Source: WTL© Photograph of bust of Máximo Gómez in Domino Park (2009).
Comments: Generalísimo Máximo Gómez (1836-1905) is famous among Cubans because he is the general from the Dominican Republic who fought for Cuban independence twice: first, during the Ten Years' War (1868-1878), and, second, during the Spanish-Cuban-American War (1895-1898). The first general of this second, and successful war of liberation (1895-1898) was Antonio Maceo y Grajales (1845-1896). Máximo Gómez taught Maceo the art of guerrilla warfare. Maceo mastered it an implemented it so successfully that he is considered one of the great Latin American generals of the 19th century alongside others, such as Bolívar and San Martín. In 1895, José Martí asked Gómez to lead the second war of liberation. When Maceo, who was an Afro-Cuban, was killed by Spanish troops in an ambush (1896), Gómez became the general in charge of the war. After Martí's death, the new civil authority, Salvador Cisneros Betancourt, ordered Gómez to replace Maceo and to break with Maceo; Gómez refused and was summarily dismissed. Instead, Gómez asked for Maceo's reinforcement; it was in his march back across the island to join with Gómez when Maceo was killed. When the U.S. entered the war in 1898, it sent its forces to join Gómez, but by then the Spanish army of 160,000 put up little resistance and surrendered within a few months.
Humanites questions: (A) In addition to the two generals mentioned above, name three more of the other great Latin American military leaders of the 19th century; (B) Why is Gómez' title on this statue "generalísimo" rather than simply "general"?