Luis Ayestarán Moliner

Colonel of the Liberation Army.

He was born in La Habana. He obtained the rank of Colonel for his revolutionary performance, although he does not appear registered in the roster of colonels of the Liberation Army. He is recognized as the first person from La Habana who came to join the liberation forces.

He joined the revolution on November 20, 1868, which he achieved after many setbacks at the Cafetal sugar mill, near Nuevitas, Camagüey, in mid-December.

In March 1869 he was part of the commission created by the people of Camagüey to meet with the people of Villarica, who had risen up since February 1869, with the objective of agreeing on the type of government that should be established in the Republic in Arms, anticipating a supposed dictatorship by Carlos Manuel de Céspedes. This event became known as the Meeting of Tínima, held on April 7, 1869 on the estate of the same name.

He was elected by the Constituent Assembly of Guáimaro as a member of the Chamber of Representatives.

On July 14, 1870 he departed in a small vessel heading to Nassau, from where he departed on the steamship Morro Castle toward New York, where he arrived on the 29th. On the return trip to Cuba he left the United States on August 10 on the steamship Magnolia, heading to Nassau and from there departed on September 7, 1870 on the schooner Guanahaní, carrying a valuable cargo of arms and ammunition. On the 14th, upon sighting a Spanish vessel and with the capture becoming imminent, they threw the cargo overboard and landed on Cayo Arenoso, between Cayo Romano and the north coast of Camagüey. Ayestarán later managed to make his way to Cayo Romano, where he was taken prisoner on the 18th.

Main combats in which he participated
He had participated in a total of 23 combats, the most important being that of Minas de Juan Rodríguez in Guáimaro, on January 1, 1870, under the orders of Major General Ignacio Agramonte.

On May 8 of that year the Chamber decided to send him to New York with a secret and delicate mission; which consisted of neutralizing the efforts of Manuel de Quesada in that city, who after being removed from the position of General in Chief of the Liberation Army was sent by President Céspedes as a special agent without the approval of the Chamber. Other versions and criteria have existed regarding the objective of his mission, with it being stated that he left Cuba to create the necessary conditions abroad for the removal of Céspedes as president of the Republic in Arms.

After being captured upon his return from the revolutionary mission that had been entrusted to him abroad, he was taken as a prisoner by the Spanish Army to La Habana, where he was tried and sentenced to death on September 23, 1870, the sentence being carried out by garrote vil on September 24, 1870. He was 24 years old when he died.