Raúl Roa García

Who was Raúl Roa García?

Raúl Roa García was a Cuban intellectual, politician and diplomat. He served as Foreign Minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976. He was a lawyer and was also a university professor in the 1940s and 1950s. He was also Director of Culture of the Ministry of Education from 1949 to 1951.

Born in Havana, he was 18 he wrote his first article Ensayo sobre José Martí. In 1926, while studying law he was jailed for protesting the U.S. intervention in Nicaragua.

In 1927, he met Rubén Martínez Villena who instructed him more on social problems. Additionally, he participated with other anti-imperialist youths and revolutionaries at Universidad Popular José Martí and the Liga Antimperialista. He was also writing for the magazine Revista Avance and the weekly paper Otro.

In the 1930s, he wrote for Directorio Estudiantil Revolucionario where he crystallized his Marxist-Leninist beliefs.

Roa entered the Ala Izquierda Estudiantil in 1931. In this organization, much more radical, he positions himself more clearly on the necessity of the fight for the sovereignty of Cuba and against imperialism. His writings at this time reflect his firm idea in an armed rebellion. He is arrested and sent to prison.