Bartolomé Masó Bartolomé de Jesús Masó Márquez ( Yara , 21 December 1830 - Manzanillo , 14 June 1907 ) was a Cuban politician and military , patriot for Cuban independence from the colonial power of Spain ; and later President of the " República en Armas " ( " Republic in Arms " ) . Biography . Early life . Masó , son of a Catalan father and a Cuban mother from Bayamo , was born in Yara on a farm named " Cerca Pie " ; later he moved with his parents to the coastal city of Manzanillo . He was educated at the Convent of Santo Domingo . As a young man put his activities in the service of commerce , and cultivated his interest in literature , also composing verses . In 1851 he protested in a speech against the execution of Narciso López on the garrote . Since this event he was under surveillance of the colonial authorities . First battles . When in 1867 Carlos Manuel de Céspedes , Francisco Vicente Aguilera and other began to conspire ways to look at the independence of Cuba , Masó was one of the first who joined the cause . On 10 October 1868 , when he thought the moment had come and took off with his two brothers , he met Céspedes in La Demajagua and took part in the unsuccessful uprising of Yara . He was involved in the attack and capture of Bayamo and to the liberation struggles in Jiguaní , Báguano , Rejondón , Bermeja and other places . Shortly after the death of Céspedes , Masó was elected as representatives of the department of Oriente ; and when Tomás Estrada Palma was elected delegate of the Cuban Revolutionary Party ( PRC ) , named him Secretary of War after the death of José Martí . When Estrada Palma was imprisoned he returned into the armed forces , as brigadier general . In 1879 , after the end of the Ten Years ' War , he was imprisoned with the colonels Ricardo and Ismael Céspedes , first in the Castillo del Morro of Santiago de Cuba , and after in the Castillo de Santa Catalina , Puerto Rico . After , he was transferred to a Spanish prison in Cádiz . Set at liberty , he first visited Barcelona , and then returned to Cuba traveling through France , England , Switzerland and Italy . War of Independence . The Cuban War of Independence began on 24 Februar , 1895 . Due to the serious illness of Guillermo Moncada , Masó transferred the command of the rebels in the Oriente until the arrival of major generals Antonio Maceo and Máximo Gómez . The battle of his units began in Bayate . He spent the eve of 19 May 1895 together with José Martí , who fell in the Battle of Dos Ríos the next day . In September 1895 , meeting the revolutionaries of the " Asamblea de Jimaguayú " ( Assembly of Jimaguayú ) , Masó was elected vice president of the " Republic in Arms " . Two years later , on 30 October 1897 , he met the revolutionary government in La Yaya , where he was elected president . He held this office until 7 November 1898 . In the elections of the first presidency of the independent Cuban republic in 1901 , he ran against Tomás Estrada Palma , and was supported by the Independent Republican Party and the People ' s Labour Party . He withdrew his candidacy under pressure from the United States , which secured a permanent right of intervention in the young republic by the Platt Amendment , opposed by Masó . Bartolomé Masó died on 14 June 1907 in Manzanillo . His remains are buried in the city ' s cemetery .