Calixto García Íñiguez, born on this day in 1836, was a general in three separate Cuban uprisings for independence - the Ten Years’ War, the Little War, and the War of 1895, which bled into the Spanish-American War.

García joined the Ten Years’ War at the age of 18. Five years later, when surrounded by Spanish troops, he shot himself under the chin with a .45 caliber pistol to not give them the satisfaction of capturing him. Although the bullet went out of his forehead and knocked him unconscious, he survived. The wound left a great scar and gave him headaches for the rest of his life.

García played a key role in the ultimately successful War of 1895 and protested the subsequent lack of Cuban autonomy in the conclusion of the war (no Cuban was allowed to sign the terms of surrender and the Spanish leaders in Cuba were allowed to keep their posts in Santiago).

After American military commander William Shafter excluded Cubans from negotiations for the surrender of Santiago, declined to invite García to the surrender ceremonies, and let Spanish authorities remain in control of Santiago until the U.S. could establish a military government, García resigned from the rebel army in protest on July 17th, 1898.

García died of pneumonia on December 11th, 1898 while on a diplomatic mission in Washington, D.C. Today, his portrait is on the 50 Cuban peso banknote.

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  • Frank [he/him, he/him]@hexbear.netEnglish
    19·
    4 months ago

    The rural rancher fashocracy are losing their damn minds over ten wolves in Colorado. Ten in the whole state. Where I grew up there were a couple times that many wolves just in our area. No one cared. I was running around unsupervised when I was six. You never saw them, wolves stay away from people, and you only really heard about them when someone took a nice picture and shared it with the newspaper.

    I can’t imagine being fussed about wolves. It’s so silly. The rural fash think the wolves are going to eat all of their kids, dogs, and livestock. Just ten wolves. Like I know fash are mostly soft, mostly cowards, but I can’t wrap my head around being so afraid of wolves of all things. They’re less dangerous than sharks, bears, or even pumas! They’re probably one of the least dangerous large animals in north america but all these right wing losers are scared out of their minds and beating their chests about how they’ll shoot any wolf they see.

    Just soft as loose shit. Real weird.