Hugo Roberts was born in Trinidad on
the twentieth of July, 1868. He received his early
education in Madrid but later came to Havana where he
completed the studies for the Bachelor's degree in the
Institute and, proceeding to the University, obtained
the degree of Doctor of Medicine in 1891.
He was
occupied in the practice of his profession and as
Medical Advisor of the Compañía Transatlántica Española
until the year 1895 when, on the outbreak of the War of
Independence, he threw himself into the struggle and
joined the forces of General Antonio
Maceo under whom he served and who made him Surgeon
at his Headquarters. When Generals Gómez and Maceo
organized the column of invasion in the Eastern
provinces to carry the war
into the western part of the Island, Dr. Roberts was
made Surgeon General of the invading forces, a difficult
and dangerous post which put to the test at once his
personal valor, his patriotism, his energy, and his
quality as a man of science. In the course of duty he
was severely wounded in the battle of San Gabriel de
Lombillo; nevertheless he finished the campaign, gaining
promotion from rank to rank solely by his personal
merits and ended the war
with the rank of Brigadier General. In 1898 he was
delegated from the Sixth Corps of the Army to the
Assembly of Santa Cruz del Sur, and in 1901 he served as
Alternate in the Constitutional Convention which drew up
the fundamental code of the Republic. During the
first American Intervention Dr. Roberts was appointed
Surgeon to the Havana Police force; later he was made
first surgeon of the Port of Havana and on September 1,
1902, he was named Chief of the Quarantine service--a
post which he still occupies
Along with Doctors
Guiteras, Agramonte, Barnet, and López del Valle, Doctor
Roberts was one of the most effective co-laborers in the
work initiated under the American Intervention for the
public health of Cuba, as he has been one of the ablest
of those who have maintained the sanitary policy then
adopted. Dr. Roberts was Delegate of the Cuban
Government to the Exposition in St Louis (1904) and to
the Pan-American Health Conventions in Mexico (1907),
Costa Rica (1909), and Santiago de Chile (1911 ), He
was also Acting President of the National Red Cross
Society of Cuba; and at present is a Member of the
National Board of Health; Member of Special Commission
of Infectious Diseases and also Member of the Bureau of
American Republics in Washington.
He is author
of several scientific works on Medical and Sanitary
matters and also inventor of an apparatus for generating
and injecting hydrocyanic acid gas, which is employed to
advantage by the Sanitary Department for the destruction
of all kinds of vermin. This apparatus was awarded
a Gold Medal in the International Exposition of San
Francisco, California, in 1915, and was also awarded
a prize by the Third National Medical Congress held in
Havana in December, 1914.
cuba heritage .com -
Cuban History, Architecture & Culture
