In 1882, José Maceo, one of the leaders of the rebel side in the first Cuban War of Independence, known as the "10 Years War" (1868-1878), along with two comrades had managed to escape from incarceration in Cadiz, fled to Tangier in North Africa and there boarded a steamer for Gibraltar on route to the United States. However, once landed in Gibraltar, then a British colony, they were brought before the Chief of Police who, despite their protestations that they were political prisoners and in contravention of British law and international treaties, handed them over to the Guardia Civil. All three were subsequently re-imprisoned.
This injustice, which was to cause a great deal of embarrassment to the Liberal government of William Gladstone, would probably have been quickly forgotten if it were not for the persistence of an Irish Nationalist Member of Parliament, James Joseph O'Kelly.
O'Kelly, a member of the Fenian Brotherhood, had worked as a journalist in Cuba during the 10 Years War and had narrowly escaped being hanged by the Spanish colonists who accused him of fighting for the rebels. He saw parallels between the Spanish occupation of Cuba and the British in Ireland and used his campaign to obtain justice for the rebel General to attack what he saw as his main enemy, the British Empire.
This chapter, based on material from the British National Archives, examines James Joseph O'Kelly's intervention in this episode in Cuban history and will discuss the wider implications of international solidarity in the face of nineteenth century imperialis
