José Clemente Vivanco Hernández, was born in San Antonio de los Baños, on December 24, 1873.
At the beginning of the Necessary War, he was with Colonel José María Aguirre waiting for the train that would take them to Matanzas, to rise up. Surprised by the police, Aguirre was arrested and Vivanco managed to escape. He then went to the United States and returned to the homeland on the Sánchez-Roloff expedition.
Once in Cuban lands, José Clemente Vivanco, served as auditor of the Fourth Corps in Las Villas, with the rank of Captain, under the orders of Major General Serafin Sanchez Valdivia.
In September 1895 he went to Camagüey to participate in the Constituent Assembly of Jimaguayú as a representative of Las Villas forces. There he was elected secretary of the Assembly and of the Government Council, chaired by Salvador Cisneros Betancourt. Together with the Marquis of Santa Lucia and other members of the council he accompanied the invading contingent from Mangos de Baraguá to Sancti Spíritus, from where he returned to the East. After the Assembly of La Yaya, in 1897, he continued with his position in the government of Bartolomé Masó Márquez and upon convening the Assembly of Santa Cruz del Sur he assumed the secretariat of his Executive Commission.
During the Republic he served as secretary of the provincial government of Havana and interim governor. He collaborated with the Central Review and Liquidation Commission of the Liberation Army. He was elected to the House Representative for Havana and his secretary between 1904 and 1906. For thirteen years he served as magistrate of the Audiencia of Havana and was promoted to the Supreme Court. During the 1930s, he served successively as Secretary of the Interior, Secretary of State and President of the Supreme Court. He died in Havana in 1946. This lawyer and journalist from Ariguanabo, gives prestige to the honor picture of our little country with his name.
