The Ten Years War and the independence of Cuba: an analysis in Rafael Maria Merchán

• Grant number: 17/18011-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: November 01, 2017
• End date: October 31, 2018
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - History - History of America
• Principal Investigator: Marcos Sorrilha Pinheiro
• Grantee: Igor Henrique Batistella
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Ciências Humanas e Sociais (FCHS). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Franca. Franca , SP, Brazil

Abstract

This research focuses on the book "Cuba: justification of its War of Independence", published in the first years of the final war of separation of the Cuban territory (1895-1898) by the exiled journalist and writer Rafael Maria Merchán y Pérez (1844- 1905). In dealing with the War of the Ten Years (1968-1878) and the interwar period (1878-1895), which compose the process of independence of the island of Cuba, Merchán employs his critical writing and abundantly backed by articles, books and testimonies to describe the political, economic, social and ideological Cuban scenario in the last decades in which the island was under the domination of the decadent Spanish Colonial Empire. In addition to denouncing the abuses, errors and tricks of the metropolis and their representatives, the work highlights the need for a new combative spirit capable of putting an end to the reported injustices, burying the conciliatory voices after a great exposition of reasons for the rebellion. In addition to analyzing the events and context of the time, we will investigate the breadth of intentions and the role played by Merchán in the justification of the Cuban separatist movement, in order to expand the studies developed over the period. (AU)