Emilia de Cordoba y Rubio, the first female mambisa in Cuba

Emilia de Córdoba y Rubio, la primera mujer mambisa en Cuba

On this day in 1920, the patriot Emilia de Córdoba y Rubio died in Havana, a woman who grew up in the bosom of a wealthy family, with pro-independence and anti-slavery ideas in which she forged a desire for redemption and a spirit of solidarity that materialized through the many activities she carried out even at the risk of her life and that of her numerous relatives.

Emilia is considered the first Mambisa woman whose activities full of unquestionable humanism, bravery, detachment and courage, cannot be separated from the Cuban revolutionary process since 1868; she was an active fighter for the abolition of slavery and together with her father she maintained correspondence with the patriots asking to extend the war to the West, which motivated the deportation of the whole family to the Isle of Pines.

In response to José Martí’s call to organize the new war, she shrewdly and masterfully prepared the uprising of Ibarra, in Matanzas, led by Antonio López Coloma and Juan Gualberto Gómez; she was also dedicated to the logistic assurance to the troops in campaign; she bravely confronted the Spanish military Valeriano Weyler, when the reconcentration with words and actions; and on numerous occasions she visited the prisons of Castillo del Morro, El Príncipe and La Cabaña with medicines and food for the prisoners.

Expelled from Cuba for her pro-independence ideas and actions, she settled in Key West and from there she continued the struggle; in exile, she displayed an indefatigable work and gave every penny to the Cuban Revolutionary Party.

With a humanitarian background, she enlisted as a volunteer in the American Red Cross, and returned to Cuba after the American intervention in the Spanish-Cuban War in 1898, and after the signing of the Treaty of Paris, she dedicated herself to the protection of veterans and emigrants without protection.

Emilia de Córdoba y Rubio managed to work as a typist in the Secretariat of Public Works, making her the first Cuban woman to hold a public position in the Neocolonial Republic; she died on January 13, 1920 and it was her will that the last two salaries that corresponded to her after her death be divided between the National Council of Veterans and the Association of Revolutionary Emigrants.

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Acerca de Martha Martínez Duliet

Licenciada en Educación en la especialidad de Historia y Ciencias Sociales en la Universidad de Camagüey. Labora como periodista en Radio Florida desde el año 1993 desempeñándose actualmente como editora del sitio digital de esta emisora. Contactos: Twitter: @MDuliet Facebook: Martha Martínez Duliet Blog personal: soyfloridana@wordpress.com

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