Career
Sanchez served in the government of President Carlos Prio Socarras first as Minister of Education (1948–1951) and then as Foreign Minister (1951–1952). In August 1951, Eduardo Chibas accused Sanchez of stealing children"s breakfast funds to build a housing project in Guatemala. When Chibas could not prove his accusations, he committed suicide on live radio.
After Fulgencio Batista overthrew Prio, Sanchez was involved in various undergrown movements to overthrow Batista.
He was originally granted asylum in Mexico in 1952, After returning to Cuba to plan an assassination attempt against Batista, he was granted refuge at the Uruguayan embassy. He later helped finance Fidel Castro in overthrowing Batista and later went into permanent exile to the United States.
Sanchez Echavarria was allowed to go into exile in 1977, a few months after his father had died of a heart attack.