Rafael Sánchez-Aballí

Rafael Sánchez Aballí graduated from Lehigh University in 1898 and became a sugar planter in Cuba’s Oriente province. He retained close ties with his American university. In an April 1925 letter announcing his intended appointment as ambassador, he credited Lehigh with helping prepare him for public life and invited former classmates to visit him in New York. ^{1, 2}

A close associate of Gerardo Machado, Sánchez Aballí accompanied the president-elect on his 1925 visit to Washington and New York. He presented his ambassadorial credentials in December, succeeding Cosme de la Torriente. ^{2, 3}

Sánchez Aballí later became secretary of communications. Historian Oscar Luis López describes his intervention in the early development of Cuban radio: responding to interference complaints, he ordered local stations to end their broadcasts at 10 p.m. on evenings when listeners wanted to hear American opera transmissions. The measure accommodated audiences seeking programs relayed through New York’s WEAF while curtailing local broadcasting. ⁴