Máximo Gómez, Dominican by birth and Cuban by heart, is one of those adopted sons of the homeland whose imprint never perishes, because he is the Generalissimo, the lighthouse and guide that accompanies us in all times.
Those who knew him described him as a handsome, erect, slender, agile, elegant figure. His face was dark brown, his lips thin, his eyes black, his hair silky. He had a lively, penetrating gaze. Very measured when speaking.
He dressed very simply. To the belt, the curved machete, which belonged to Martí and a revolver with a mother-of-pearl handle. He wore no military insignia; his only insignia were the national coat of arms and a five-pointed star on the left side of his chest.
However, in the memory of the great majority of Cubans, he is forever the old General with white hair and beard, copious mustache, slender on his steed, who contributed his arm and his machete, his military genius and his courage to the Cuban Independence.
Máximo Gómez is truly a paradigm of service to the nation, to the people; he was the internationalist combatant, a man who, when he arrived in Cuba, on this tiny island, did so out of a sense of humanity.
A daring guerrilla fighter, an austere soldier… the best in America, a demanding leader, with courage to the test, tough in battle. He was not a man of studies but he wrote with fluency. Of pure nobility and unconditional dedication, of clear and key thought. Human greatness. Beloved by the grateful.
His courage, iron discipline, organizational conceptions were avant-garde, leading him to celebrity for 30 years in the fields of Cuba to reach the rank of General.
What an immense man that Cuba does not forget 119 years after his physical departure, considered the best military strategist of the second half of the 19th century, a master of war who taught Cubans how to fight. Today his example endures as a beacon and guide that accompanies us in all times.
