Cuba 1869: desafectos al gobierno e insurrectos

Abstract

The Ten Years' War was the one of the first important manifestations of the independent Cuban movement. The conflict lasted from October 1868 to February 1878. The year 1869 was the very beginning of the conflict Łepkowski's articles uses it as reference point to mark the first independence claims by the Cubans and to analyze the first conceptions of Cuban national identity. According to Łepkowski in 1869 there was no clear division between the Cubans and the Spanish. The sides of the conflict didn't strictly relate to the issue of nationality but rather to being loyal to the specific Spanish regime of that period. Moreover, outside of the rebel groups and Spanish and Cuban loyalists, there were significant numbers of people that did not sympathize with either side.