Alexander Bustamante Biography

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Biography Part 2 - Working Overseas

As a young man, Bustamante travelled a great deal. In 1905 he left Jamaica to work in Cuba. Many Jamaicans emigrated to Cuba during this period as jobs were scarce in Jamaica and Cuba's sugar industry was thriving. Bustamante found a job in the police force, eventually providing security for two presidents, Alfredo Zayas and Gerardo Machado).

Bustamante also worked in Spain where he enlisted in the Spanish Army. It is in this country where he is said to have met an Iberian Sea Captain who he befriended and adopted the surname Bustamante from.

Bustamante worked as a traffic inspector in Panama. Here he met his future wife, Mildred Edith Blanck. The two were married in 1910 on a visit to Jamaica.

Bustamante's final stop was New York City, USA where he worked as a dietician in a hospital. He also made a lot of money on the American Stock Exchange.

He returned Jamaica in 1932.

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