Willy Gort

Wilfredo Gort de los Llanos (born November 9, 1940) is a Cuban-American politician who served as the 37th and acting Mayor of Miami from June to July 1996. Gort was a City of Miami Commissioner from 1993 to 2001 and again from 2010 to 2020.

Born in Havana, Cuba, Gort is the son of photographer, Alfredo “Willy” Gort (1909–2003) and Miami Cuban civic leader, Esther de los Llanos de Gort (1915–1984). He and his parents fled Cuba in 1952 after Fulgencio Batista overthrew the government and moved to Miami. In 1959, after Fidel Castro came to power, he returned to Cuba for 3 days and again went into exile.

In 1993, Gort ran against Joe Carollo, a former City of Miami commissioner and won the election. In 1996, Gort who was Vice-Mayor at the time became acting mayor at the death of Stephen P. Clark. In 2001, Gort resigned his commission seat to run for mayor of Miami, but did not make the runoff election that eventually elected Manny Diaz, mayor of Miami. In 2010, Gort returned to the City commission in the special election and was reelected in 2011 and 2015. Gort retired and opted to not run in the 2019 elections being succeeded by Alex Díaz de la Portilla.