Independent leader and statesman, born February 10 in Camagüey to the wealthy Agustín Cisneros Quesada, Marquis of Santa Lucia, and Ángela Gregoria Betancourt y Betancourt. As a young man he was imprisoned in Spain for his support of the independence movement of Joaquín de Agüero. He led the conspiracy in Camagüey, which culminated in the October 10, 1868 uprising in Yara and his proclamation, the Grito de Yara, heralded the Ten Years’ War. He organized the November 4th uprising in Las Clavellinas and was a member of the 1869 Guáimaro Assembly that drew up the revolutionary action. He supported its article 24 calling for liberty and equality regardless of race and was speaker of the House of Representatives, (Cámara de Representantes de la República en Armas).
In late 1873 he replaced Carlos Manuel de Céspedes y del Castillo as president of the rebel republic and tried unsuccessfully to promote an invasion of western Cuba. Even after the Peace of Zanjón he kept his revolutionary ideals and faith in Cuban independence. During the Independence War of 1895-1898 he was a member of the assembly that drew up the Jimaguayú Constitution and succeeded José Martí as the rebels’ president. His inclination for legislative work was shown again by this participation in the convention that drew up the Constitution of 1901. He was later elected senator for his province and died in Havana on February 28.
