Cry of Yara
instigating event of the Ten Years' War
The Cry of Yara (Spanish: El Grito de Yara) was a declaration, battle cry, and uprising in eastern Cuba on 10 October 1868, initiating the Ten Years' War. The signaling of the Yara uprising occurred near Manzanillo in the eastern province of Oriente, at the sugar plantation and mill of La Demajagua, which was owned by the Céspedes family.
History
On October 8, 1868, Céspedes learned that colonial authorities in Manzanillo had issued arrest warrants for many of the conspirators. In response, he hastened plans for revolt and summoned insurgents to La Demajagua.
By October 9, over 500 men—armed primarily with machetes—had gathered. The call to arms extended across the surrounding region, with groups mobilizing from various estates. Among the participants were criollos, free and enslaved Afro-Cubans, two Colombian soldiers, and even two Spaniards who were coincidentally present and taken prisoner but not harmed. Among the soldiers gathered were some of the future leaders and commanders of the Cuban Liberation Army, including Titá Calvar, Jaime Santisteban, and Bartolomé Masó.
October 10th
On October 10, the revolutionary proclamation of Cuba's independence known as the Cry of Yara (Spanish: El Grito de Yara) was issued by Cuban revolutionary and plantation owner Carlos Manuel de Céspedes. Following the tolling of the Bell of La Demajagua that morning by Miguel García Pavón, the brother of Colonel Emiliano García Pavón, which signaled his slaves that work was about to begin, they assembled before him, ready for instructions.
“Cry of Yara” enters the record as instigating event of the Ten Years' War. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Yara, instigating and event can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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“Cry of Yara” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Yara, instigating and event provides the most credible route into that argument.
Contemporary correspondence, administrative files and participant testimony can test how later narratives organized the event or institution. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 22, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q2174715. Authority coordinates are 22.000, -79.500. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1868.
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This entry incorporates text from “Cry of Yara” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.