On September 17 Martí had been detained in his house Amistad 42 in Havana, when he was having lunch with Juan Gualberto Gómez. After his departure from Havana he arrived in Santander on October 11, 1879 and then traveled to Madrid. Shortly after, in December, he left for France, and then to the United States. He remained there almost all the time, since only in 1881 he resided for a few months in Venezuela. Martí did not return to Cuban territory until 1895 when he returned to give his contribution to the war for independence.

Juan Gualberto Gómez

He was born on July 12, 1854 in the province of Matanzas. His parents were slaves but, nevertheless, he was a free mulatto by birth. When he was 15 years old he was sent to Paris, France, to learn the trade of carriage driver. In this country he resided until 1877.  When the Ten Years' War ended in Cuba, Juan Gualberto was in Mexico. Then he returned to Cuba. In Havana in 1878 in the law office of Nicolás Azcárate, he met José Martí with whom he fully identified and participated in conspiratorial activities in favor of the independence of Cuba. Both were arrested and deported. Juan Gualberto was sent to Ceuta and imprisoned in the Castillo del Hacho. It was not until 1890 that he was able to return to Cuba. During the years of the nineties in the 19th century he served as a liaison between Martí and the men interested in resuming the struggle for independence in Cuban territory. Precisely to Juan Gualberto was sent on January 29, 1895 the order of uprising signed by José Martí together with two other patriots.  Juan Gualberto also rose up on February 24 in the area of Ibarra. But the movement in the West failed and he was imprisoned and exiled again. Once again he was imprisoned in the prison of Ceuta.  He could not return to Cuba until 1898. He died in Havana on March 5, 1933.

Santander

It is a city located in the north of Spain, capital of the autonomous community of Cantabria.