| Perfecto Lacoste | |
| Birth Name: | Perfecto Lacoste y Grave de Peralta |
| Birth Date: | 1861 |
| Death Date: | May 5 1905 |
| Birth Place: | Holguín, Captaincy General of Cuba, Spanish Empire |
| Death Place: | Havana, Cuba |
| Order: | Mayor of Havana |
| Constituency1: | Republic of Cuba |
| Term Start1: | January 14, 1899 |
| Term End1: | July 1, 1900 |
| Predecessor1: | Pedro Esteban y González-Larrinaga, Marquis de Esteban[1] |
| Successor1: | Alejandro Rodríguez y Velazco |
| Order2: | Cuban Secretary of Agriculture, Commerce and Industry |
| Constituency2: | Republic of Cuba |
| Term Start2: | May 1, 1900 |
| Term End2: | 1902 |
| Predecessor2: | Juan Ríus Rivera |
| Successor2: | Manuel Luciano Díaz |
| Spouse: | Lucia Lacoste[2] |
Perfecto Lacoste was the first Mayor of Havana elected under American occupation and later Secretary of Agriculture of Cuba.[3]
Perfecto Lacoste y Grave de Peralta was born in Holguín, Cuba in the early 1860s. His uncle was Cuban General Julio Grave de Peralta.[4] The Ten Years' War caused his family to flee Cuba when he was 13 years old.
He attended university in the United States, went into business in Cincinnati, and later obtained American citizenship.[5]
Preceding the Spanish-American War, he returned to Cuba. Lacoste became a well known planter, establishing the Lacoste sugar plantations in Pinar del Río Province.[6] During the war, damages were sustained on his sugar plantation through the acts of both insurgent and Spanish forces. Forces of Máximo Gómez and Antonio Maceo encamped on the plantation on January 6, 1896.[7]
At the time of Spanish evacuation, he was appointed by American military authorities, succeeding Pedro Esteban González-Larrinaga, Marquis de Esteban. Lacoste took up his post on January 1, 1899, serving as the Mayor of the City of Havana.[8] [9]
When the Cuban Secretary of Agriculture Juan Ríus Rivera resigned on May 1, 1900, Lacoste assumed the position.[10] Lacoste was appointed the Secretary of the Department of Agriculture, Commerce, and Industry by Military Governor of Cuba Leonard Wood and resigned as Mayor of Havana.[11]
Following the 1901 Cuban general election, he was replaced by Manuel Luciano Díaz under the Palma government.[12]
A new sugar firm was founded by Lacoste in New York in 1904 with the goal of transforming his San José plantation into a large central sugar factory.[13]
Perfecto Lacoste died in Havana, Cuba on May 5, 1905.[14]