General Calixto García: 180 years among Cubans

August 6, 2019

The General of three independence wars, Calixto García Íñiguez, was born 180 years ago –on August 4, 1839– in the city of Holguín, then a jurisdiction of the province of Oriente.

Inscribed legendarily in history as the Lion of Holguín, he was also honored by José Martí when he called him "the man with the star on his forehead," taking into account, without doubt, his merits as a fighter and patriot, and the burning mark left on his brow by the exit of a projectile with which he attempted to take his own life, so as not to fall alive into the hands of the enemy.

Almost a child, for economic reasons he had to take on work in the commercial field, in which he became an expert accountant, but he maintained self-taught advancement in humanistic subjects. He always wanted to attend the University, although he could not fulfill that dream.

After temporary stays in Havana and Bayamo, places where he worked and studied on his own with the help of relatives, he finally went to live in Jiguaní, a small eastern town, far from his native Holguín. There he managed a tile kiln owned by his mother, Lucía Íñiguez, who later proved to be another patriot.

He also married in that area to Isabel Vélez and formed a family of six children. These were times when, moreover, he kept accounts for a local landowner. In both tasks he was surprised by the outbreak of the first independence war, on October 10, 1868.

He enlisted and soon began to distinguish himself, first under the command of General Donato Mármol. He was quickly promoted to the General Staff of General Máximo Gómez.

He acquired his invaluable military knowledge in a self-taught manner. He was the general who made the greatest use of artillery, he planned effectively the siege and taking of communities and cities, as well as assaults on enemy columns. He participated in the Ten Years' War, the Little War, and the Necessary War.

He substituted for the Generalissimo –when he went to occupy other positions– in the leadership of the Cuba Division, which encompassed the districts of Baracoa, Guantánamo, Santiago de Cuba, and El Cobre, maintaining command of the said Division.

He then went on to direct the war throughout the entire province of Oriente. After multiple battles during 1873 and 1874, he marched toward Camagüey. With the agreement to carry out the invasion of Las Villas, he returned to Oriente.

In September 1874, the enemy managed to surround him in San Antonio de Baja, near Bayamo. He preferred to die by his own hand rather than fall into the hands of the Spanish and shot himself under the chin but did not achieve his aim: the bullet exited through his forehead, leaving a mark forever.

Very grave, he was taken prisoner and sent to Spanish prisons, where he remained for four years, until in 1878 he was set free. He went to New York, where he presided over the Cuban Revolutionary Committee that prepared the so-called Little War.

He managed to land on the Island by way of Santiago de Cuba. Ill and without conditions for the fight, he capitulated about three months later. He was deported to Spain, where he lived until the War of '95 began, when he moved to New York, and then disembarked again on his beloved island on March 24, 1896.

After the fall of Major General Antonio Maceo at the end of that year, they appointed him Lieutenant General of the Liberation Army, maintaining the position of chief of the Eastern Department.

The United States intervened at the end of 1898 to thwart the independence that was about to be won by the mambises. The American army denied entry to General García's forces in Santiago de Cuba.

Indignant at the humiliating action, García resigned from the position of chief of the Eastern Department and marched with his troops toward Jiguaní.

He wrote a letter of resignation to the chief of the northern forces. He had already understood the true intentions of the invaders.

On September 13, 1898, the Government Council removed him from the position of Lieutenant General of the Liberation Army. Days later he made his entrance into Santiago de Cuba, where he was acclaimed by the people.

The events led to his subsequent trip to Washington with the mission of seeking recognition for the true liberators, as well as the necessary financial resources for the discharge of the members of his army. During that mission his lamentable death occurred.

A fulminant pneumonia ended the life of General Calixto García on December 11, 1898 in the American capital while he attempted, overcoming even cruel personal hardships, to fulfill his duty.