The "ever-faithful" island, as Cuba has become…

The "ever-faithful" island, as Cuba has become known, grows away from the crown although remaining in the Spanish fold.

The interests and views of the Creoles and Peninsulars increasingly clash.

Reconciliation seems difficult; those who clamor  for violence become more numerous, and, finally, war breaks out.

The wars for independence that follow will last more than thirty years, from 1868 until the outbreak of the Spanish-American War, followed by the intervention of the United States in 1898.

The wars are Cuba's belated reaction to the fight for independence waged throughout most of Latin America during the first quarter of the century.