Leoncio Vidal Caro

He was born in Corralillo, province of Villa Clara. He spent the first years of his youth in Barcelona (Spain), where some relatives lived (one of them was the famous general Mola, who along with the sinister Franco waged the last Spanish Civil War and later perished in an aviation accident).

Upon his return to Cuba, Leoncio Vidal actively devoted himself to autonomist politics in the district of Camajuaní. But he did not last long in this Party. The oppressor's chamberlains cannot be taken as guides, precisely when alongside them other spirits rise up as challengers. Thus, like so many other activists, as soon as the Revolution broke out, Vidal took to the field of war. He sacrificed everything to fulfill what for him constituted his highest patriotic duty.

In February of 1896 he joined other forces marching to Vueltabajo, returning shortly after to his Villaclara territory. He recorded his activities as a warrior in his "Campaign Diary," which notes the innumerable actions in which he took part.

He was a daring man who faced death every minute. In the midst of the conflict, when Weyler in Las Villas was moving his columns throughout that territory, Leoncio Vidal assaulted the city of Santa Clara. Boldness and valor were necessary for such an audacious enterprise.

Our heroic mambí left his life there. The official report, and more so a journalistic account, tells us of what that feat was. At one in the morning on March 23, 1896, the neighbors were awakened by the thunder of a thousand horses and incessant rifle fire. Moreover, an immense clamor shouting long live Gómez and Maceo and Free Cuba, accompanied by shouts of "To the machete." That was the clearest sign that the insurgents were inside the plaza. While some groups tried to supply themselves with what was most necessary, others roamed the streets shouting and firing. Gunpowder was flying. One such group, of about 30 men, reached the Central Park. They were repelled by Spanish forces stationed in the Theater and in the lower part of the Courthouse.

Once calm was restored, among the mambises there were two dead: one was a poor street vendor who had joined the insurgents; the other was Colonel Leoncio Vidal. His intrepidity had cost him his life. With both corpses exposed to the public, Vidal had a bullet wound in his chest and another in his forehead, which disfigured his handsome appearance.