Cuba: A History. Sergio Guerra-Vilaboy

Estrada Palma was captured in November 1877. Francisco Javier de Céspedes served as interim president for a short time, and then the House of Representatives appointed Vicente García as president to save the republic.

      Several factors combined to lead to a peace accord at Zanjón Farm on February 10, 1978, that failed to bring independence. Nearly 10 years of fighting had exhausted the country and the rebels had received very little war materiel from abroad. The lack of unity, the personal ambition of many leaders, the lack of an army with a strong central command, the ineptness of the apparatus of the revolutionary government, which, far from facilitating, hindered the war operations; and finally the confusion among some of the chiefs about the relations between civil power and the military command were all factors contributing to the defeat. Martínez Campos took advantage of this situation. The Zanjón Pact, which ended the Ten Years’ War, recognized the freedom of the slaves and Chinese coolies who had joined the mambí ranks, promised to grant liberal-bourgeois reforms (although this promise was not kept) and declared the agreement effective throughout Cuba.

      In spite of his sagacity, the Spanish military leader was astounded when the mambís in eastern Cuba led by General Antonio Maceo (a mulatto with tremendous prestige at the end of the war), refused to accept the agreement. In a memorable meeting in March 1878 at Mangos de Baraguá, near the Sierra Maestra mountains, the mambíses declared their determination to continue the fight. They created a new government and proclaimed yet another revolutionary constitution. Although this only lasted for a few months (due to their chronic lack of resources and the concentration of all Spain’s troops against them), the mambíses became an example of Cuban intransigence and the refusal to accept colonial status.