The key figure in the organization of the 1895 rebellion was Jose Marti. Born in Cuba, and arrested in 1869 at the age of 16 for subversive beliefs in Cuban independence, he dedicated his life to the independence of Cuba. He organized Cuban emigre groups in the United States and raised money for the cause from workers from the Florida Keys to New York. He melded the various rebel factions into one cohesive group that could legitimately challenge Spain for control of the island.
He also defined the cause and brought it to a level above mere independence for the country. As he wrote to Maximo Gomez (who became chief of the revolutionary forces in 1895), he had a “determination not to contribute one iota—through blind love of an idea affecting my entire life—to bringing my country a government of personal despotism more shameful and regrettable than the political despotism it now endures.”
Jose Marti, called the Apostle of Cuba's freedom, was killed in a skirmish soon after the war he had worked so long to bring about had begun.