Narciso López de Urriola

Born in Caracas in 1798 and came to Cuba in 1841. His parents were Pedro Manuel López and Ana Paula de Oriola, both of Basque origin.

Venezuelan military officer, martyr and promoter of the creation of the Flag and Coat of Arms of Cuba, which were designed in 1849 by Miguel Teurbe Tolón based on an idea by Narciso López.

Narciso López, the poet Miguel Teurbe Tolón, José Aniceto Iznaga Borrell, his nephew José María Sánchez Iznaga, Cirilo Villaverde and Juan Manuel Macías, made the flag of Cuba, which is today the official banner: 2 white stripes, three blue stripes, a red triangle and a lone star. They swore on it to fight and give their lives to make Cuba independent.

Some historians, such as Hugh Thomas, argue that Narciso López became a promoter of the annexation of Cuba to the southern United States. As a political current, that annexationism of Narciso López was encouraged by the expansionist interests of the U.S.

He arrived in Cuba in 1840 with Jerónimo Valdés, who had been appointed Captain General. The latter entrusted him with the command of Matanzas and Trinidad and the presidency of the Military Commission, also contracting marriage with Maria de los Dolores de Frias y Jacob, sister of the great Cuban landowner, Francisco de Frías y Jacob, count of Pozos Dulces. In his relationship with Cubans, he showed solidarity with revolutionary ideas and organized a conspiracy, which when discovered precipitated his departure to the United States where he joined emigrated Cubans.

With the fall of Valdés, his successor, Captain General Leopoldo O'Donnell, removed him from his positions in 1843, and from then on he aligned himself and committed to the causes of Cuban landowners, in line with the maintenance of southern slavery.

In contact with local Autonomist groups of the fortunes of the island, he embarked on actions against the metropolis, such as the so-called conspiracy of the Rosa Cubana Mine, which had ramifications throughout the island and after whose failure he was forced to flee to the United States, where in 1848 he received the protection of the governor of the state of Mississippi.

In that same year, contact between Cuban separatist groups (that of Trinidad, led by López himself, and the aristocratic one of Havana and Camagüey, led by Salvador Cisneros Betancourt, resulted in the organization of a Cuban Council in New York. "José Aniceto Iznaga Borrell, Gaspar Betancourt and Alonso Betancourt went to Washington with the purpose of arranging an interview with Polk. To achieve this, they requested the intervention of Jefferson Davis, senator for the State of Mississippi, and William J. Brown, undersecretary of Communications. They all presented themselves at the White House on June 23, 1848." From that platform they tried to sensitize American political circles to the separatist cause, proposing to the president of the U.S. James Knox Polk the purchase of Cuba for 130 million dollars from the Crown of Spain, negotiations that, when carried out directly with the federal government, could mean the end of slavery which was not in the interest of those López represented.

Narciso López, for his part, dedicated himself to preparing an expedition, to opening subscriptions and financing through the Iznaga family who financed the first invasion of Cuba in 1849, to propaganda activities and even, together with Teurbe Tolón, to the design of a flag, in the image and likeness of that of Texas for its incorporation into the Union as a new star, which would later become the current Cuban flag.

In July 1849, Narciso López launched a liberation expedition from Round Island, New Orleans. It included some American veterans of the war against Mexico. Others went for the offer of 1,000 dollars and 64 hectares of Cuba that would have been made effective in case of success. López offered the command to southern politician Jefferson Davis, who recommended colonel Robert E. Lee for 200,000 dollars. Lee refused due to the opposition of the Washington government to breaking the Treaty of Neutrality with Spain of 1818 and consequently, López decided to assume personally the leadership of the expedition.

On May 19, 1850 he arrived in Cárdenas at the head of his first armed expedition. His second expedition sailed from New Orleans on August 1, 1851 and landed in Las Pozas (Pinar del Río) on the 12th.

He fell prisoner on August 29 in Los Pinos de Rangel and brought to Havana, he was condemned for the charge of treason by garrote vil, on September 1, 1851, on the esplanade of La Punta.