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Julio Lobo Quotes

18 quotes from Julio Lobo — Cuban sugar magnate known as 'the Sugar King.' Controlled the world's sugar market before Castro's revolution seized hi….

To have Croesus-like wealth is referred to be as rich as Julio Lobo.

Wealth

He was known as the king of sugar, not just of Havana but of the world.

Success

Lobo captures the period's contradictions.

Contradiction

He swam the Mississippi as a young man.

Adventure

He fenced in duels.

Courage

He survived assassin's bullets.

Survival

He was put against the wall to be shot but pardoned at the last moment.

Survival

He courted movie stars, raised a family, and made and then lost 2 fortunes.

Life

He became the chief authority in any debate surrounding the world's sweetener par excellence.

Expertise

He was capable of buying and reselling 350,000 tons of the product under agreements he signed without the slightest hesitation.

Business

Trade union leader Eusebio Mujal called him 'public enemy number one.

Reputation

I back my judgment with good, fast, accurate information, courage and cash.

Julio Lobo, as quoted in TIME, March 9, 1953

I am the market. I buy and sell sugar any time, day or night.

Julio Lobo, TIME, March 1953

I came to see Lobo as a kind of machine with which to explore the pre-revolutionary period.

John Paul Rathbone, author of The Sugar King of Havana

Chico, I was born naked, I will die naked, and some of my happiest moments have been naked.

Julio Lobo, to the young revolutionary in his office, October 1960

I'm a capitalist and you're a communist, and I've been a capitalist all my life.

Julio Lobo, at his meeting with Che Guevara, as recounted by John Paul Rathbone

Whatever little success I have had in my life especially in sugar, I owe in great measure to the education which I received here many years ago.

Julio Lobo, LSU alumni address, circa 1963

When you read Cuban history books, you see his name always as a footnote to some large deal, some large sugar crop, but his life is sort of shadowy and mysterious. And in time, I came to see Lobo as a kind of machine with which to explore the pre-revolutionary period.

John Paul Rathbone, NPR interview, August 2010

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