Mariana Grajales, one of those who love and create

Born on July 12, 1815, in the eastern city of Santiago de Cuba, Mariana Grajales Coello is revered today as Mother of the Homeland for her own heroic tradition, even if we largely owe it to her to have raised a distinguished family of patriots.

Ever since she was very young, this woman born to a family of very humble origins and whose ancestors were slaves was remarkable for her integrity and Spartan uprightness.

Always grumbling about shedding tears in public, she was able to prove her courage and loyalty to the principles and the cause of Cuban freedom until the end of her life on November 27, 1893 in Kingston, Jamaica, where she was forced to live in exile after the 10 Years' War (1868-1878), which failed to reach the expected goals.

However, this Cuban woman’s "armored heart" also brimmed with the deep sensitivity and virtues of those who conceive home, family and homeland as a whole. Therefore, she imbued her family with the feelings of equality and love of freedom that the prevailing slave system denied to those of her class, even though her family of origin had small rural properties that allowed them to earn a decent living.

This clearly reveals Mariana's intellectual values, despite the fact that she was presumably illiterate due to her status and epoch. Many a scholar has concluded that she may have been literate, given the level of her logical thinking and conscientiousness.

Mariana’s virtues came to the fore when she left with her offspring and joined the fight for freedom in the first days of the first war of independence on October 10, 1868.

In addition to her assistance as a nurse for the Liberation Army, she was noted for her radical behavior, based on her ethical and Christian education, in the style of those times. The values of freedom and independence were also crucial to her family of origin and the one she started, because, even if she was never a slave herself, she saw the cruelty of slavery from up close and also and suffered discrimination.

Long before the outbreak of the so-called War of ‘68, at the age of 15, Mariana had married Fructuoso Regüeiferos, with whom she had four children. Widowed nine years later, she met Marcos Maceo and moved to his farm, where they had their first son Antonio in 1845. Then came José, Rafael, Miguel, Julio, Tomás, and Marcos Maceo Grajales, as well as three daughters, all of whom joined the fray, as their mother had urged them to do since day one, even under oath before the Cross.

She soon lost all four of her first children—Felipe and Justo were executed and Fermín and Manuel were killed in action—whereas her husband Marcos fell in combat in May 1869. She kept her intense pain to herself in ways that make her legendary and inspire devotion among her compatriots.

By the end of the first war in 1878, only four of Mariana's sons had survived, including Antonio and José, two brilliant soldiers who became Generals in the War of 95 and live forever on the Altar of the Homeland.
In May 1879, Mariana and Maria left for Jamaica, where the venerable founder of the heroic Maceo clan lived her old age with dignity, patriotism and pride until she died at the age of 78.

Thirty years after her death, the sacred remains of the beloved Mariana could finally be repatriated and placed in the city of Santiago de Cuba, close to exalted founding fathers such as Carlos Manuel de Céspedes, José Martí and Fidel Castro. Thus they all protect the eternal sleep of the heroine who was always by the side of those who love and create.