La Mejorana's legacy of unity

After huge difficulties, in early May 1895, the three leaders of the Necessary War, José Martí, Máximo Gómez and Antonio Maceo, joined the fight for independence after disembarking on the Guantanamo coast under the noses of the Spanish navy and army.

They met on May 5 at the community of the sugar mill La Mejorana, in what today is the province of Santiago de Cuba, to define the revolutionary strategy of the new campaign.

Then-accounts agree that they sat in the shade of a beautiful framboyant tree at a table was set for 18 diners in the backyard of the estate owner, Germán Álvarez, together with José Maceo, Paquito Borrego and Jesús Rabí, among other mambi officers.

The notes made by the Apostle on the fifth day reveal how tense their meeting was.

"Near me, Maceo and Gómez spoke in a low voice. Then they called me: Maceo has another thought of government: a board of generals in command (...) We move to a room to talk. I cannot disentangle the conversation from Maceo: ‘But will you stay with me or leave Gómez?’ And he speaks to me, cutting off my words, as if I were an extension and a representative of the pettifogging government".

Martí's description reflects, on one hand, Maceo's misgivings about repeating the mistakes during the Ten Years War of a Government in Arms that meddled with the operations of the Liberation Army, as opposed to Martí's thesis, supported by Gómez, based on ‘the Army, free, and the country as a country and with all its dignity represented’.”

The Bronze Titan also stated his concern at the designation of Flor Crombet at the head of the expedition that had brought him from Costa Rica to Cuba, in the schooner Honor.

Martí’s permanence in the fray or his departure for exile to guarantee the logistic and political support to the independence cause was probably discussed too, although the Master intended to take part in military actions and hold a new meeting of the top chiefs to design the definitive course of the war and its leading figures.

Apparently, the exchange also addressed the extension of the rebellion to the west by means of an invasion.

Maceo also ratified the Montecristi Manifesto, signed by Martí and Gómez in that city before they left for Cuba and putting together the principles of the new insurrection, its political organization and the future project of the republic, which showed that the three great figures of the new heroic deed agreed on the fundamental strategy of the Necessary War.

After the fall in combat of the National Hero on May 19, four pages corresponding to May 6 of his Campaign Diary—left in the custody of Máximo Gómez—mysteriously disappeared, a fact that gave rise to many questions about what happened in La Mejorana.

In a letter to Gómez, dated June 16, 1895, after Martí's death, Maceo confirms that they had settled their disagreements: "The last time that you, Martí and I met, I thought the formation of the government was a little premature, but today the strength of the revolution demands it".

Martí shed light on the final outcome of the meeting when he wrote in his diary: "And thus, as if lying down and harboring sad ideas, we slept".

Maceo left for his camp without inviting them to go with him, but on the following day he called them to his barracks, introduced them to his troops, and somehow apologized to them. The three heroes were cheered by the soldiers and officers after the Master gave a fiery speech about the plans of the Revolution.

As evidenced by the aforesaid events, unity and love for the independence of the homeland prevailed beyond their tactical contradictions in La Mejorana. These values forever united the three great figures in their endeavor to achieve national independence and shaped their everlasting legacy to the current generations of revolutionaries.