Rosario Kennedy

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Rosario Kennedy (born Rosario Aguelles y Freyre de Andrade in 1946 in Cuba) was the first Cuban American woman on the City of Miami Commission, former Vice Mayor of the City of Miami and candidate for Florida's 18th congressional district in 1989 to replace Claude Pepper that was eventually won by Ileana Ros-Lehtinen.

Kennedy was the daughter of Elicio Arguelles Menocal, a former senator of Cuba, and Micaela Freyre de Andrade y Valdes Pita. Both her father and grandfather were senators of Cuba and her great uncle was President of Cuba (Mario Garcia Menocal).

In 1960, when Kennedy was 14 she left Cuba going into exile. She graduated with a scholarship from the Convent of the Sacred Heart in Greenwich, Connecticut. At 17, she married Gustavo Godoy Andrews, who would become news director at WLTV-Channel 23 in Miami. They would have three children, Gustavo, Maria del Rosario, and Michelle Godoy-Arguelles. By the time she was 25, Kennedy was divorced. She then became a real estate agent, ultimately being named in 1979, "Business Woman of the Year" by the international business magazine, Mundo Latino.

On November 4, 1978, Kennedy married former City of Miami Mayor, David T. Kennedy. David Kennedy used his political connections to get her appointed by the Governor of Florida to the Florida Hospital Cost Containment Board in 1985.

In 1985, she ran for the City of Miami Commission against the incumbent, Demetrio Perez. She won that election and was later elected by her peers on the commission as Vice Mayor. In 1987, the Kennedys’ divorced. In 1989, after the death of Claude Pepper, Kennedy resigns her commission seat to run as a Democrat for the Florida’s 18th Congressional seat. She lost in the democratic primary to Gerald Richman, who would eventually lose to Ileana Ros-Lehtenen.

[edit] References

  • The Miami Herald; Kennedy Saga: Old (and New) Wives' Tale; July 3, 1989
  • The Miami Herald; Kennedy to Assist Ex-Wife; March 20, 1989
  • The Miami Herald; Miami Mayor Vote Won't Be In Back Room; June 12, 1996
  • The Miami Herald; Rosario Surface and Substance Is She a Born Politician or a Born Conniver? Savvy or Naive? Depends On Whom You Ask; December 20, 1987
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