Republican Central Board of Cuba and Puerto Rico

Historical and Issue Context

The Ten Years' War:after the Grito de Yara on October 10, 1868, which began Cuba's first major war of independence, Cuban and Puerto Rican exiles and sympathizers organized the Junta Central Republicana de Cuba y Puerto Rico in New York, chaired by José Morales Lemus, to raise funds and coordinate foreign support for the separatist cause.

Financing the war:On June 1, 1869, the government of the nascent Republic of Cuba in Arms authorized a loan of twenty million pesos to acquire weapons and supplies for the Liberation Army, materialized in official bonds printed in the United States and signed by the directors of the Junta. This receipt, dated just two weeks later, documents a contribution of 1,500 pesos made by an individual, with the express promise to exchange it for bonds of the Republic as soon as the first issue was made.

A Cuban archive:The stamps on the reverse —“REPÚBLICA DE CUBA” and “ARCHIVO NACIONAL”— indicate that this document was part, at some point in the 20th century, of the collections of the National Archive of Cuba, an institution that preserves the documentation of the wars of independence.

Key Details Visible in the Document

• Allegorical vignette:standing female figure, in the attitude of a warrior, holding a shield with the flag of the Cuban lone star —incarnation of Freedom or the Homeland in arms.
• Receipt text:“I have received from Citizen Pedro Fernández Criado the sum of One Thousand Five Hundred Pesos in paper… which he contributes to aid the cause of Cuban Independence”.
• Signature:signed “Por El Tesorero”, the Board position held by Francisco Fesser during the issue of the official 1869 bonds.
• Reverse:handwritten endorsement annotations and the official seals “REPUBLIC OF CUBA” (with box “Box” and “Number”) and “NATIONAL ARCHIVE”, evidence of its passage through the Cuban documentary collections.

Additional Context

Although issued in New York to finance the independence of Cuba, this document also belongs to Puerto Rican history: the Junta bore the name of both islands, reflecting the unionist vision of many Antillean separatists of the time —among them Ramón Emeterio Betances and Eugenio María de Hostos—, who saw the fate of Cuba and Puerto Rico as a single cause against Spanish colonial rule. Documents like this, of restricted circulation among the diaspora and circles supporting the cause, are today extraordinarily scarce.

Sources

• Pick, Albert.Standard Catalog of World Paper Money — Specialized Issues.
• National Archive of Cuba
• Heritage Auctions —ha.com(opens in a new tab)
• Numista —numista.com(opens in a new tab)