Generalissimo of the Liberation Army, Máximo Gómez

Havana, June 17 (RHC)-- Cuba today commemorates the 118th anniversary of the death of the Generalissimo of the Liberation Army, Máximo Gómez, a distinguished internationalist fighter who contributed significantly to the struggle for national independence in the 19th century.

Máximo Gómez was born in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, in 1836 and came to Cuba in 1864 to take part, four years later, in the insurrectionary struggle initiated in the Caribbean island against the Spanish metropolis.

Gómez was a general in the Ten Years' War (1868-1878) and the General in Chief of the Cuban revolutionary troops in the War that began in 1895.

Among his numerous combative feats, historiography records the battle of Las Guásimas, where he applied important principles of military art such as the selection of the place of confrontation and the surprise attack on the enemy.

The battle of Las Guásimas took place from March 15 to 19, 1874, in Camagüey, Cuba. The forces of Brigadier Armiñán, who had three thousand men, confronted the Cuban forces commanded by General Máximo Gómez.

His essential contribution in the course of both liberating deeds, his capacity, courage and total dedication to that cause earned him the designation of Generalissimo of the Liberating Army.

A singular monument complex was erected in this capital to this Dominican fighter, located at the beginning of Misiones Avenue, very close to the entrance of the Havana Tunnel.

The statue, located on a large marble and granite pedestal, shows Gomez in campaign dress, with his head uncovered and his eyes raised, in an attitude of restraining his horse with his bridle.

Also in the capital's Quinta de los Molinos there is a museum dedicated to Máximo Gómez, who died in Havana on June 17, 1905. (Source:PL)