Máximo Gómez Báez

Máximo Gómez y Báez was a Dominican-Cuban general. After first getting military experience while fighting for his motherland in the Dominican War of Independence, he later fought against his former compatriots alongside Spanish forces in the Dominican Restoration War. Following defeat in the latter conflict, he sought political refuge in Cuba, where he led Cuban rebels in both the Ten Years' War and the Cuban War of Independence from 1868 to 1898. He was known for his controversial scorched earth tactics, which entailed dynamiting passenger trains and torching the Spanish loyalist properties and sugar plantations. By the time the Spanish-American War broke out in April 1898, he refused to join forces with the Spanish in fighting off the United States. Despite his change of loyalty to the Spanish during his early years, he is still considered a war hero in both his native Dominican Republic and in Cuba.