Bishop Manuel Hilario de Céspedes y García Menocal (born March 11, 1944 in Havana

Havana

Havana is the capital city, province, major port, and leading commercial centre of Cuba. The city proper has a population of 2.1 million inhabitants, and it spans a total of — making it the largest city in the Caribbean region, and the most populous...

, Cuba

Cuba

The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...

) is the Bishop

Bishop

A bishop is an ordained or consecrated member of the Christian clergy who is generally entrusted with a position of authority and oversight. Within the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox Churches, in the Assyrian Church of the East, in the Independent Catholic Churches, and in the...

 of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Matanzas

Roman Catholic Diocese of Matanzas

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Matanzas is a suffragan diocese of the Archdiocese of San Cristobal de la Habana.-Ordinaries:*Charles Warren Currier *Severiano Sainz y Bencamo...

 (2005- ).

Bishop de Céspedes is the great-great grandson of Carlos Manuel de Céspedes

Carlos Manuel de Céspedes

Carlos Manuel de Céspedes del Castillo was a Cuban planter who freed his slaves and made the declaration of Cuban independence in 1868 which started the Ten Years' War...

, and grandnephew of Mario García Menocal

Mario García Menocal

Aurelio Mario García Menocal y Deop was President of Cuba, from 1913 to 1921...

, former President of Cuba

President of Cuba

--209.174.31.28 18:43, 22 November 2011 The President of Cuba is the Head of state of Cuba. According to the Cuban Constitution of 1976, the President is the chief executive of the Council of State of Cuba...

.

He did his primary and secondary studies with the Marist Brothers

Marist Brothers

The Marist Brothers, or Little Brothers of Mary, are a Catholic religious order of brothers and affiliated lay people. The order was founded in France, at La Valla-en-Gier near Lyon in 1817 by Saint Marcellin Champagnat, a young French priest of the Society of Mary...

  at La Vibora, a suburb of Havana and then immigrated to Puerto Rico

Puerto Rico

Puerto Rico , officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico , is an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of both the United States Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands.Puerto Rico comprises an...

 where he received a doctorate in Electrical Engineering. In 1966, he entered a seminary in Caracas

Caracas

Caracas , officially Santiago de León de Caracas, is the capital and largest city of Venezuela; natives or residents are known as Caraquenians in English . It is located in the northern part of the country, following the contours of the narrow Caracas Valley on the Venezuelan coastal mountain range...

, Venezuela

Venezuela

Venezuela , officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It borders Colombia to the west, Guyana to the east, and Brazil to the south...

. He was ordained a priest on May 21, 1972. He spent 12 years at the Archdiocese of Caracas and in 1984 was assigned to the Diocese of Pinar del Rio.

He was appointed Bishop of Matanzas on May 7, 2005 and ordained on June 4, 2005 in the Cathedral of Pinar del Rio by Mons. José Siro González Bacallao, Bishop of the Diocese of Pinar del Rio, and assisted by Cardinal Jaime Lucas Ortega y Alamino, Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Havana and Mons. Pedro Meurice Estíu, Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Santiago de Cuba.