GUSTAVO GUTIERREZ Y SANCHEZ: December 2008

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.

December 11, 2008

The Magna Carta of the Community of Nations 1945 (La Carta Magna de la Comunidad de las Naciones)

In 1945 Gustavo Gutiérrez, member of the American Institute of International Law and the Cuban Academy of High Judicial Studies, published this 589 page tome. The prologue was written by Antonio S. de Bustamante, then Magistrate of the Permanent Tribunal of International Justice at the Hague, who had the most prestigious law firm in Cuba and who had hired and mentored Gustavo Gutiérrez in 1919, as a young attorney, then 24 years old.

December 7, 2008

GG to R. Vasconcelos, "Eliminate Special Funds!" (Fondos Especiales)1954

(Please see below for a rough translation/synopsis into English.)

On May 8, 1954 Gustavo Gutiérrez, then Minister of Finance, appeared in the newspaper ALERTA responding to an earlier editorial by Ramon Vasconcelos, publisher of this newspaper. In the editorial, Mr.Vasconcelos was concerned that the Ministry of Finance was withholding monies owed to certain associations (National Institute of Sugar Stabilization, National Association of Plantation Owners, Colonos etc.) Dr. Gutiérrez assured him that this had just been resolved to the great satisfaction of all parties, quoting these associations as being greatly satisfied that all quotas had been satisfactorily paid since Dr. Gutiérrez has been Minister of Finance and that he has even paid amounts due to these associations from before. They added that the meeting with Dr. Gutiérrez had been quite pleasant and more like an encounter with old friends instead of an interview between a high government official and members of the (agricultural) industry.

Minister Gutiérrez then turns his attention, " to the enormous responsibility facing the National Treasury whereby large amounts of state earnings are diverted to special funds, autonomous organizations and social security. This deprives the state from paying for services and public works resulting in the Ministry's inability to pay it's obligations with the same punctuality. Meanwhile the Ministry is presently embarking on the restructuring of the state budget. The average man and woman on the street greatly understands this difficult predicament we find ourselves in knowing that President Batista is making great efforts in mitigating the effects of fiscal squandering of yesteryear, a grave situation compounded by the decrease in sugar revenues while at the same time maintaining high levels of employment and salaries with the added limitations that are imposed by todays economic and political circumstances."

Gutiérrez also warns of, " the proliferation of petty leaders and professional agitators that instigate resistance campaigns against basic and prudent economic measures (that are being implemented by all the democratic governments of the world), who defend irritating caste priviliges that are incompatible with the noble and egalitarian ideals of the Cuban people. Without including the confusion by some political opponents that haven't understood the basic differences between political reality and economic reality and who don't care to understand this. So they attack the government via the national economy creating difficulties more or less easily dealt with. However, it profoundly wounds the Nation and especially the public who in turns pays in suffering cause by the egotistical and inconceivable foolishness of these leaders and agitators. They create difficulties for the country's economic development and, thus, the well being of the people."