José Martí

Born in Cuba in Jan 28 1853 Jose Marti was involved in anti (Spanish) colonial activities from an early age. in 1869 he was up before the beak for the first time, getting six years of hard labour. He was shortly deported to Spain.

in 1878 he was able to return to Cuba under a general amnesty at the end of the first war of independence. Although trained as a lawyer he was not allowed to practice and through his opinioned writings ended up deported to Spain again in 1879. From there he travelled and ended up in New York writing for a bunch of South American papers before returning to Cuba on April 11th 1895 along with Maximo Gomez and four others to launch the second Cuba war of independence.

On May 19th 1895 Jose Marti was killed in a fire fight with the Spanish at Dos Rios on the Cuato River. The Cubans went on almost to victory before the Americans decied to prop up the regime some three years later.

Jose Marti is now remembered as a Cuban hero, a visionary and social activist, and of course for the poem 'Versos Sencillos' which were the basis for the lyrics of possibly the most famous Cuban Song 'Guantanamera'.

Viva Cuba Libre !

He was born to Spanish parents on January, 28, 1853. In 1871, at the age of just 16, he was sent into exile by Spanish colonialists because of his political views. He remained in this first exile, during which he visited Mexico, Spain, Guatemala, and France. By that time, other countries in Latin America had all gained their independence, but Cuba was still held by Spain. His second exile, beginning in 1879 and lasting longer than the first, took him for many years to the United States. There he wrote "Versos Libres" (Free Verses) in 1885 and "Versos Sencillos" (Simple Verses) in 1891. These writings began the movement known as Modernism. His time in New York made Martí fear that the United States would interfere with the establishment of democratic governments in Latin America. In 1892, he founded the Cuban Revolutionary Party, intended to free Cuba from Spanish rule.

Martí returned to Oriente Province during the Cuban War of Independence in 1895. He had tried to unite all Cubans against Spain, and now he had come to fight too. Only a month after the revolution began, Martí was martyred at the battle of Dos Ríos. The Cuban revolutionaries fought on in his memory for three years. When American imperialists persuaded the country to launch a war on Spain after accusing the Spanish of destroying the Battleship Maine, U.S. troops joined in as well. The Americans fought against Spain, but were generally insincere allies of the rebels. Spain was no match for the American fleet and army, and lost many of her colonies to America, including Cuba (This is the Spanish-American War).

In 1892 he founded El Partido Revolucionario Cubano (the Cuban Revolutionary Party) hoping to obtain, “with the united effort of all men of good will, the absolute independence of Cuba.” Although he was killed in May 1895 (in the middle of the revolution) his ideas and rebellion spread, achieving success through the use of guerilla tactics. Martí was the father of Cuban independence.