Cuba Marks 123 Years Since Jose Marti's War of Independence

Cuba is commemorating the 123rd anniversary of the start of the Cuban War of Independence, along with its emblematic leader, national hero Jose Marti.

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The Independence War began February 24, 1895, under the intellectual direction of writer and philosopher Marti.

It was to prove his ultimate undoing: Marti, who insisted on taking an active role in the conflict, was killed May 19, 1895, when his group was ambushed by Spanish soldiers at Colonel Jimenez de Sandoval's command.

On Saturday, in the region of Grito de Baire, cadets from the Camilo Cienfuegos and Comandante Arides Estevez Sanchez military schools gathered to honor the beginning of what became Cuba's victory over Spanish colonialism, not far from Marti's final resting place at the Santa Ifigenia patrimonial cemetery.

Other figures who led the armed uprising were also commemorated, including Major General Jesus Rabi, Division Generals Saturnino Lora and Florencio Salcedo, and Captain Juan Joaquin Urbina.

Decades later, the Necessary War, as Marti called it, would inspire the late revolutionary leader Fidel Castro during the War of National Liberation between 1956 and 1958.