Cuba: Its Past, Present, and Future

by A. D. Hall

Maximo Gomez is about seventy-five years of age, and he may perhaps be termed the "Washington" of the fight for liberty. It will be remembered that he was a leader in the Ten Years War. He is a man of excellent judgment, and, in spite of his years, of marvelous mental and physical activity. No better man could the insurgents have selected as their general-in-chief.

Flor Cromlet was a guerilla of unquestioned valor, who lost his life early in the campaign, but his name will live in the annals of free and independent Cuba. His mother was a mulatto, but his father was a Spaniard.

The Maceo brothers have been particularly distinguished. They were born of colored parents, and were of the type of the mulatto. Both were men of indomitable courage. Antonio Maceo was born at Santiago de Cuba in 1848. At the beginning of the Ten Years War, he was a mule driver, and could neither read nor write. He was one of the first to enlist in the Cuban army, and soon showed his courage and intelligence. He was rapidly promoted to superior rank and became a terror to the Spanish army. Their one idea seemed to be to capture him, but apparently he possessed a charmed life. During his leisure moments, which it can be imagined were but few, he managed to learn to read and write. He was one of the last combatants to lay down his arms in the former war, and then only because he saw that further struggle would only end in loss of life without the winning of liberty.

He was exiled and then travelled through America, studying constantly and ever endeavoring to improve himself. Here was a poor, obscure, descendant of slaves who by sheer perseverance, of course coupled with natural ability, afterward held the armies of a great nation at bay.

Antonio Maceo was killed in Havana province in 1896, probably through the treachery of one of his followers, and his brother died, but not until both had accomplished wonderful deeds of valor. It is a pity that they could not have lived to see the results of their unselfish patriotism.

Another mulatto who has won fame in the cause of "Free Cuba" is Augustin Cebreco.

The "Marion of Cuba," as he was called, Nestor Aranguren, must not be forgotten. He was at the head of a little band of men, all members of the best Havana families and graduates of the university. He was very much like the "Swamp Fox" of our Revolution in the way he would undertake some daring raid, and then retreat into the long grass of the Manigua to rest his tired horses and recruit his men. One of his most famous exploits was the capture of a train at the very gates of Havana. Aranguren treated his captives most kindly, with one exception, and in this he was justified. A man named Barrios had often informed against the insurgents, and he was condemned to death. Of him, Aranguren said: "That Cuban must die. I must rid my country of such an unnatural son. Thank God, there are few such traitors!"

The rest were allowed to go free.

To one of the Spaniards who were on the train, Aranguren said:

"If Spain should grant a generous and liberal autonomy, peace is not only possible, but probable; but, if she should persevere in her false colors, she will not regain control of this island, until every true soldier of Cuba is dead, and that will take a long time."