Cuban patriot and writer, the apostle of independence of Cuba, the last Spanish colony in America. The fact that he died in battle transformed him into the martyr of Cuban aspirations to independence.
He was born into a modest Spanish family in Havana, on January 28, 1853 where he received his primary education. He was a disciple of [Manuel] Mendive and of [Jose de la] Luz y Caballero. When he was 16, because of his revolutionary ideas, he was sentenced to six years in prison; in poor health he was pardoned and was banished to the Isle of Pines.
Deported to Spain in 1871 he published the "Political prison in Cuba", the first of many pamphlets that called for Cuban independence from Spain and the Spanish Republic before the Cuban revolution. He finished his education at the University of Zaragoza where in 1874 he qualified in law and philosophy and letters. Years later he lived his exile in France in 1875 he moved to Mexico where he married Carmen Zayas Bazán and in 1877 went to Guatemala where he taught for a time in the national university.