Carlos María de Rojas Cruzat

Brigadier General. Independence fighter from the city of Cárdenas in the province of Matanzas. He is considered the most distinguished patriot of this city.

He was born in Cárdenas, within one of the most illustrious and influential families of the nineteenth century. His parents were Joaquín de Rojas Cachurro, a prosperous merchant of Havana origin, who had settled in Cárdenas after conspiring in favor of the Venezuelan annexationist general Narciso López - a fact that cost him imprisonment - and Isabel Cruzat y Urbizo, daughter of the owner of the firm for which Joaquín had worked for several years. His baptism took place on July 9, 1862 in the Parish Church of Cárdenas.

He received his first education in the Fifth, property of the family, a place where he enjoyed a happy childhood in the company of his parents and siblings. Later, in the 1870s of the nineteenth century he entered as an internal student at the Escolapios of Guanabacoa, an establishment where he learned from the Catalan priests who directed it, love for the Homeland in which one is born. During his stay at the school, the sudden death of his mother occurred in 1874, an event that radically changed the life of the entire family.

Despite the rejection he soon made of the school, he continued studying there until he graduated in 1878 as a Bachelor of Arts, Sciences and Letters. That same year, he entered the University of Havana in the Faculty of Civil and Canon Law. In 1880 he abandoned university studies and immediately moved to the United States of America in order to pursue special studies at Harvard University, where he was a student and friend of the important American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.

Shortly after, caught up in a dangerous love adventure, he decided to stop studying to return to Cuba and dedicate himself, like his father, to commercial activity. Associated with the cardenense Antonio B. Zanetti - who would later become Mayor of Matanzas and Consul of Cuba in several countries - he founded in Puerto Príncipe, capital of the Republic of Santo Domingo, under the business name of Rojas, Zanetti y Cía., the first honey storage warehouse that existed in that Caribbean nation.

Once again, love disrupted his plans, so determined to marry Virginia Bacot y Abgar, a young woman from Cárdenas whom he had known during his stay in the United States of America, he returned to Cuba. Once on the island, he cabled Virginia immediately, who was studying in the Faculty of Medicine at Harvard University, inviting her to marry him. The young woman's response did not delay, so the wedding was celebrated very quickly. However, conjugal happiness lasted very little, as on January 20, 1891 his wife died without leaving any descendants.

Around this time, Carlos María, together with his father, was already a prosperous merchant, appearing as founder and shareholder of important commercial societies dedicated, above all, to the trade of honey and sugar. Furthermore, because of his social relationships and his economic activity, on December 15, 1891 he was appointed Vice-Consul in Cárdenas of the Republic of Argentina, a position he held successfully until his departure to the insurgent field.

An enthusiastic baseball player, a sport to which he had become fond during his stay in the United States of America, he appeared as founder and Honorary President of the Cárdenas Base Ball Club, a responsibility that he shared at that time with those he held in the Club de Cárdenas, an institution located on the upper floors of the current "La Dominica" hotel, a National Monument, and which was the preferred meeting place for local conspirators. He also entered the Perseverancia Lodge, an institution where activities in favor of Cuban independence were frequently carried out and where, around this time, several patriots from the city and its surroundings grouped together under the denomination of "Disciples of Solomon".

In 1893, during the clandestine visit made by General Antonio Maceo to Cárdenas, Carlos María was among the young men from Cárdenas who attended and protected the prominent Cuban independence fighter. Furthermore, he organized, together with his father and other separatists, the banquet that was offered to the Bronze Titan at the "León de Oro" hotel.

Involved in these activities, Carlos María married again. This time to the young woman from Matanzas, Raquel Andux Teurbe Tolón. The wedding ceremony, attended by the most prominent members of Cárdenas and Matanzas society of the time, took place in the Cathedral of Matanzas on November 28, 1893.

Two years later, in 1895, his first daughter was born, Raquel María, followed by those named Elvira, Carlos, Armando and Esther de Rojas Andux.

At this time he worked with his father, siblings and several friends in the creation of the Patriotic Council of Cárdenas, later converted, by order of the Delegate of the Cuban Revolutionary Party Tomás Estrada Palma, into a Patriotic Committee. The constitution of this Council was a direct consequence of the work carried out on the island by the patriot Francisco Chenard, who arrived in Cuba in October 1895 from the United States of America, with the mission - assigned by Estrada Palma - to increase the creation of Directive Councils of the Party and to formalize the work of those that already existed.

The Patriotic Council of Cárdenas, to whose orders the Agency of the Cuban Revolutionary Party in the city and its Secret Service immediately placed themselves, carried out effective work aimed at sustaining the activity of the insurgent forces operating in the territory. This work increased in 1896, when Carlos María left for the insurgent field - on January 26 of that year - to whom the Council offered the rank of Captain which he did not accept, claiming that he preferred to earn them in combat.

To the camp of General José Lacret Morlot, which was located with a force of 1500 men armed mainly with machetes, at one league from the city of Cárdenas, arrived with the purpose of joining the struggle, the group of young men headed by Carlos María de Rojas; which almost immediately formed the so-called Cárdenas Regiment.

As he passed through the vicinity of the City of the Flag, General Antonio Maceo received on February 24, 1896, in his camp at the La Perla sugar mill, in the Guamacaro Valley, the revolutionary greeting and support of the local conspirators and mambises, especially from Carlos M. de Rojas, who asked him to incorporate him into the invasion column to which the mambí chief responded: "... one does not come to war to ask, but to obey. You where it is necessary, because of your prestige and valor is here. This place is more difficult than the East and Camagüey to fight. Your brigade will be the pride of Cárdenas (...)."

Carlos María de Rojas was specially commissioned by the Bronze Titan to manage with the Revolutionary Council of Cárdenas the acquisition of weapons and other war materials and to proceed, in accordance with it, to the transportation of the aforementioned supplies, which were to be placed at the disposal of the Headquarters of the Liberating Army, to a safe place. He was also entrusted with the mission of receiving and assisting the mambí expeditions that would arrive in the Cárdenas area.

At dawn on February 25, in the same camp, the battle of the La Perla sugar mill took place, in which Carlos María de Rojas participated, respecting the orders that Maceo had given him, as an observer. On February 26, by order of the Bronze Titan, he was promoted to Commandant.

From this moment on, the most immediate actions of the Cárdenas Regiment would be aimed at supporting the important campaign that Maceo, assisted by Máximo Gómez, was carrying out in the territories of the western region, and at the protection and reception of the Expedition expected from Cayo Sal. On March 2, 1896 Carlos María de Rojas assumed - by order of General Lacret Morlot - command of the Regiment.

In 1896, the General Staff of the Liberating Army was convinced of the need to organize in the Cárdenas area a Brigade for the purpose of carrying out the devastation of the agricultural and industrial wealth of the territory and which would also be responsible for receiving the expeditions that were to arrive along the north coast of Matanzas.

As part of the devastation of properties, which had become in fact the main task of the patriots from Cárdenas, on April 15, 1896, the sugarcane fields of the sugar mills Santa Amalia, Audaz, Carolina, San Juan, San Fernando, Santa Agustina, El Carmen, Laferté, Guerrero, Jesús María and Buenavista were also set on fire, the latter being property of the Rojas family. This action and the subsequent destruction by his own hand of the aforementioned sugar mill, allowed Carlos María to apply the Fiery Torch policy decreed by Generals Máximo Gómez and Antonio Maceo in the territory, without any obstacles and without regard.

For his victorious actions, on September 11, 1896 the Cárdenas Regiment was promoted to the category of Brigade. This force, which constituted the First Brigade of the First Division of the Fifth Corps of the Western Detachment of the Liberating Army, demonstrated throughout the contest its effectiveness, under the command of Carlos Ma. de Rojas, appointed with the same date as Lieutenant General.

His main objectives were to keep the insurgent spirit alive in the area, to set fire to sugar mills and cane fields, to facilitate - in close coordination with the Patriotic Committee of Cárdenas - war supplies for the revolution and to assist the landings of expeditions that would occur along the north coast of the province of Matanzas.

This Brigade was made up of two Infantry Regiments, which answered to the names of Clotilde García and Cárdenas, the Mounted Guard and the General Staff.

It is important to note that the chiefs and officers of the Cárdenas Brigade used a very effective tactic, which at that time was practically unknown to the Spanish Army and which was discovered by it, after the numerous losses of men, ammunition and time that it caused. It consisted in the implementation of the system employed by Máximo Gómez in the Reform Campaign: marching on the trail, constant mobility on the terrain, surprising and joint attacks when conditions required it or dispersion to reunite at a previously set location.

The topographic conditions of the terrain in which they operated, which is characterized by the lack of elevations and mountains and by being crossed in all directions by a large number of railroad lines, forced the forces of the Brigade to incessant mobility and the non-establishment of a fixed place to camp.

From this moment on, Carlos M. de Rojas continued alongside his father and siblings - Alberto and Oscar María de Rojas Cruzat - his career as a merchant. This was not an obstacle for the Assembly of Representatives - meeting under American occupation of the island - to grant him on June 16, 1899, in recognition of the services he provided to the cause of Cuban Independence, the military rank of Division General.

Shortly after, he was appointed by the Intervening Government as Mayor of Cárdenas, a position he fulfilled with dedication and patriotism. Among the most significant works of his government were, in addition to the numerous urban improvements he carried out, the inauguration of the local Museum and Public Library, the second institution of this type founded in Cuba and the Mausoleum of the Martyrs of Independence. On February 13, 1900 he was ratified by popular vote as Mayor, remaining at the head of the City's affairs until 1903.

On April 11 of that same year, he returned to military life, being appointed by the President of the Republic Tomás Estrada Palma, as Chief, with the rank of Colonel, of the Rural Guard of the provinces of Matanzas and Villa Clara. On June 22, 1905 he was appointed Chief of the Artillery Corps of Havana, a position he held until April 8, 1909, the date on which he was transferred - during the Government of José Miguel Gómez - to the Infantry Corps as Chief of the Second Regiment. Two months later, for the results achieved, he was promoted to Interim Chief of the Infantry Brigade.

On October 24, 1910, following the failed coup d'état in favor of Dr. Alfredo Zayas, he was appointed Interim Chief of the Army in place of General Pino Guerra. In this provisional position he remained until the month of November, having been appointed for the second time Interim Chief of the Infantry Brigade. Subsequently, on December 13, 1910, he was appointed Interim Inspector of the Army.

Also, during the government of General José Miguel Gómez, he was appointed on November 28, 1912 as Brigadier and Inspector General of the Armed Forces in active service, a position he held until November 16, 1912, the date on which he was appointed as Interim Chief of the Army, a responsibility he held until February 7, 1913, the date on which he again took charge of the inspection of the armed corps.

On May 20, 1913 - when General Mario García Menocal took office as President of the Republic - he was dismissed, as the Mandatary wished to favor with the position occupied by Carlos María de Rojas to Manuel Sanguily, despite the fact that thanks to the General from Cárdenas, who renounced taking part in those government bodies, Sanguily had been able to occupy prominent seats in the Constitutional Convention of 1901 and in the Congress that was formed in 1902.

General Rojas returned to Cárdenas. Shortly before, on May 30, 1913 he had been appointed Extraordinary Envoy and Minister Plenipotentiary of Cuba in Peru, an appointment that he did not accept. For this reason, on July 24 of that same year he was covered by the effects of the Military Retirement Law with the Rank of Brigadier, as stated in Decree No. 470. Political Activity

In 1917 he aspired, unsuccessfully, to the local Mayoralty. Eleven years later, he returned to the political arena when proposed by the Liberal Party as a Delegate to its Constitutional Convention for the province of Matanzas. However, as the dictator Gerardo Machado needed a man with a military career and prestige like his to resolve the conflicts existing in his Cabinet, he appointed him on April 25, 1928 Secretary of War and Navy. Five years later, on May 2, 1933, he received by order of the Ass with Claws and from the hands of Mario Ruiz Mesa, the position of Secretary of Public Instruction and Fine Arts.

Despite having held these positions during the Machado Government, when on August 13, 1933 the enraged people took to the streets of Havana demanding justice and taking it into their own hands, General Rojas and his family members were not bothered, as he never participated in the bloody actions and decisions of the Dictator and his henchmen.

Regarding this, the Cárdenas teacher Julia Santiuste recounts, in an unpublished and interesting biographical study of the General, that when these events occurred, Virgilio Costa, Rojas's son-in-law expressed: "... in view of the danger that remained for him in his capacity as Secretary of Public Instruction and Fine Arts of the Machado Government Cabinet, he was determined to take his father-in-law out of the Capital to take him to his mansion in Varadero.

And he crossed with his illustrious warrior those streets over which rained furniture, dishes, paintings and even people thrown from the upper floors of buildings to the street, on pedestrians.

Mr. Costa told us that when he crossed a street obstructed by a compact multitude an individual stood at a certain distance with his arms extended blocking their way, seeing which, he, who did not want to be intercepted for the security of the person he was taking, leaned down to grasp the revolver he carried in the bottom of the car; but the General, without uttering a word, placed his hand on his arm with an expressive movement that invited him to renounce all violence.

That individual who intercepted the way, only wanted to be allowed to get in the car to get to a certain place: he was a delegate of the A. B. C. who in that uprising was commanding in chief. Costa bought a newspaper and offered it to the General with the intention that by reading it he would cover his face, and without further incidents they were able to reach Varadero at the Rojas mansion. And while the machadistas fled abroad or hid from the persecution they were subject to, their homes were looted and burned, Rojas commented with a person of his greatest intimacy in this manner: - This situation of the people of the defeated party is appalling. Do you remember that one day you called me a fool, because I had not wanted to take advantage of the position I had in the Cabinet as Secretary of War and Navy to become rich?

I remained silent then, but today the facts give you my answer. All those who abused power by trampling on people's rights or defrauded the Public Treasury have died, are being persecuted... their homes have been set on fire, they have had to flee from the popular wrath. And I am very calm without having to hide; because no one persecutes me... nor has anyone to call me to account. This is what Carlos Rojas said in the days of reprisals that followed the fall of the Government of General Machado."

Retired from the National Army, which disappeared to become a Constitutional Army after the coup d'état of September 4, Colonel Fulgencio Batista, who had once been under his command, transferred his retirement, without Rojas requesting it, to the new Army.

General Carlos M. de Rojas spent the last years of his life enjoying the affection of his family members, his old subordinates from the Mambí Army and all the people of Cárdenas, who venerated him as a national relic. Between 1933 and 1945 he presided over numerous patriotic acts and was part of important local associations. On September 20, 1945 he died in Cárdenas, in the house of his daughter Elvira de Rojas. When he died, his wife had already passed away some years before.

His funeral, in which about 10,000 people took part, became an impressive and spontaneous manifestation of popular grief. The farewell of the mourning was conducted by Colonel Alfredo Lima, on behalf of Commander Pablo Villegas, President of the National Council of Veterans, and by General Enrique Loynaz del Castillo, on behalf of his descendants. His remains were buried in the pantheon that the Rojas family owns in the cemetery of Cárdenas.

As a permanent tribute to his memory, an old colonial fortress in Cárdenas and a town in the province of Matanzas bear the name of who was, according to Dr. Arnaldo Jiménez de la Cal, Historian of the Athens of Cuba, "an example of revolutionary ethics."