José Antonio Aponte, often known as "Negro" José Aponte, was a Cuban political activist and military officer of Yoruba origin who organized one of Cuba's largest slave rebellions, the Aponte Conspiracy of 1812, the first conspiracy in Cuban history against the Spanish metropolis.
José Antonio Aponte y Ulabarra was born in Havana in 1760 and hanged in Santiago de Cuba on April 9, 1812. A black Creole, free man, carpenter, sculptor, cabinetmaker, he led the first conspiracy of a national nature that traces the history of Cuba, from the capital and across the island to Baracoa, in the far east.
He was trained as a laborer and carpenter. He was also the first corporal of the Havana militia, in the Marine Battalion. Popular legend attributes to him having participated as a militiaman with the black troops of Havana, commanded by General Gálvez and Lieutenant Colonel Francisco de Miranda, in the American War of Independence.
At the beginning of 1811, under the pretext of celebrating religious acts and common festivals, the conspirators began to gather. They would finally take up arms on March 15, 1812, at the Peñas Altas sugar mill, in Guanabo, east of Havana.
His goals were initially to abolish slavery, although as his thinking evolved he came to embrace the idea of island independence.
On April 9, 1812, free blacks as well as black slaves were hanged without trial to end the insurrection. Then, the heads of José Antonio Aponte and other major leaders were cut off and put in iron cages to be displayed in public places.
His movement is considered national not only because it succeeded in conspiracy throughout the island and provoked uprisings in various regions, but also because black, mestizo and white Cubans of different social classes, free men and slaves, were involved in it.
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