Emilio Bacardí y Moreau (1844–1922) was a Cuban industrialist, politician, and writer who managed the Bacardi Rum Company and served as the first democratically elected mayor of Santiago.
Emilio was the son of Don Facundo Bacardí Massó and his wife Lucía 'Amalia' Victoria Moreau, a woman from a very prosperous family of Franco-Haitian descent.
[8] These suspicions were well founded; while Emilio spent much of his time committed to the daily activities of the family business, he had also secretly developed a communication network among the rebel army, supplying resources to aid in the fight for independence.
His eventual recovery to both the Bacardi business and forefront of the fight for independence coincided with the companionship of Elvira Cape,[11] whom he married in 1887 and lived with for the rest of his life.
[14] As mayor, he was generally recognized as a competent and effective manager, succeeding on extending services and practicing good government under the military administration and later the new Cuban republic.
His reputation for honesty and public service distinguished him from many of the would-be leaders who arose in the post-independence political scramble, and he eventually ran for and won a seat in the national senate in 1906.
[17] The city of Santiago suspended all public events for two days, to mourn and honor the life of Emilio, nicknamed "Cuba's foremost son".