Santiago de Cuba, October 11 (RHC-PL) -- Men, women and children in the city of Santiago de Cuba paid tribute Friday to Carlos Manuel de Cespedes at the Santa Ifigenia cemetery on occasion of the 146th anniversary of the start of the pro-independence struggle against Spain´s colonial rule in the 19th century.

People also laid wreaths at the Mausoleum of National Hero Jose Marti.  A military ceremony and guard of honor involved students of military schools from Havana.

The tribute to Cespedes, considered the Father of the Country, also extended to the former Plaza de Armas and the main park bearing his name.

On October 10, 1868, Carlos Manuel de Cespedes, who was a landowner and lawyer, freed his slaves and invited them to join him as he made the declaration of Cuban independence, thus starting the Ten Years War against Spanish colonialism. He was killed in the mountains of San Lorenzo on February 27, 1874.