Dorticos Torrado, Osvaldo

Dorticós Torrado, Osvaldo 

Born Apr. 17, 1919, in Cienfuegos. Cuban statesman and political leader.

The son of a doctor and a lawyer by education, Dorticós Torrado became a teacher in 1941, then practiced law in Cienfuegos and was elected dean of the Cuban Bar Association in 1958. He was a prominent member of the revolutionary struggle of the Cuban people from the age of 16. During the Batista tyranny (1952-58), Dorticós Torrado was a leader of the Movement of Civil Resistance and later of the 26th of July Movement. He supplied the rebel army, was harassed and arrested by the authorities, and was forced to emigrate to Mexico in late 1958.

After the victory of the revolution in January 1959, Dorticós Torrado, as minister for the drafting of revolutionary laws, participated in drawing up Cuba’s revolutionary legislation. President of the republic since July 1959, Dorticós Torrado has been simultaneously minister of the economy and president of the Central Planning Council (from July 1964), and head of the national council of the Civil Defense (from July 1966). From 1961 to 1965, Dorticós Torrado was a member of the national leadership of the Integrated Revolutionary Organizations and of the Unified Party of Socialist Revolution of Cuba (UPSRC). Elected a member of the secretariat of the national leadership of the UPSRC in March 1962, Dorticós Torrado was elected a member of the Central Committee, of the Politburo, and of the Secretariat of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba in October 1965. Dorticós Torrado holds the degree of honorary doctor of law from the M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University.