Jorge Mas Canosa
| Jorge Mas Canosa | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
September 21, 1939 Santiago de Cuba, Cuba |
| Died | November 23, 1997 (aged 58) Coral Gables, Florida |
| Spouse(s) | Irma Santos |
| Children |
Jorge Mas Juan Carlos Mas Jose Mas |
| Parent(s) | Dr. Ramón Mas Cayado Josefa de Carmen Canosa Aguilera |
Jorge Mas Canosa (21 September 1939 – 23 November 1997) was a Cuban-American immigrant who founded the Cuban-American National Foundation and MasTec, a publicly traded company. He was regarded within the US as an effective lobbyist on Cuban and anti-Castro political positions, but was labeled a "counterrevolutionary" by the Cuban government.
Jorge Mas Canosa was born into a religious, middle-class family in Santiago de Cuba, Cuba on September 21, 1939. Since an early age, he was outspoken about his oppositions to dictatorships and was persecuted and imprisoned for his views by both the Fulgencio Batista and Fidel Castro regimes. After expressing his views about the latter of these, Mas Canosa was forced into exile and arrived in Miami, Florida.
Mas Canosa married Irma Santos, his high school sweetheart from Santiago, in Miami, Florida. They had three sons, Jorge Mas, Juan Carlos Mas, and Jose Mas.
At the age of fifteen, Mas Canosa spoke out against Batista’s dictatorship and was briefly imprisoned. Released into his father’s custody, his family sent him to the Presbyterian Junior College in Maxton, North Carolina. There, Mas Canosa learned English and studied the political philosophy of Thomas Jefferson and Thomas Paine, which would influence his outlook in the years to come.
Mas Canosa returned to Santiago to study law at the University of Oriente when the Batista regime was overthrown. As soon as he decided that Castro’s new government was undemocratic in nature, Mas Canosa resumed his political activism. He was forced into exile under threat of arrest and arrived in Miami in 1960, where he joined the Brigade 2506 and participated in the failed Bay of Pigs invasion in April 1961. He later graduated as Second Lieutenant in the U.S. Army at Fort Benning, Georgia, but ultimately left the army when it became clear that the US was not developing any plans to attack or invade Cuba. Mas Canosa then devoted himself to his business career.
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Wikipedia