Bartolomé Masó

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Bartolomé Masó

Bartolomé de Jesús Masó Marquez (born December 21, 1830 in Yara , Cuba , † June 14, 1907 in Manzanillo ) was a Cuban freedom fighter for independence from the colonial power of Spain and later President of the Republic in Arms .

Childhood and youth

Bartolomé Masó was born on a farm belonging to the Yara area. He later moved to the coastal town of Manzanillo with his parents. His father was a Catalan and his mother was from Bayamo . He went to school in a Dominican monastery . As a youth he traded and devoted himself to literature and verse in his spare time. Some of his poems have appeared in newspapers and magazines in Santiago de Cuba , Manzanillo and Bayamo. In 1851 he protested in a speech against the execution of Narciso López on the Garrotte . Since that event he has been under surveillance by the colonial authorities.

First fights

When Carlos Manuel de Céspedes , Francisco Vicente Aguilera and others began conspiring in 1867 and looking for ways to achieve Cuba's independence, Masó was one of the first to join this movement and swear eternal allegiance to it. This was also the case on October 10, 1868, when he believed the moment had come and moved out with his two brothers, the rebel flag in his luggage. He met with Céspedes at his hacienda La Demajagua and took part in the unsuccessful uprising of Yara (→ Call of Yara ). He was involved in the attack and the capture of Bayamo as well as in the liberation struggles in Jiguaní , Báguano , Rejondón , Bermeja and other places. In all of these actions he gave unmistakable evidence of his courage.

Shortly after the death of Céspedes, Masó was elected representative of the Department of Oriente . Tomás Estrada Palma , elected delegate of the Partido Revolucionario Cubano , named him war secretary after the death of José Martí . Later, when Estrada Palma was in prison, he returned to the militia and took a place in the army. Commanding the units of Manzanillo as brigadier general , he was taken by surprise by the events of Zanjón , and although he capitulated in Yara, he never renounced the ideas of independence.

In 1879 he was imprisoned with Colonels Ricardo and Ismael Céspedes. First he was imprisoned in the Castillo del Morro near Santiago de Cuba, later in the Castillo de Santa Catalina in Puerto Rico . Most recently he was transferred to a prison in Cádiz (Spain). Freed again, he first visited Barcelona and later returned to Cuba via France, England, Switzerland and Italy.

War of Independence

The Cuban War of Independence began on February 24, 1895. Due to the serious illness of Guillermo Moncada , this Masó transferred the command of the rebels in the Orient until the arrival of Major General Antonio Maceo and Máximo Gómez . The battle of Masó's units began in Bayate . He spent the eve of May 19, 1895 with José Martí, who died the next day in the Battle of Dos Ríos .

In September 1895, Masó was elected Vice President of the Republic in Arms by the Asamblea de Jimaguayú , the constituent assembly of the revolutionaries in Jimaguayú . Two years later, on October 30, 1897, the revolutionary government met in La Yaya , where Bartolomé Masó was elected president. He held this office until November 7, 1898.

In the elections for the first presidency of the independent Republic of Cuba in 1901, he ran against Tomás Estrada Palma , but withdrew his candidacy under pressure from the USA, which secured a permanent right to intervene in the young republic through the Platt Amendment .

Bartolomé Masó died on June 14, 1907 in Manzanillo. His remains are buried in the city cemetery.

See also

Web links

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personal data
SURNAME Masó, Bartolomé
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Masó Márquez, Bartolomé de Jesús
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Cuban freedom fighter and president in the republic in arms
DATE OF BIRTH December 21, 1830
PLACE OF BIRTH Yara , Cuba
DATE OF DEATH June 14, 1907
Place of death Manzanillo , Cuba