Colonial Spain was ruthless in its attempts to suppress the "freedom fighters" in Cuba. No lives were spared. Men, women and children was sacrificed by Spanish soldiers in a desparate attempt to keep Cuba under the Spanish Crown. Imperial Spain's dominance of Cuba ceased with the USA victory over Spain in the Spanish American War.
"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena. whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, and comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worse, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory or defeat". Theodore Roosevelt Sorbonne, Paris April 23, 1910
