Calixto García Íñiguez, born on this day in 1836, was a general in three separate Cuban uprisings for independence - the Ten Years' War, the Little War, and the War of 1895, which bled into the Spanish-American War.

García joined the Ten Years' War at the age of 18. Five years later, when surrounded by Spanish troops, he shot himself under the chin with a .45 caliber pistol to not give them the satisfaction of capturing him. Although the bullet went out of his forehead and knocked him unconscious, he survived. The wound left a great scar and gave him headaches for the rest of his life.

García played a key role in the ultimately successful War of 1895 and protested the subsequent lack of Cuban autonomy in the conclusion of the war (no Cuban was allowed to sign the terms of surrender and the Spanish leaders in Cuba were allowed to keep their posts in Santiago).

After American military commander William Shafter excluded Cubans from negotiations for the surrender of Santiago, declined to invite García to the surrender ceremonies, and let Spanish authorities remain in control of Santiago until the U.S. could establish a military government, García resigned from the rebel army in protest on July 17th, 1898.

García died of pneumonia on December 11th, 1898 while on a diplomatic mission in Washington, D.C. Today, his portrait is on the 50 Cuban peso banknote.

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  • WhyEssEff [she/her]
    ·
    3 months ago
    more detailed gripes

    why is the major rehabilitation arc centered around a 40%er cop instead of—let’s workshop this—a villain forced into a life of crime because of poverty/failed support structures. you could even make them darker in morality if the point is making it harder to digest and making a point about rehab. literally the only rehabbed villain is Spinner and even then it’s only implied because he’s in a single shot in the timeskip. rehab Dabi. rehab Twice. rehab Toga. rehab fucking Shigaraki man! you did the LoV so fundamentally dirty as a cast of characters that are supposed to reflect social rot. if you’re only going to reintroduce your narratively-vindicated Kilmongeresque villain into society you are making a point about rehabilitative justice that states that your villain manifesto has to be initially correct to be REHABILITATED, WHICH IS SUPPOSED TO BE A VECTOR FOR DERADICALIZATION AND PROVIDING A CONTEXT TO REASCERTAIN YOUR WORLDVIEW TO BE ABLE TO LIVE ALONGSIDE SOCIETY. but you know who that kindness and grace and patience is reserved for? CELEBRITY SUPERCOP ABUSER DAD. THESE MFS WITH LEGIT SYSTEMIC GRIEVANCES ARE KILLED BUT SUPERCOP GETS TO REEXAMINE HIMSELF AND BE UWU SO SORRY. YOU DON’T AFFORD THAT TO THE DOWNTRODDEN. THE NARRATIVELY BAD PEOPLE ARE PUT TO DEATH BUT PLEASE FEEL BAD ABOUT IT BECAUSE THEY WERE HURT BUT ALSO SUPERCOP WORST DAD OF THE YEAR GETS TO TAKE A HIATUS AND COME OUT THE OTHER SIDE AFTER LISTENING AND LEARNING AND HE GETS THAT LUXURY BECAUSE HE’S GOOD DEEP DOWN. THE PEOPLE WHO WE CAN REHABILITATE ARE ALREADY IN POSITIONS OF POWER AND THE PEOPLE THAT UNFORTUNATELY HAVE TO DIE ARE IN THE MARGINS. PURE IDEOLOGY zizek-preference

    effectively nothing is done to address the systemic discriminations that are supposed to be brought up in a manner to say “oh hero society is flawed and complicated.” Uraraka effectively just starts an NGO and that’s seen as good enough and socially changing, motherfucker that’s just philanthropy! use your political capital as celebrity supercops to campaign for stricter anti-discrimination laws and social programs meant to catch people before they fall out of the bounds of society! You are not even doing socdem shit! That’s the bare minimum if you’re opening that narrative vector or else you’re just signaling that the current generation is just as rotten as the last! HAWKS IS THE HPSC PRESIDENT. YOU HAVE PEOPLE IN THE GOVERNMENT THAT CAN AFFECT MATERIAL CHANGE. WHAT DO YOU MEAN THE SOLUTION IS A QUIRK COUNSELING CHARITY AND YOU’RE SAYING THAT JUST FIXES THINGS??

    I need to stop myself before I actually mald over this shit, legitimately baffling and awkward signaling that a hackneyed solution was duct-taped to the end to not utterly demonize the main characters after the timeskip. Don’t even get me started on how weird the entire framing around quirklessness is handled