“Cuban Girl Martyr”: An Ordinary Girl Lifted to Fame by Yellow Journalism
Sensationalism is at the forefront of the media with every outlet attempting to captivate a broader audience in order to elicit popularity and sales among themselves. The Spanish-American war was not excluded from this type of coverage. At a time when the American government was arguing that they their presence was needed in Cuba in order to generate change, the need for support by the general public was sought through all outlets. Cuba had long been a Spanish colony and the revolutionary movement, which had been simmering on and off there for much of the 19th century, intensified during the 1890s. Many in the United States called upon Spain to withdraw from the island, …show more content…
Amidst the rise of Yellow Journalism in 1897, Hearst received a lead on a female being held captive by Spain wrongfully held after rejecting advances from one of her captors; she was imprisoned in Casa de Recogidas, a squalid jail for destitute women in Havana (Campbell, 2002). The story of Evangelina Cosio y Cisneros, whom some called the most beautiful girl on the island of Cuba, comprised such a curious mixture of romance, intrigue, mystery, and controversy that it was to attract, in New York City, more fervent attention than the military and political events of the entire Cuban revolution (Cross, …show more content…
Colonel Berriz intending to follow the General Weyler’s (Spanish commander, head of the anti-rebellion in Cuba) led and imposed harsher treatment for the rebels on his charge. Meanwhile he also fell for the rebel’s daughter, Evangelina Cisneros. Late one night, Colonel Berriz quietly went to Evangelina’s room. The circumstances of this clandestine visit have never been clearly established, although the incident was repeatedly used by both pro- and anti-Cuban interests to generate propaganda. The Spanish version of the matter is that Evangelina encouraged the Colonel’s advances and lured him to her quarters, where other prisoners were waiting to assassinate him. The rebels maintained that Evangelina’s only enticement was lier own natural beauty, which she could hardly conceal. (Cross,