6 key Afro-Cubans who fought during Cuba’s liberation struggle

Ricardo Batrell

He joined the rebel army fighting for Cuba’s independence in 1896 when he was 15.

Batrell was poor and illiterate but believed in the ideals of democratic and egalitarian society that stirred the Cuban War of Independence.

But he was amazed when the Cuban republic right after the end of the war relented on their promises. Having learned how to read and write after the war, Batrell published a memoir of his experiences in the war.

Known as Para la Historia, his memoir is the only autobiographical account of the war written by an Afro-Cuban soldier.

He published it in 1912, the same year in which over 5,000 Afro-Cubans were massacred by the Cuban government. His memoir served as a source of a reminder to Cubans about the role of Afro-Cubans in the war and to protest their mistreatment thereafter.