Antonio Maceo: Favorite Son Of The Cuban Family
Antonio
Maceo today : Maceo is not as prevalent an icon as Martí
or Che throughout the island, but he is very popular in Santiago, where he was
born. He appears on billboards and the Cuban five peso bill, and dominates the
entry to Santiago on the national highway, where a giant statue and museum of
him reside at the Plaza of the Revolution [see left]. For Cubans he symbolizes
the enduring spirit of rebels from Santiago, the city in which the wars for
independence and Castro's Revolution at the Moncada barracks began. In addition,
he, like Martí and Che, is a martyr, sacrificing himself in battle for
the cause, and therefore is a national hero, patriot, and role model. Maceo
was also a mulatto [of African and European descent] and is a source of pride
for the nearly 60% of Cuba's population that has African roots. Finally, Maceo
is considered to be the favorite son of the proto-typical Cuban family. The
Cuban regime puts great value in the idea of the family, especially in its role
in providing socialist education to children. Maceo's family is the model for
all families in the socialist present because during the wars of independence,
eight of the thirteen Maceo children died in combat. The Maceo family symbolizes
sacrifice for the nation, a way of life that all Cubans should follow.
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A Cuban national monument: the Maceo family house in
Santiago de Cuba.
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A Brief Biography: Maceo was born in
a humble house in Santiago de Cuba on June 14, 1845. He was a mulatto — of mixed
African and European descent — but that did not stop him from becoming a successful
businessman and one of the greatest military commanders in Cuban history despite
the fact that blacks faced cruel discrimination and slavery was legal until
1882. Starting as a private in the military during the Ten Years' War [1868
- 1878] he demonstrated unparalleled courage, as symbolized in the Protest of
Baraguá. As the rest of the Cubans surrendered to the Spanish colonial
forces in 1878, Maceo refused and kept his weapons, vowing to continue the fight
even if alone. He had a brilliant tactical and strategic intelligence as well,
which carried him to second in command of the independence army, known as the
mambí , by 1895. It was in that year that he
executed an east-west military campaign from Santiago to Havana, providing a
model of what Che and Camilo Cienfuegos would later do in 1958 during the Revolution.
It was because of his outstanding combative spirit that he was the most admired
Cuban of his day, even more so than José Martí, who was in exile
during most of the period. Maceo was killed in action on December 7, 1895. He
is buried in Havana.
A billboard in Santiago of Maceo: "The homeland before anything."
The current five peso note.