Bartolomé de Jesús Masó Márquez

Bartolomé Masó was born on a rustic farm called Cerca Pie, in the district of Yara, later he moved with his parents to Manzanillo, the old city that overlooks the sea, born of a Catalan father and a Bayamese mother.

He received education at the Convent of Santo Domingo. As a young man he devoted his activities to commerce, and in his leisure time he cultivated literature: he composed verses. Some of his compositions appeared in magazines and newspapers in Santiago de Cuba, Manzanillo and Bayamo.

In 1851, he protested bravely, in a speech, against the execution by garrote vil of Narciso López. Because of this speech, he was always under the watch of colonial authorities.

He was one of the participants in the preparatory meeting for the war at the Ingenio Rosario. Second chief of the liberating forces.

In 1867 he joined the executive commission of the Revolutionary Board of Manzanillo. He was one of the participants in the preparatory meeting for the war at Ingenio Rosario on October 6, 1868.

He rose up on October 10, 1868 at La Demajagua, together with Carlos Manuel de Céspedes, who appointed him second chief of the liberating forces, with the rank of Lieutenant General.

He was one of the twelve men who remained with Céspedes after the failed attack on Yara on October 11, 1868. The following day he declined his position considering that he did not possess the necessary military knowledge and took charge of the General Intendancy of the Army and Treasury.

After the occupation of Barrancas on October 15, 1868, he participated in the attack and capture of Bayamo from the 18th to the 20th of that same month.

When the government of the Republic in Arms was constituted on April 12, 1869, his position's title was changed to director of Treasury for the State of Oriente, which he held until March 1870.

A few days later he was appointed member of the court-martial of the Department of Bayamo, where he remained until July, when he returned to his former position. With that position eliminated in 1871, he joined as a soldier the forces of Major General Modesto Díaz, with whom he fought in Humilladero.

In January 1872 he was appointed undersecretary of War, but upon taking office he was tasked with taking charge of that Secretariat. On June 3, 1872 he resigned and joined the General Headquarters of the Liberating Army, where the following day he received the rank of Colonel, although in the roster of the Liberating Army, such promotion appears registered with the date of December 8, 1873.

Shortly after he was appointed second chief of the Holguín district. In 1872 he participated in the combats of Cauto, El Paso, Llanada del Buey, Punta Alegre, Buey Abajo, Rejondón de Báguanos, Samá, Baire Abajo and Cupeyal. He distinguished himself in the attack on Holguín on December 19 and 20, 1872, under the command of Major General Calixto García.

On April 10, 1873 he fought at Auras and in June of that year he was appointed chief of the Jiguaní Brigade. In 1874 he participated in the combats of Melones on January 9 and Naranjo-Mojacasabe on February 10 and 11, as well as in the Battle of Las Guásimas from March 15 to 19. In January 1875 he took office as a representative to the Chamber for Oriente, for which he had been elected on February 14, 1874.

He also served as secretary of that body. When the sedition of Lagunas de Varona occurred on April 26, 1875, he accompanied President Salvador Cisneros to that camp to urge the insurgents to abandon their position.

Due to the situation created by this event, he resigned from his position in the Chamber and rejoined the ranks under the command of Modesto Díaz. In 1876 he sustained the combats of El Caobal, Ojo de Agua, Los Moscones and La Cuaba, at the head of the Jiguaní Regiment. In April 1877 he was called again to occupy the Secretariat of War; but he did not accept.

By mid-year he was chief of a regiment operating on the western line of Holguín; but in July he was forced to abandon that command by not supporting demands emanating from the sedition of Santa Rita on March 11, 1877.

On October 19, 1877 he was appointed chief of the Yara Regiment. Shortly after he was appointed second chief of the Manzanillo district and was proposed for the rank of Brigadier General. He rejected the Pact of Zanjón on February 10, 1878.

The provisional government of Major General Manuel de Jesús Calvar confirmed his rank of Brigadier General in Baraguá on March 17, 1878.

After Maceo marched to Jamaica on March 9, 1878, he laid down his arms. On October 5, 1879 he was arrested in Bayamo for being implicated in the organization of the Little War. After spending 16 days in the Morro of Santiago de Cuba, he was transferred to the castle of San Cristóbal in Puerto Rico, and three days later was sent to the prison of Cádiz, Spain and from there to the prisons of Melilla and Ceuta. He was released in 1881.

In 1890 he participated in the failed conspiracy known as La Paz del Manganeso.

He was among the organizers of the War of '95 in Oriente, for which the Cuban Revolutionary Party entrusted him with the regions of Manzanillo, Bayamo, Holguín and Jiguaní. He rose up on February 24, 1895 in Bayate and assumed command of all the insurgent forces until the arrival of Major General Máximo Gómez on April 11, 1895. On March 10, 1895 he attacked a Spanish column at Guanábano, near Bayamo. He was present at the combat of Dos Ríos, where José Martí fell on May 19, 1895.

He was appointed chief of the Second Oriental Corps with the rank of Major General. At the Constituent Assembly of Jimaguayú on September 13, 1895 he was elected vice president of the Republic in Arms, which he declined in order to continue exercising command of his troops.

For obstructing the sending of forces from the Second Corps for the creation of the invading column to the west, Major General Antonio Maceo removed him from office. He presented himself to the Council of Government on November 16, 1895 and submitted his claims. On December 1, 1895, the Commander-in-Chief ordered his definitive removal and the following day he accepted the position of vice president. On October 31, 1896 he wrote the lyrics to the hymn Resurrección, dedicated to February 24, 1895.

The Constituent Assembly of La Yaya on October 10, 1897 elected him president and he took office on October 30, 1897. On April 24, 1898 he proclaimed the document known as the "Manifesto of Sebastopol", where he emphasized the slogan "independence or death" to counter the intrigues of autonomist tendencies. On November 9, 1898 he turned over all powers to the Assembly of Representatives of the Cuban Revolution in Santa Cruz del Sur, declaring the dissolution of the government.

On October 31, 1899, the North American intervention appointed him administrator of Treasury in Manzanillo. He was a candidate in the first presidential elections of the Republic; but he resigned due to the illegal practices observed in electing his opponent, Tomás Estrada Palma, preferred by the North Americans.

He died on the hacienda La Jagüita, Manzanillo, on June 14, 1907. A municipality in the current province of Granma bears his name.