Grito de Baire

Grito de Baire, the declaration proclaimed at the village of Baire, near Santiago de Cuba, that began the Cuban War of Independence on 24 February 1895. Immediately, the Cuban forces in the western part of the island were defeated by the Spaniards. The main complaints against the Spanish crown were excessive taxation; a huge Cuban foreign debt; discrimination against Cubans for government positions; royal absolutism; and the lack of the basic freedoms of speech, press, and assembly. The Spanish crown was not singled out as the only enemy. Elite landowners were also recognized as an oppressive ruling class.

Led by José Martí and other veterans of the Ten Years' War, the insurrection appealed to oppressed groups such as poor blacks, whites, workers, and peasants as its main base of support. The goal was to create a truly sovereign nation and end the role played by Cuba as a bridgehead for further Spanish intervention in Latin America.

See alsoCuba, War of Independencexml .

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Hugh Thomas, Cuba; or, the Pursuit of Freedom (1971).

James D. Rudolph, Cuba: A Country Study (1985).

Jaime Suchlicki, Cuba from Columbus to Castro, 3d ed. (1990).

Additional Bibliography

Elorza, Antonio. La Guerra de Cuba, 1895–1898: Historia política de una derrota colonial. Madrid: Alianza Editorial, 1998.

Ferrer, Ada. Insurgent Cuba: Race, Nation, and Revolution, 1868–1898. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1999.

Tone, John Lawrence. War and Genocide in Cuba, 1868–1898. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2006.

                                           David Carey Jr.