Cuba today commemorates the 206th anniversary of the birth of Carlos Manuel de Céspedes, considered the Father of the Nation and the first president of the Republic in Arms.
Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez evoked the date and quoted Cuban National Hero José Martí, who said of Céspedes: “He was not greatest when he proclaimed his homeland free, but when he gathered his servants and called them to his arms as brothers.”
Céspedes was born in Bayamo, in the current province of Granma (eastern Cuba), to a wealthy family and graduated with a Bachelor of Law in 1838. A decade later, he earned a law degree from the University of Barcelona, Spain.
Due to his determination for independence, he led the La Damajagua uprising on October 10, 1868, one of the most significant historical events on the Caribbean island that sparked the so-called “Ten Years’ War” against Spain.
Also a major general in the Cuban Liberation Army and the first president of the belligerent nation against Spanish colonialism, he was removed from office in 1873 and imprisoned in San Lorenzo, Sierra Maestra, where he died in an unequal battle against Iberian troops.
