José Calzeda was a Cuban freedom fighter from the 1940’s. As a child, he lived a poor life in the Cuban countryside. He became a freedom fighter during the Cuban revolution and witnessed the history first hand. He was a victim of the dictatorship and escaped to the USA in his twenties.

On October 28, 1492 Columbus and his crew “discovered” the Caribbean island of Cuba. He was greeted by the native Taino people who thought that he was a god that ascended from the heavens. They gave him, gold, food, and valuable information about the island. He returned the favor with disease, rape, murder, and enslaving them. The white man took over their precious home and destroyed all traces of Taino civilization. Cuba’s economy started failing before the 1760s due to Spanish trade regulations. Spain had set up a monopoly in the Caribbean and their primary …show more content…
Martí gave the order to plan attacks on 4 parts of the island at the same exact time. There were 5 different squads that formed the liberator army conjoined and elected Máximo Gómez as military leader. He organized several highly successful campaigns, including the Circular Campaign around Camagüey, and the Invasion of Oriente to West of the complete island, everything in the short period of November 8 of 1895 to January 22 of 1896. The most outstanding action was the victory over Spanish General Martínez Campo in Coliseo's town The Spanish fought back with more brute force sending 180,000 troops onto the island. Also, it was ordered to all the inhabitants of rural areas to be confined in the cities and declared that all those that were in the field would be considered enemies. This concentration of millions of people had devastating side effects for the economy of the island. The yellow fever was ravaging the island, taking the lives of thousands of