Manuel García-Garófalo Mesa

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He was born in Santa Clara on the street of Santa Rosa between San Francisco Javier, currently Maceo and the Callejón de los Vizcaínos, today Plácido Street. He completed his primary and secondary studies at the "Pías" and "San Idelfonso" Schools.

When he was barely a young man, he began working in the notary office of Don Mateo Gutiérrez. Literary gatherings were held there, which contributed to his growing inclinations toward letters. From his youth he stood out for his talent, this was evident especially in the humanities.

He was a founding member of the Liceo de Villa Clara, carried out notarial work and wrote articles for various national and foreign newspapers.

From 1870 onwards, he joined the revolutionary struggle and with his wise pen describes the political and social events of the country.

In 1876 he wrote for the newspaper of the Liberal Party of La Habana. For his dedicated and gratuitous work, over the course of half a century, within journalism he was considered by the critics of his time as "the father of journalism in Las Villas". His prose, as a critic said, "is something like pieces of heavy artillery, firing on mountains of steel".

During the war of '95 he developed conspiratorial activities, was a confidential agent of Gómez and Carlos Roloff and secret agent of Gerardo Castellanos, eventually obtaining the rank of Colonel of the Liberation Army.

During the Neocolonial Republic, he worked as a journalist, notary and secretary in different institutions; in 1924 he was commissioned to carry out and update the work Memoria Histórica de la villa de Santa Clara by writer Manuel Dionisio González.

Don Manuel was one of the writers who had to use the most pseudonyms so that his word would not be silenced, thus we will find him as M. A. Nuel, Alicates, Bélico, Escambray, X., M. M., Horacio Mora, Edmundo Agustín de la Roca, Sancho Panza, Juan Candela, Mambisito, (1898 in the "Fuego Graneado" section of the weekly "El Nacional", Organ of the General Headquarters of the Brigade of Villa Clara, also under this pseudonym we find him in the "Cubano Libre", voice of the Cuban Revolutionary Party in New York) and Juan de la Cruz, a pseudonym that would accompany him for the rest of his life. (Collections of magazines such as "La Esquila", "El Mosaico", "Villaclara"). It is worth noting his open journalistic polemics with men of the stature of Enrique José Varona and Manuel Sanguily.

He graduated as a Doctor in Civil and Notarial Law from the University of La Habana. He served as secretary, counselor and business representative in Cuba's legations in London, Paris, Santo Domingo and Mexico. He collaborated in various periodical publications. He was the author of biographical sketches of Plácido, Heredia, Marta Abreu and Miguel Jerónimo Gutiérrez.

He held the position of Librarian Director at the Biblioteca Provincial Martí, in an honorary and gratuitous manner in 1927, it was not until July of that same year that he began to receive a salary for this position.

He was one of the continuators of the research and cataloging of Cuban bibliography that Antonio Bachiller y Morales began in the mid-nineteenth century. Limiting himself to his native land, García Garófalo published a Dictionary of Pseudonyms of Villa Clara writers, poets and journalists.

Distinctions Conferred
Member of Merit of "El Liceo" de Villa Clara 1924.
Corresponding Academician of History 1924.
Member of Honor and Merit of the Center of Veterans of Santa Clara 1929.
Rank of Lieutenant of the Liberation Army communicated by General Carlos Roloff, by order of "Generalísimo" Máximo Gómez 1896.
Rank of Colonel of the Liberation Army communicated by General Carrillo by order of "Generalísimo" Máximo Gómez 1898.