It was fitting that the 1895 order to begin the Cuban War of Independence was delivered by an exile taking residence in Key West. On the eve of the Cuban War of Independence, José Martí needed a covert way to deliver the order to begin military operations in Cuba. Wrapped tightly within a Clear Havana cigar, Martí penned the directive that would lead to the eventual independence of Cuba. The responsibility fell on Juan Dios de la Guardia, the aforementioned exile living in Key West, to travel to Havana and deliver the cigar to Juan Gualberto Gómez. This act was representative of the outsized influence that the Cuban exile community in Key West possessed throughout the late nineteenth century.
It is precisely on the subject of Key West and its Cuban exile community that Exile and Revolution: José D. Poyo, Key West, and Cuban Independence dwells. Building on his previous work on the subject, Gerald Poyo has penned a thoughtful text that explores Key West’s role in the Cuban independence movement through the experiences of José Dolores Poyo, his great-great-grandfather. As a newspaper editor, lector, and one of the most dynamic organizers in Cuba’s exile communities, José Dolores serves as a conduit for understanding how the 2×4 mile Florida island became a radical outpost for Cuban independence in the nineteenth century. In the process, Poyo properly frames the importance of José Dolores’s contributions and more broadly speaks to “the local grassroots political, labor, business, religious, and cultural leaders who organized and mobilized the Cuban communities in Key West, Tampa, New York, and other cities…” (p. 5).
The earlier chapters of the text establish Key West as the vanguard of the Cuban independence movement and José Dolores as a leading voice in the community. Key West was dominated by a multiracial collection of cigar makers and posed a more egalitarian view of the independence movement when compared to the middle-class community in New York City. As a popular reader in cigar factories and the editor of El Yara, José Dolores was reflective of these beliefs. He called for an outright break from Spain, opposed annexation, and argued for a new republic that favored the “abolition of slavery, the integration of people of color into Cuban society and identity, and the empowerment of the working classes by encouraging them to organize and demand their rights” (p. 64). Printed on a hand-cranked press, El Yara was a particularly influential newspaper that was read in both Cuba and exile communities. The newspaper served as one of the longest running exile publications and situated José Dolores at the forefront of discussions over the direction of the Cuban insurrection.
As the narrative advances, disagreements between José Dolores and other revolutionary activists become more pronounced. José Dolores’s devotion to the cause of Cuban independence was peerless, but his fervor led to occasional clashes with his contemporaries. On the matter of race, the author points out that “like most white nationalists, Poyo did not often raise sensitive and potentially divisive race issues” hoping that “the process of nation building would eventually produce an integrated Cuban nationality” (p. 58). Similarly, José Dolores feuded with cigar workers in Key West and Ybor City (in present-day Tampa) in the 1880s. Fearing that labor organizing would distract Cubans from independence efforts, José Dolores frequently clashed with radical cigar makers. The text also includes a fascinating section on José Dolores’s involvement in the short-lived Ubiquitous Cuban Nihilists of Key West. The group proposed using guerrilla tactics—including dynamiting, sabotage, and kidnapping, as a way of waging war against the Spanish. These strategies were sharply opposed by many of José Dolores’s own allies in Key West.
The latter chapters cover the planning and execution of the Cuban War of Independence. Central to this discussion is the introduction of José Martí and his friendship to José Dolores. The author effectively shows how José Dolores was an early believer in Martí and believed that he had the charisma and capability of “rising above the rest and claiming overall leadership of the revolutionary movement” (p. 138). One of Poyo’s weaker sections, however, follows his meditation on Martí. In a chapter titled Crisis, he attempts to show how an 1894 event with Spanish strike breakers led to a fracturing between the Cuban and Anglo-American population of Key West and a general decline in the city’s Cuban population. While the event did spark considerable debate about Cuban exile communities and the role of the American government, the relative weakening of Key West had been occurring gradually for nearly a decade to the benefit of Ybor City. The nearby Tampa town was better connected to the continental United States and had an abundance of land, which made it considerably more attractive to manufacturers. The chapter is an awkward addition in an otherwise fluid narrative.
Critiques aside, the book finishes strong by showing the conservative turn of the Partido Revolucionario Cubano following the death of Martí. Gradually, José Dolores and other Key West nationalists, accepted the grim reality of United States intervention. The author’s last chapter provides an incisive and moving chapter on José Dolores’s return to Cuba. José Dolores returned to find an island where he was not well known and where he toiled in relative obscurity in his final years, eventually working in the Cuban National Archive. This section serves as a thoughtful consideration of José Dolores’s critical yet unheralded role in the Cuban independence movement, and shows how his work at the National Archive was a final salvo towards preserving the memory and history of the independence movement that he was so closely associated with. When José Dolores found himself on his deathbed surrounded by family, he could proudly beam that “I was a good son, a good husband, a good father, a good grandfather, and a good Cuban.” (p. 245). The text is a welcome addition to the history of Cuban Key West and will be of interest to readers of the Cuban independence movement, Cuban exile communities, and the immigrant history of the United States.
Author: Gerald Poyo
Title: Exile and Revolution: José D. Poyo, Key West, and Cuban Independence
Publisher: University Press of Florida (March 11, 2014)
Hardcover: 312 pages
ISBN-10: 0813049180
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