On March 24th, 1899, Division General Lope Recio Loynaz would hold the position of Civil Governor of Santa María del Puerto del Príncipe. He took office after the end of the Yankee interventionist presence, replacing the Yankee North American General Louis H. Carpentier. This man was one of the great men from Camagüey who had a very active presence in the War of 1995.
Recio was born on August 23rd, 1860 in the city of Puerto Príncipe, he was a child even during the Ten Years’ War, but his collaboration with the independence process began very early. He was one of the members of the group the Thirteen rebels in the Guásimas de Montalbán in Santa Cruz del Sur along with Salvador Cisneros Betancourt, on June 5th, 1895, a moment that would mark the beginning of the war in this province.
His performance
This group later joined the troops of Major General Máximo Gómez Báez on the 11th of this same month in Sabanilla and two days after López was granted the rank of Commander. On the 24th of that same month, after the taking of Altagracia, the surrender of El Mulato Fort, Macheteo, La Larga and the surrender of San Jerónimo, with the insurgent forces encamped in Jimaguayú, he was officially promoted to Colonel, his military development was evident.
On September 6th, 1895, he left for Las Villas to bring to Camagüey part of the war material from the expedition of the steamship “James Woodal”. He was part of the Constituent Assembly meeting in Jimaguayú on September 13th, 1895, representing the 3rd. Army corps. Already in the month of May 1896, exactly on the 24th, he moved to the East in front of Camagüeyan troops to operate in the regions of Holguín and Gibara, under the orders of Calixto García.
In the Government Council in session held in San Andrés, Camagüey, on June 29th, 1896, at the proposal of the General in Chief, he was promoted to Brigadier General, being appointed chief of the 1st. Division. In March 1897, before participating in La Yaya Assembly, he fought in Porcayo. Then they appointed him temporarily Chief of the 3rd. Corps. In the Constituent Assembly meeting in Aguará on September 2nd, 1897, he again represented the 3rd. Army Corps and in October of this same year he returned to fight alongside Gómez in El Desmayo and Lugones.
In January 1898, by disposition of the Secretary of War, he accidentally assumed the Headquarters of the 3rd. Corps of the Liberation Army, a position that Major General Javier de la Vega Basulto had been carrying out. In a session held by the Government Council in Sevastopol on May 2nd, 1898, at the proposal of the General in Chief, he was promoted to Major General.
His return to Camagüey
In June 1898 he attended the concentration of forces that Calixto García had called to carry out the Campaign of Santiago de Cuba, corresponding to deploy in Las Tunas. In August of this year he returned to his native Camagüey where he fought the last cobats in the area, in Urabo. In January 1899 he held the position of communications administrator in Camagüey.
Two months later, as already mentioned, he would assume the governorship of his native province. On July 24th, 1927 he would die at the age of 66. Lope was a constant defender of the independence of Cuba, he did not accept or demand for himself or for his subordinates the “degree of grace” that was conferred on numerous Chiefs and Officers of the Liberation Army at the end of the war. The absence of recognitions like this do not nullify his importance in the history of our province and the country.
Translated by: Aileen Álvarez García
