Luis Ayestarán Moliner

Luis Ayestarán Moliner . Colonel of the Liberation Army . Elected by the Constituent Assembly of Guáimaro as a member of the House of Representatives.

Summary

[ disguise ]

• 1 Biographical summary
  • 1 Revolutionary work
  • 2 Main combats in which he participated
• 2 Death
• 3 Sources

Biographical summary

He was born in Havana on April 16 , 1846 . He studied at El Salvador High School and graduated as a lawyer from the University of Havana .

For his revolutionary performance he obtained the rank of Colonel, although he is not registered in the rank of colonels of the Liberation Army. He is recognized as the first Havana native who came to join the liberating forces.

revolutionary work

He joined the revolution on November 20 , 1868 , which he achieved, after many setbacks at the Cafetal sugar mill, near Nuevitas , Camagüey , in mid-December. In March 1869 he was part of the commission created by the people of Camagüey to meet with the people of Villarreal, who had risen since February 1869, with the aim of agreeing on the type of government that should be established in the Republic in Arms , foreseeing an alleged dictatorship of Carlos Manuel. of Cespedes . This event was known as the Tínima Meeting, held on April 7 , 1869 on the farm of the same name.

He is elected by the Constituent Assembly of Guáimaro as a member of the House of Representatives.

On July 14 , 1870 he left in a small boat for Nassau, from where he left on the steamship Morro Castle towards New York , where he arrived on the 29th. On the return trip to Cuba he left the United States on August 10 in the steamship Magnolia, bound for Nassau and from there departed on September 7 , 1870 on the schooner Guanahaní, carrying a valuable cargo of weapons and ammunition. On the 14th , upon sighting a Spanish ship and the possibility of being captured being imminent, they threw the cargo into the sea and disembarked in Cayo Arenoso , between Cayo Romano and the northern coast of Camagüey . Ayestarán later managed to enter Cayo Romano, where he was taken prisoner on September 18 , 1870.

Main combats in which he participated

He had participated in a total of 23 combats, the most important being that of Minas de Juan Rodríguez in Guáimaro , on January 1 , 1870, under the orders of Major General Ignacio Agramonte .

On May 8 of that year the Chamber decided to send him to New York with a secret and delicate mission; which consisted of neutralizing the management of Manuel de Quesada in that city, who after being removed from the position of General in Chief of the Liberating Army was sent by President Céspedes as a special agent without the approval of the Chamber. There have been other versions and criteria about the objective of his mission, stating that he left Cuba to create the necessary conditions abroad for the deposition of Céspedes as president of the Republic in Arms.

The Havana patriot Luis de Ayestarán y Moliner wrote to his mother on the eve of his execution:

“I will die as I have lived, with the awareness of having fulfilled my duty, of having done no harm to anyone, and of having done a lot of good to countless people.”