Independence leader Máximo Gómez is remembered in Cuba

Havana, 17 Jun.- On June 17, 1905, after saying goodbye to his wife and children, the Liberator’s Army Generalissimo Máximo Gómez Báez died in this capital, and today, 120 years later, Cuba commemorates his death.

At 69 years old and… terminally ill, the youngest of 10 brothers said goodbye. This Banilejo native participated in the Dominican Republic's War of Independence, the soldier who on this island wielded a machete against Spanish colonial forces.

At his 69 years old and..., fatally ill, said goodbye the youngest of 10 brothers, the banilejo participant in the War of Independence of the Dominican Republic, the military that on this island carried the machete against Spanish colonialist forces.

He was already considered a Dominican by birth and a Cuban by heart, a qualification claimed before his death by virtue of his campaign against the president of the nation, Tomás Estrada Palma, who decided to be reelected for a second term illegally.

Although removed from political life by his own choice, he brandished his word against Estrada Palma, the intervention of the United States and annexionism, as before the machete in the Ten Years' War (1868-1878) and the one started in 1895.

For many historians, he is a precursor and symbol of the first battle in Cuba against the neo-colonial or "colony disguised as a republic," established in 1902.

For this reason, he is remembered without tears.

Also for his exploits in combat, among which stands out the one referred to by the historiography as Battle of the Guásimas, in which he showed off his military skills to defeat three thousand men in the service of Spain.

And because at the age of 16, already enlisted in his country's army, he fought against Haitian invasions, and shortly afterward fought in the Dominican Restoration War.

His ability, cunning, courage, and above all, his commitment to Cuban independence secured him a place in the island's history and in the imagination and soul of Cubans.

This Tuesday, in the monumental complex erected to honor him and in the museum dedicated to his life, both in Havana, and in every institution bearing his name, they will commemorate the exploits of the Dominican who promised that Cubans could always count on him, could always count on a friend. (Text and photo: PL)