1942 Guanabacoa, Cuba Municipal Circular with 35 Signatures of Government Officials and Staff Agreeing to Mayor José C. Villalobos Olivera's Demands of Party Loyalty and Administrative Integrity

On offer is a Spanish-language municipal circular dated October 26, 1942, issued at Guanabacoa, Cuba, in the name of Mayor José C. Villalobos Olivera, bearing 35 signatures, 32 in the margins and three on the verso of the document. Addressed to all employees of the municipal administration, this revealing document brings together the practical demands of local government and the political expectations placed upon members of the Partido Revolucionario Cubano (Auténtico). Writing at the midpoint of a four-year municipal term, Villalobos thanks employees for their cooperation during the preceding two years before delivering a pointed warning about their conduct during the two years remaining. He calls for greater decency, integrity and competence in office, insisting that administrative obligations take precedence over personal political interests. The circular’s most striking passage explicitly rejects the idea of public employment as a political reward: “El cargo burocratico no es una compensación y si un medio para demostrar su amor a la doctrina y al programa del Partido Revolucionario Cubano (Auténtico).” [A bureaucratic post is not a reward, but a means of demonstrating your devotion to the doctrine and programme of the Cuban Revolutionary Party (Authentic).] Employees unwilling to offer such disinterested service are invited to resign before the mayor adopts “drastic measures” that might damage the cordial personal relationships he has maintained with them. The language reveals a telling tension: public servants are instructed to place administrative duty above personal political advantage, while their service is simultaneously framed as an expression of loyalty to the party. The final paragraph turns from political principle to the everyday discipline of the workplace: “Las horas oficiales de trabajo deben ser respetadas como primer mandamiento.” [“Official working hours must be respected as a first commandment.”] Villalobos then specifically directs this admonition to the Auténticos, whom he describes as those obliged to fulfil it. This combination of party identity, personal relationships, threatened disciplinary action and concern over working hours gives the circular its particular interest as a record of municipal political culture. The 32 marginal signatures and three signatures on the verso add a substantial human dimension to the official text. Their placement suggests that the circular circulated among employees or officials for acknowledgment, although the precise purpose of signing is not established by the transcribed wording. Signatories identified by the researcher in consultation with a staff list of the Guanabacoa Administration in the mid 1940s include José C. Villalobos Olivera, municipal mayor; Roberto de Armas Casado, accounting assistant; Luis Villalobos, secretariat clerk; Alfonso Pérez Carmona and Nieves Martínez García, accounting clerks; Secretary of the Police Headquarters, Francisco Sosa Bonilla; and Domingo Suárez Fernández, councillor. Additional readings include Débora Echevarría, Guillermo Regalado, María (P.) Medina, J. Alvarez, Carlos Derble, Amparo Barrial, Mercedes Lopez, Galius Peréz, and Manuel San Martin. These readings remain provisional, and their official positions have not been established. A locally specific primary source for the study of a pre-Revolutionary Cuban municipal administration, Auténtico party politics, public employment and political patronage, with particular relevance to researchers of Guanabacoa. Its interest lies in the unusually direct language through which a mayor sought to reconcile administrative integrity, party allegiance and the conduct of the people working under his authority. Biographical Note José C. Villalobos Olivera is identified in the circular as municipal mayor of Guanabacoa on October 26, 1942. His address places his administration approximately two years into a four-year term and explicitly associates its political programme with the Partido Revolucionario Cubano (Auténtico). A condition paragraph will need photographs or your physical description; the transcription does not establish dimensions, paper condition or whether the circular is typed, printed or duplicated. Biographical Notes on José C. Villalobos Olivera (1913–1997), Mayor of Guanabacoa José C. Villalobos Olivera, popularly known as “Lolo” Villalobos, was a Cuban politician who served as mayor of Guanabacoa from 1940 until 1959, overseeing a period of substantial municipal modernization. Born in the municipality of Jaruco on August 27, 1913, he studied medicine at the University of Havana and worked in the administration of Havana’s aqueduct before pursuing elected office. A member of the Partido Revolucionario Cubano (Auténtico) at the time of his election, he became Guanabacoa’s mayor at twenty-seven and subsequently secured six consecutive re-elections. His administration was associated with improvements to streets, parks, medical services and the municipal cemetery, alongside measures to strengthen local administration, including an official municipal bulletin and a property register. The construction of Guanabacoa’s Municipal Palace in 1946 and approval of a local aqueduct that same year formed part of a broader transformation. During his nearly two decades in office, the municipality experienced substantial residential and industrial growth, becoming increasingly integrated into metropolitan Havana. His 1942 circular belongs to the early years of this administration and offers a direct expression of his expectations concerning public service, administrative discipline and party loyalty. Following the Cuban Revolution, Villalobos sought diplomatic asylum and arrived in the United States on May 9, 1959, joining his family in Miami. There he organized and served as president of the Municipality of Guanabacoa in Exile. He supported his family as a taxi driver for eleven years, subsequently became a real-estate broker, and served as an assistant to Miami mayor Maurice Ferré. He died on January 14, 1997. A Florida House memorial resolution commemorated his public service and his continuing involvement in the Cuban exile community.