head of Cuban Delegation) Geneva, Petropolis-1950, 1954.

Head of Cuban delegation, (GATT) Havana Charter, 1948.

President-Junta de Economia de Guerra, 1942.

President-Cuban Maritime Commission, 1942-43.

Ambassador to the United Nations (Security Council)1948.

President-Cuban Delegation, General Assembly, 1949

Technical Director/Secretary/President-National Junta of Economy (Junta Nacional de Economia) 1948-1953.

President-United Nations Economic Committee, 1951.

Minister of Finance (Ministro de Hacienda) 1953-1955.

Special Envoy-O.A.S. Conference of the Presidents, Panama, 1956.

President-Cuban Nuclear Energy Commission, 1956.

President-Ministerial Commission for Tariff Reform, 1958.

Minister of Economy (a.k.a. Ministro Presidente-Consejo Nacional de Economia/National Board of Economy, 1955-1959.

October 16, 2008

El Banco Nacional 1954

In 1954 Cuba began the process of acquisition of the properties on which the new 14 floor National Bank building was to be built. The photograph shows Minister of Finance Dr. Gustavo Gutierrez and Minister of Public Works engineer Alfredo E. Noguiera signing the documents while other officials look on including the President of the National Bank, Dr. Joaquin Martinez Saenz. Gutierrez and Martinez Saenz were at odds for many years. Not much is known regarding this relationship. However, Dr. Gutierrez writes his daughter Yolanda from exile in Buenos Aires on May 26, 1959, "Me da mucha pena lo de Martinez Saenz (fue encarcelado por el nuevo gobierno revolusionario) pero mas ver que no ha aprendido nada, pues se atribuye todo el progreso economico hecho por Cuba, llegando a incluir la compra de los Ferrocarriles, cuando ese, como muchas de las otras cosas, fueron producto de los trabajos del Consejo Nacioal de Economia." (Trabajos de G.G.)

In the same letter to his daughter he speaks about the new government in power; "De politica me parece mejor no hablar. Cada vez mas se complica todo, y me temo que cometan alguna locura la gente de Miami. Yo quiero que ustedes sepan que yo repudio toda relacion con la gente de Batista y no me corresponsabilizo con nada de ellos ni del pasado, ni del presente, ni del futuro. Sé la responsabilidad politica que me corresponde por el cargo que desempeñé, pero solo acepto la de los asuntos en que he intervenido personalmente."

"El gobierno de Castro es un desastre y puede llevar al pais a un caos economico, pero me parece indudable que tiene el respaldo de las grandes masas populares, y aunque Castro ha perdido internacionalmente casi todo el prestigio que le dio el triunfo, nacionalmente me parece que el pueblo esta con el. Aqui seguimos el desenvolvimiento de Cuba por el Diario de la Marina, asombra el encumbramiento de muchos fracasados e ignorantes y la guerra cruel a todo lo que se ha destacado en las distintas actividades nacionales. !Mediocritas imperium!"