Elisa Godínez Gómez de Batista
Elisa Godínez y Gomez de Batista | |
---|---|
First Lady of Cuba | |
In office 10 October 1940 – 10 October 1944 | |
Preceded by | Leonor Montes de Bru |
Succeeded by | Polita Grau |
Personal details | |
Born |
Vereda Nueva, Havana Province, Cuba | December 2, 1900
Died |
December 7, 1993 93) Palm Beach, Florida USA | (aged
Nationality | Cuban |
Spouse(s) | Fulgencio Batista(1926-1946) |
Children | Mirta Caridad Batista Godínez, Fulgencio Rubén Batista Godínez, Elisa Aleida Batista Godínez |
Religion | Roman Catholicism |
Elisa Godínez Gómez de Batista (2 December 1900 in Vereda Nueva, Havana Province, Cuba – 7 December 1993 in West Palm Beach, Florida United States) was the First Lady of Cuba from 1940 to 1944. She was the first wife of Cuban President Fulgencio Batista.
Biography
Godínez was one of nine children born to Salustiano Godínez y Córdoba and Concepción Gómez y Acosta. She was born in a small farmhouse in the village of Vereda Nueva in the Havana province. Her family later moved to Wajay, when her father got employment at the psychiatric hospital known as Mazorra until 1921. Her family later moved to Calabazar, where she gave birth to a son, Felix Valdespino y Godínez (1922–1988).
Batista met his wife when he was stationed in Wajay and they married on July 10, 1926. She would bear him three children; Mirta Caridad (1927–2010), Fulgencio Rubén (1933–2007), and Elisa Aleida (b. 1941). Batista would father and legally recognise a daughter, Fermina Lazara Batista y Estévez during this marriage. He started his relationship with his second wife before his divorce from Godínez in 1946. Her grandson (son of Elisa) Raoul G. Cantero III would become a Justice of the Florida Supreme Court.
References
- Fulgencio Batista: From Revolutionary to Strongman by Frank Argote-Freyre; Rutgers University Press (2006); ISBN 978-0-8135-3702-3