On February 24, 1895, José Martí and General Máximo Gómez, the commander-in-chief of revolutionary armed forces,
issued the Grito de Baire from Baire, a village near Santiago, proclaiming a call to arms for Cuba’s last independence war. Martí and Gómez traveled together from exile to join the troops a few weeks later, landing on the still isolated and unassuming “little beach of Cajobabo” in far-eastern Cuba. On the beach itself, a giant stone monument, erected during the Republic (1902-1958) commemorates their lifelong sacrifices and those of other patriots of the war.