Nicolás Estévanez
Nicolás Estévanez (Las Palmas, Canary Islands, 1838–Paris, France, 1914) was a Spanish military officer, politician and poet.
Born in Las Palmas (Canary Islands) on 17 February 1838 the son of captain Francisco Estévanez and of Isabel Murphy. Very young, in 1852, he entered the military academy in Toledo and participated in the northern African war of 1859–1860 where he served with distinction and was awarded Spain’s highest military honor, the Laureate Cross of St. Ferdinand (Cruz Laureada de San Fernando).
On 27 November 1871 he was stationed in Cuba with the rank of captain when he was ordered to carry out the execution of eight students who had been sentenced to death by a court martial who found them guilty of anti-Spanish activities and of vandalizing some tomb sites.
Estévanez refused to carry out the order saying “before my country come humanity and justice.” To this day, in the façade of the Hotel Inglaterra in Havana, Cuba, there is a plaque bearing his name and commemorating his refusal to carry out the orders of execution.
For this motive he was expelled from the army but he never apologized or renounced his actions and was always proud of what he did.
He participated in the revolution of September 1868 and joined the republican insurrection of 1869 for which he was imprisoned.
He later was elected member of parliament and was appointed minister in the cabinet of Pi y Margall during the First Spanish Republic but with the restoration of the monarchy he went into exile and died in Paris, France, on 21 August 1914.
Links in Spanish
- Nicolás Estévanez Murphy (1838-1914) at www.filosofia.org
- Nicolás Estévanez y la sombra del almendro at www.rinconesdelatlantico.com
- IZQUIERDA REPUBLICANA. Personajes Republicanos. at www.izqrepublicana.es
- Untitled Document at personal.telefonica.terra.es