The Dominican couple by Jose Grajales and Teresa Coello, prophesied how his daughter would be like, when on July 12, 1815 they baptized the child in the parish of St. Thomas in Santiago de Cuba with the name of Mariana that in Latin means merciful and compassionate woman. That way she was as the mother of thirteen own children and in general of all Cubans.
The Dominican couple by Jose Grajales and Teresa Coello, prophesied how his daughter would be like, when on July 12, 1815 they baptized the child in the parish of St. Thomas in Santiago de Cuba with the name of Mariana that in Latin means merciful and compassionate woman. That way she was as the mother of thirteen own children and in general of all Cubans.
In her first marriage with Fructuoso Regüeiferos the sons Felipe, Manuel and Fermin were born and widowed seven years later, she married with Marcos Maceo ... fruit of that love were born Justo, Antonio de la Caridad, Maria Baldomera, Jose Marcelino, Miguel, Julio, Dominga, Rafael Marcos and Maria Dolores, all raised with proper civic education.
José Sánchez Guerra, Historian of the City of Guantanamo, stresses that since 1871 in the fields of easternmost province of Cuba, she worked in hospitals of blood, surrounded by other women like her daughter-in-law Maria Cabrales, Antonio’s wife, and Bernarda del Toro, the inseparable wife of General Maximo Gomez.
The historian described that "the 53 year-old woman and with her feet hurt by the rigors of the field, was seen working in improvised camps (including caves) Monte Rouge, Achotal, Bayate, Indiana and El Aguacate, belonging to the current municipality of El Salvador and there was a period when she was back to Majaguabo, San Luis, the province of Santiago de Cuba, but returned again in 1878 accompanied by Rafael (Cholon), one of his sons."
Then Sanchez said that the brave mother moved to Santa Catalina, and traveled through many areas in Yateras, San Antonio del Sur, Dos Brazos, Quiviján, sites on the bank of Toa River in Baracoa ... Given the risks of the War and once the command in the island warmed on her presence in the region, Antonio Maceo appointed Captain Manuel Rodriguez to ensure the protection of her mother and other mambisas."
"Indeed, in May 1878, the family decided the departure of Mariana Grajales by boat from Baracoa to Santiago de Cuba and from there to Kingston, Jamaica, where Marti visited her in 1893,” the historian concluded
PhD. Anselma Betancourt, another Guantanamo scholar of the life of Mariana, described what she most admires of that heroic woman is the way she conveyed moral family values and the shocking attitude to make her husband and children sworn kneeling before Christ, to fight for their country to the death.
Mariana Grajales, Mother of all Cubans, has inspired on occasion of the bicentenary of her birth anniversary (next July 12) since the beginning of this 2015, tribute of the people, especially in the provinces of Granma, Santiago de Cuba and Guantanamo, where she left many marks of her life.
Translation: Liubis Balart Martínez