What is known about the author of La Revolución de Yara, one of the most important works in the historiography of the campaign of the Ten Years’ War?
Inquiries about the early years of Fernando Figueredo confirm his birth in Puerto Príncipe on February 9th, 1846. Son of Bernardo Figueredo Téllez and Tomasa Socarrás Varona -members of the principeña elite- which favored a good education from an early age. Subsequently, the family settles in Bayamo, a confusion that has caused the place of birth of the patriot.
In 1862 he went to Havana to study. Two years later he entered the Hudson Academy of Civil Engineering, in the United States of America. When the war began in October 1868, he returned to Cuba, without having finished his studies, and joined the Liberation Army, in which he assumed various responsibilities -among them private secretary of Carlos Manuel de Céspedes until his deposition. Also, he participates in the Guaimaro Assembly.
The shrewd vision of the fight for independence -in which he reached the rank of colonel- determined by his participation together with great personalities of history, such as Antonio Maceo, Manuel de Jesús Calvar, Calixto García, Vicente García, among others, motivated a series of conferences on the war that were given between 1882-1885 and collected in the work La Revolución de Yara, published in 1902.
On the other hand, the story offered by Socarrás as a participant in the Baraguá Protest -one of the versions most cited by historians-, with an extensive description and personal evaluation, leads to recognizing the mambí who described the Pact of Zajón as the most embarrassing moment for the insurgent forces.
After the Baraguá Protest in March 1878, the Provisional Government was created, in which he held the position of secretary. He then went into exile, initially in the Dominican Republic and later in Key West where he served as Monroe County Superintendent, responsible for public instruction.
The writings of Fernando Figueredo
Numerous of his writings see the light in the publications of the Key West Magazine, Patria, La Discusión, Heraldo de Cuba, among others. His texts recreate the Homeland History: “La Bandera de Yara”, “La Bayamesa”, “Carlos Manuel de Céspedes”, “La toma de Bayamo”, “Lauros y evocaciones”.
He was a permanent collaborator of José Martí. Without a doubt, he brought the Master closer to the history, culture, life of the men and women of his native Camagüey and the historical epic of the Ten Years’ War. He gave him the cockade given by the Father of the Nation, which Martí was carrying with him when he died in Dos Ríos.
José Martí himself recognizes the value of his work as a unifying axis between veterans and new pines due to the appropriate judgments on the personalities and historical events that participated in the war, hence his words “[…] that the old army and its works are the foundations on which not only the inexperienced liberators rest, but on which the building of the Homeland rises gracefully.
A beautiful profile in the Patria newspaper in 1893, Martí dedicates to him, there he acknowledges his determination to resign from the position of Customs Inspector to give himself fully to the revolutionary cause as sub-delegate of the Cuban Revolutionary Party and agent of the Republic of Cuba.
«[…] nor does he abandon the walking stick, nor the veterans’ hat: We could never see him, going from one job to another, without thinking about those other marches, which he walked so many times, -that we will walk!».
At the end of the war in 1898, he returned to Cuba, held various positions as General Director of Communications, General Comptroller of the State and General Treasurer of the Republic and President of the Academy of History, his speech to enter the renowned institution was dedicated to Pedro Figueredo. He dies on April 13th, 1929 in Havana.
The Camagüey Veterans Council decides to place a plaque in the 1920s in the house located on Liberty Avenue, corner of Regino Street to remember the birthplace of the patriot. Currently, several personal objects and documents of the distinguished Cuban are on display at the Ignacio Agramonte Provincial Museum.
References:
– Fernando Figueredo Socarrás. La Revolución de Yara. 1902.
– Alfredo Mestre Fernández. “Fernando Figueredo”. Revista Bohemia. No 66. Año 1974.
Translated by: Aileen Álvarez García
