José Manuel Carbonell Rivero

Born in Alquízar, La Habana. Son of Néstor Leonelo Carbonell. In 1887 his family emigrated to the United States and he was taken to Tampa. He received his primary education from his father, Néstor Leonelo Carbonell.

From his childhood he showed himself to be revolutionary and a disciple of José Martí, "The Liberator". When the War of Independence broke out, Carbonell was then fifteen years old, he joined one of the expeditions that departed from the United States and remained on the battlefield for a time.

Later he returned to Tampa, Florida, and served alongside Pastor Moinelo, Carlos Boissier, Octavio García Campos and Fernando de Zayas in the propaganda campaign; he founded and edited the magazine "El expedicionario", and contributed to other newspapers.

At the end of the war he returned to La Habana and continued his studies at the Instituto and finally obtained his doctorate in Civil Law from the University. He also became known as a writer of verse and public speaker. When the Republic was constituted in 1902, Carbonell and his intimate friend José María Collantes organized a great celebration in honor of Martí. President Estrada Palma presided over the celebration and Carbonell's speech was the highlight of the occasion. Since then he had spoken many times at the Ateneo of which he was its founder and served as secretary for two years. His most notable work as an orator was in the campaign for the election of General José Miguel Gómez as president.

During the first years of the Republic he belonged to the Liberal Party.

He was among those who rose up in 1906 and in fact was one of the first to participate in the battlefield after a fierce speech in which he used the phrase, often repeated since then, "the machetes must be drawn from their sheaths". For his services in this brief war he was decorated with the rank of brigadier general.

From then on he devoted greater attention to poetry and recited and published many of his poems which received popular approval. Together with his brother Néstor and Mr. Félix Callejas, he founded the magazine "Letras". He also held several positions in the field of education: Head of the General Section of Superintendents; Secretary of the Committee of Superintendents; Provincial Superintendent of La Habana, etc.

In 1910, he was a delegate of Cuba to the Fourth Pan-American Conference that took place in Buenos Aires; in 1911 he was a delegate of Cuba at the coronation of King George V. He was president of the Literature Section of the National Academy of Arts and Sciences; president of the Geographic Society of Cuba; compiler of the works of Jesús Castellanos and Enrique Hernández Miyares.

He graduated as Doctor of Public Law from the University of La Habana (1914).

In 1919 he founded, with Manuel Márquez Sterling, the Nationalist Party. Founding member and president of the National Academy of Arts and Letters (1910) and director of its annals. He was also a member of the Cuban Academy of the Language, the Academy of the History of Cuba, the Ateneo de La Habana and other Latin American institutions.

He attended as a delegate to various international conferences in official representation. Contributor to La Lucha, La Discusión, Heraldo de Cuba, La Nación, El Fígaro, Azul y Rojo and Letras, he compiled in 18 volumes, an anthology of Cuban prose and poetry with the title Evolution of Cuban Culture. He used the pseudonyms Tampa, Cacarajicara, Gerardo de Lavernier and René de Roban.

He cultivated academic oratory and was author of the book of poems Patria, Penachos and My Book of Love; of Speeches and Lectures; Literary Pages; Hearing My Father.