1941 Cuban Chinese Kuomintang (Kuo Min Tang) Delegation of Colón (Matanzas Province) Certification of Elected Leadership for 1938–1939, Signed by President Macario Luis
On offer is a typed certification dated August 23, 1941, issued by the Kuo Min Tang (Partido Nacionalista de China), Delegación de Colón, Cuba, and signed by Macario Luis, President of the delegation, confirming the elected leadership of the association for the years 1938–1939. The document records the re-election of named officers, including Manuel Font (President), Julián Lau (Secretary), and Juan Lens (Treasurer), along with additional members identified as merchants and residents of Colón and surrounding towns including Manguito, Perico, and Los Arabos. One officer is noted as deceased at the time of certification, confirming the document as a retrospective administrative record. Macario Luis appears both as signatory and among the named members of the association, providing continuity between the certified leadership structure and the later 1941 submission to provincial authorities. Issued in accordance with the Cuban Law of Associations, the document formalizes the structure and membership of the delegation and provides a clear record of named individuals within the Chinese-Cuban commercial community of Matanzas Province. Condition: Single sheet on printed KMT letterhead with typed text and manuscript signature. Moderate age toning throughout, with more pronounced edge wear and losses, including irregular losses at the upper left, top edge, and along the left margin. Minor chipping at edges and corners. The text remains fully legible and complete, with no loss affecting the body of the document. Historical Context: The Cuban branches of the Kuo Min Tang (Kuomintang) Chinese Nationalist Party were plentiful in Cuba, and were an important part of Cuban society. Cuba had a large population of Chinese immigrants due largely to the Chinese coolie trade, which brought over 125,000 Chinese people to Cuba between 1847-1874 to work as indentured labourers, often alongside African slaves. Another major period of Chinese emigration to Cuba was after World War One when another 120,000 Chinese came to Cuba to fill Cuban labour gaps, and in the 1940s-50s when Chinese people fled the Kuomingtan-Communist war, which led to the establishment of the People’s Republic of China in 1949. According to Wikipedia, to this day, “the Kuomintang (KMT), also referred to as the Guomindang (GMD),the Nationalist Party of China (NPC)or the Chinese Nationalist Party (CNP), is a major political party in the Republic of China, initially based on the Chinese mainland and then in Taiwan since 1949.
