Democratic Sentinel, Volume 20, Number 50, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 18 December 1896 — THE MAN OF THE HOUR [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

THE MAN OF THE HOUR

General Jnan Huia Rivera.

General Juan Ruis Rivera, who has been appointed to succeed General Antonio Maceo in the command of the Cuban forces in the province of Pinar del Rio, has achieved military reputation scarcely second to that of his late chieftain. He is a veteran of the ten years’ war in Cuba, and a warm personal friend of Commander-in-chief Maximo Gomez. He enjoyed Maceo’s confidence and esteem. General Rivera was horn in 1847, in Mayaguez, Porto Rico. -His father was a Spanish colonel. The son was a student in the university at Barcelona when the first Cuban war commenced in 18G8. Although but 20 years old, he gave up his studies and at once sailed for Cuba, where he received a warm welcome from the insurgent leaders and was appointed an officer of General Gomez's staff. Afterward he was appointed as secretary to General Garcia and later was made commander of the department of the east. When the war was ended Rivera stood firmly with Maceo in his refusal to accept the treaty of peace of San Juan, and when the terms of the compact were finally acepted he departed in despair to Central America, where he became a planter. On the breaking out of the present wfi'r he at once lef-t his home, returned to Cuba and headed an expedition in the western part of the island. He has since been closely connected with the Cuban chief. He is a soldier of great personal magnetism and Maceo’s natural successor.