Juan Gualberto Gómez, 170 years in our midst

Born free from a slave womb, thanks to the sacrifice and will of his parents, Juan Gualberto Gómez came into the world on July 12, 1854 in the province of Matanzas, with the inalienable determination to fight for the emancipation of his and other countries of the world equally overwhelmed by opprobrium, for with he left an indelible mark in Cuban history.

He prepared and joined the last war for independence conceived by José Martí from exile, namely the Necessary War, launched on February 24, 1895, which set in relief his capacity and willingness to fight as well as the great trust and appreciation that the Cuban National Hero placed in him.

As a child, he enjoyed the help of his parents’ employer, whose great affection for the little boy led her to defray his studies, first in his home province, then in Havana and finally in France when she left in 1869 after the outbreak of the first War of Independence the year before.

While in Paris, good luck and determination allowed him to pursue academic studies and thus acquire a solid, principled culture and learn from the best and highest universal sources before returning to Cuba in 1878 and meeting José Martí, who had traveled to the island incognito, in the bitter days that marked the end of the Ten Years War with the ignoble Pact of Zanjón, eventually countered by patriots of the stature of Antonio Maceo and his followers with the Protest of Baraguá.

The following year Juan Gualberto was deported to Spain when his links with the conspirators of the Guerra Chiquita (Small War) and could not return until 1890. He strengthened his ties with Martí, who was tenaciously organizing the final campaign for liberty from exile.

Important and difficult as Juan Gualberto Gómez’s role in Cuba was, the uprising of February 24, 1895 in the province of Matanzas turned out to be a failure despite his will and that of other valuable patriots. Not so in the East, where the great Guillermon Moncada, who died of tuberculosis a few days after the beginning of the war, was working hard for Cuba’s freedom.

To make matters worse, Juan Gualberto fell prisoner again and was deported to France. When the Spanish rule came to an end in 1898 in such an unfortunate way for Cuba, he traveled to the United States, where he cooperated with the Cuban Revolutionary Party before returning to his homeland for good in that same year.

In those sad days when the U.S. intervention put an end to Cuban independence, his undeniable prestige led him to be elected delegate to the Assembly of Representatives of the Cuban Revolution in October 1898 and, in 1900, to the Constituent Assembly, where he fought against the Platt Amendment.

A patriot and a fighter for just causes, Juan Gualberto Gómez's outstanding service record includes relevant results as a journalist, a job he performed bravely and intensely with the help of his vast knowledge and his skills as a as a sharp and cultured political orator who always fought for the rights of black people.

Deceased in Havana on March 5, 1933, Juan Gualberto is remembered as a fighter for the freedom of his homeland whose tireless efforts to found a republic worthy of the dreams and the blood that his compatriots shed and sustained by a respectable constitution—a goal thwarted then by the U.S. intervention—stand as evidence of his opposition to imperialism and annexation. Always in tune with the Maestro, who was his friend, guide and example to follow.