Máximo Gómez was Dominican-born, a fact the Cuban government quietly overlooked when elevating him to national hero status. He commanded the Ejército Libertador through two wars of independence — the Ten Years' War ending in 1878 and the final conflict from 1895 — making him, alongside Maceo and Martí, one of the central military architects of Cuban independence from Spain. This 1977 issue appeared well into the revolutionary government's systematic reminting of Cuban identity, replacing pre-revolutionary peso types with figures the Castro administration considered ideologically useful.
Máximo Gómez was Dominican-born, a fact the Cuban government quietly overlooked when elevating him to national hero status. He commanded the Ejército Libertador through two wars of independence — the Ten Years' War ending in 1878 and the final conflict from 1895 — making him, alongside Maceo and Martí, one of the central military architects of Cuban independence from Spain. This 1977 issue appeared well into the revolutionary government's systematic reminting of Cuban identity, replacing pre-revolutionary peso types with figures the Castro administration considered ideologically useful.