{"id":331841,"date":"2025-12-06T11:27:01","date_gmt":"2025-12-06T16:27:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/?p=331841"},"modified":"2025-12-06T11:27:01","modified_gmt":"2025-12-06T16:27:01","slug":"maria-mantilla-the-daughter-of-silence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/cuba\/maria-mantilla-the-daughter-of-silence\/","title":{"rendered":"Mar\u00eda Mantilla: the daughter of silence?"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Sunday in the summer of 1890, with no further record on the calendar. The man who lives amidst wars, both within his soul and the one he is preparing to achieve Cuba\u2019s independence, seeks a moment of peace in the white pine house that Carmen Miyares runs as a summer\u00a0boarding house\u00a0in Bath Beach.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Wearing a high-necked dress, ankle boots, and a flowered hat, Mar\u00eda urges him on.\u00a0He takes the nine-year-old girl by\u00a0the hand, and they go for a walk on the beach. His\u00a0gestures toward the little girl are so tender, and their faces share such a similar appearance, that those who see them cannot think of anything other than a father and his daughter.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Near a tree, he suddenly calls out for her to stay still, as a bee is buzzing around her. Despite his caution, the vicious bee\u00a0stings\u00a0his little girl on the forehead.\u00a0He trembles. Enraged, he crushes the insect between his fingers. In a shack along the road, a strikingly thin and plain woman offers them water to ease the pain.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The incident, immortalized with its dramatic intensity in\u00a0<\/span>Versos\u00a0Sencillos<\/span><\/i>\u00a0(Simple Verses), still sends shivers down one\u2019s spine. By a twist of fate, a traveling photographer crosses the scene with his camera and tripod. He smiles at them. They agree to pose before that dark and claustrophobic device that captures the moment for posterity.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"The
The famous photograph of the poem in its original format. Over the years, the reversed image has circulated, inaccurately showing the girl on Mart\u00ed\u2019s right side. Photo: Jos\u00e9 Mart\u00ed Cultural Society.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In front of a recognizable back door typical of a\u00a0U.S.\u00a0house, the man dressed in black sits with his bowler hat draped over his crossed knee, his shoes polished, his gaze grave;\u00a0so\u00a0revealing of his spirit that one can read a glossary of solitude and silences like mountain abysses.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In a soothing gesture, he clasps the hand of the little girl dressed in white, standing against his left side, where the heart is\u00a0\u2014\u00a0referring to the original photograph; let us look closely at the precision of\u00a0the\u00a0fingers, spread emphatically, clutching something they do not want to let go of; as only someone obsessed with protecting or shielding\u00a0\u2014\u00a0more than consoling\u00a0\u2014\u00a0a loved one from hostility, from an insect\u2026from life.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Amidst the contrasting black and white that permeate the\u00a0portrait\u00a0in a whimsical symmetry, between the\u00a0look of\u00a0tenderness and\u00a0fright\u00a0that shines through in that region of the eyes and forehead\u00a0\u2014\u00a0so subtly parallel in both\u00a0\u2014\u00a0they\u00a0remain\u00a0together for eternity. I join those who have described this image as the most beautiful, moving and intriguing within\u00a0Mart\u00ed\u2019s\u00a0iconography.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The girl in white treasured that tape portrait until old age, a portrait that, like a true frame from an existential sequence, had a before and an after. Experts in photography say that every photograph\u00a0contains\u00a0an intimate confession. Was this one going to be\u00a0any different? Almost five decades later, Mar\u00eda Mantilla would open her own\u00a0can of worms\u00a0without hesitation: she claimed to be the daughter of that man dressed in black, Jos\u00e9 Mart\u00ed; the most eponymous figure in Cuban history.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

A\u00a0letter that changed history<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

In February 1935, a letter arrived in the mailbox of Cuban-born actor C\u00e9sar Romero in Hollywood. Sent from New Jersey by his mother, Mar\u00eda Mantilla, the\u00a0letter\u2019s\u00a0author made the matter clear from the opening lines: it was time to share a secret he needed to know.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

By then, C\u00e9sar Romero was a box-office draw, though his fame would skyrocket later when he portrayed the Joker in the ABC television series\u00a0<\/span>Batman<\/span><\/i>\u00a0in 1966, long before Joaquin Phoenix starred in his version.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Far from it, there was nothing joking about this confidential nine-page document. Mar\u00eda recounted domestic events from the time the outlaw Jos\u00e9 Mart\u00ed, after a long journey from Spain, arrived in New York on January 3, 1880. A winter of anguish. On the recommendation of a friend, he stayed at the modest\u00a0boarding house\u00a0of the Mantilla-Miyares family, where\u00a0\u201cthe hearth fire and friendly words comfort the grieving guest,\u201d\u00a0as\u00a0Ma\u00f1ach\u00a0said in\u00a0<\/span>Mart\u00ed,\u00a0el\u00a0Ap\u00f3stol<\/span><\/i>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHe lived with us for seventeen years,\u201d\u00a0Mar\u00eda recounted in her message to her son, falling into the trap of exaggerating the length of their time together,\u00a0\u201cuntil the day he left to fight in Cuba.\u201d\u00a0Mart\u00ed not only found refuge and hot chocolate to ease the gray days of Brooklyn under that roof; there he also expanded his circle of friends with patriots and intellectuals, enjoyed the affection of the children, and his yearning soul quietly healed its wounds through the sensitivity of Carmen Miyares.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHe soon found in her a support, a counselor who offered him a friendship that would never end, and she was a great help in Mart\u00ed\u2019s life, a source of strength even in his redemptive work,\u201d\u00a0testified Blanche Zacharie de Baralt, author of\u00a0<\/span>El Mart\u00ed\u00a0que\u00a0yo\u00a0conoc\u00ed<\/span><\/i>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Mart\u00ed lived between two Carmens when, in March, he brought his own family to New York. Fed up with the life of emptiness, upheaval and deprivation alongside her husband,\u00a0an eternal\u00a0conspirator, Carmen Zayas Baz\u00e1n returned to Cuba with young Jos\u00e9 Francisco in October 1880. A month later, Mar\u00eda was born.\u00a0It\u2019s\u00a0not difficult to deduce that Carmen Miyares\u2019s pregnancy must have occurred between late February and early March.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Almost as\u00a0an exculpatory insinuation\u00a0\u2014\u00a0which I would call a condemnatory one\u00a0\u2014\u00a0the idea was planted that by that time Manuel Mantilla Sorzano, Mar\u00eda\u2019s legal father until proven otherwise, was\u00a0practically a\u00a0frail, paralytic\u00a0old man in a wheelchair, incapable of fulfilling his marital duties.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Based on the New York Census of that year and the death certificate, some historians have already refuted the claim that Mantilla was as diminished as he is portrayed. He was 42 years old when he died of a heart condition at noon on February 18, 1885. In any case, his death left Carmen a young widow.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I prefer to believe that Mar\u00eda\u00a0didn\u2019t\u00a0want to disrespect Manuel Mantilla\u2019s memory in her letter to C\u00e9sar Romero:\u00a0\u201cI want you to know, my dear, that Mart\u00ed was my true\u00a0father\u00a0and I want you to be proud of it. Someday we will talk a lot about all this, which, of course, is only for you, not for publicity.\u00a0It\u2019s\u00a0my secret and your father knows it,\u201d\u00a0she wrote\u00a0clearly, in English, as if finally admitting that it had to be done in silence.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Would Mar\u00eda, raised with respect for God, have so blatantly committed the sin of bearing false witness, knowing that it contradicted the norms of the time and called into question Mart\u00ed\u2019s ethics? Could that mind, to whom Mart\u00ed\u00a0\u2014\u00a0all passion, all brain\u00a0\u2014\u00a0instilled the philosophy of\u00a0\u201cmuch shop, little soul,\u201d\u00a0have had any reason to concoct such an inconceivable lie?<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Mar\u00eda, the saint?<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

A photocopy of a notarized birth certificate confirms that Mar\u00eda was born at 4:40 a.m. on November 28, 1880. She was the fifth and last child of the marriage between Manuel Mantilla, a 37-year-old merchant from Santiago, and Carmen Miyares, eight years his junior and\u00a0in charge\u00a0of a boarding house.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The newborn was baptized on January 6, 1881, at St. Patrick\u2019s Parish,\u00a0located\u00a0at 285 Willoughby Avenue, by Reverend Thomas A. Taaffe.\u00a0\u201cJoseph\u201d\u00a0Mart\u00ed and Gertrudis Pujals, sister of the future General Vicente Pujals, served as godparents.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Mar\u00eda lived most of her life in New York with her mother and her siblings Carmencita,\u00a0Manuel\u00a0and Ernesto. Mart\u00ed, who channeled into her\u00a0\u201cthe streams of tenderness he could not bestow upon his\u00a0Ismaelillo,\u201d\u00a0largely instilled\u00a0in her a love of study and reading, taught her French, and took her to concert halls.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Each time he embarked on a long journey, he would leave her with a notebook of assignments beforehand. Even with\u00a0\u201clife on one side of the table, death on the other, and his people at his back,\u201d\u00a0he wrote her letters brimming with poetic love and generous advice, educating her to know the truth of the world and to love with will and affection. He prepared her for a virtuous life and work, to be equal to or better than those who, as an adult, might try to court her.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Barely into adolescence, Mar\u00eda Mantilla was attending political rallies and collaborating with revolutionary clubs. Around that time, she discovered another of her passions:\u00a0the theater, especially opera and singing. At 21, she performed at the\u00a0Tac\u00f3n\u00a0Theater in Havana. A contemporary edition of\u00a0<\/span>El\u00a0F\u00edgaro<\/span><\/i>\u00a0magazine wrote:\u00a0\u201cA daughter of the United States, she loves Cuba dearly. Beautiful, elegant and distinguished, her appearance at one of the last and most exclusive parties was a resounding success.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"This
This image is much less well-known. It was published by El F\u00edgaro to accompany a note of praise and admiration for Mar\u00eda Mantilla\u2019s presence in Cuba.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Many years later, when questioned by F\u00e9lix\u00a0Lisazo, the former child recalled that distant Sunday when Mart\u00ed took her for a walk on the beach, and how the iconic photograph came about.\u00a0\u201cThe light that Mar\u00eda Mantilla sheds upon us, as a reflection of Mart\u00ed\u2019s light, should have a profound and comforting significance for everyone,\u201d\u00a0the\u00a0<\/span>Bohemia<\/span><\/i>\u00a0magazine\u00a0reporter\u00a0maintained.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Recovering from a recent ankle fracture and with a strict prescription to control her diabetes, Mar\u00eda landed in Havana on January 25, 1953, as a guest of honor\u00a0\u2014\u00a0through Emeterio Santovenia\u00a0\u2014\u00a0for the celebrations of\u00a0Mart\u00ed\u2019s\u00a0centennial. For the occasion, she donated important documents to the National Archives.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In 1908, she married C\u00e9sar Romero, a commander in the Liberation Army, with whom she had four children\u00a0\u2014\u00a0Mar\u00eda Teresa, Graciela,\u00a0C\u00e9sar\u00a0and Eduardo\u00a0\u2014\u00a0and whom she widowed in 1950. Just shy of her 82nd birthday, she died in Los Angeles, California, on October 17, 1962. Some newspaper obituaries announcing her funeral referred to her as Mar\u00eda Mantilla Mart\u00ed de Romero, or simply, Mar\u00eda Mart\u00ed.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"At
At age 72, in Havana, she was interviewed by journalist F\u00e9lix Lisazo during the celebrations for Mart\u00ed\u2019s centennial. Photo: Bohemia, February 1, 1953.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Controversy that persists<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

Surely, questions about heresy and accusations of mudslinging will resurface. However, it is not the intention of this text to stir up the praetorian guards surrounding the alleged parental relationship between Mart\u00ed and Mar\u00eda Mantilla.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I understand that despite having been addressed for a century by all sides, it\u00a0remains\u00a0a taboo subject in Cuba. Even so, the attempts to lock it away with a Pandora\u2019s box\u00a0haven\u2019t\u00a0been able to prevent the debate from rearing its head\u00a0time and again.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But, while\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0not relevant now, nor is there space to recount the whole story, I assume the same right\u00a0\u2014\u00a0or risk\u00a0\u2014\u00a0as those who have preceded me, to share six points that I consider essential whenever this controversy is mentioned.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. The outpouring of emotion that Mar\u00eda poured out in her letter to her son had a second chapter, twenty years later, in her correspondence with Gonzalo de Quesada y Miranda, son of Mart\u00ed\u2019s secretary and confidant. Unlike the secrecy previously demanded, this time her revelation was open. She\u00a0couldn\u2019t\u00a0remain unmoved by a figure who was grabbing headlines by claiming to be the grandson of the Cuban National Hero.\u00a0\u201cAs you know, I am Mart\u00ed\u2019s daughter, and my four children are his only grandchildren.\u2026\u00a0I assure you that this matter has caused me great sorrow, and realizing that I don\u2019t have many years left to live, I want to reveal to the world this secret that I hold in my heart with such pride and satisfaction,\u201d\u00a0she declared bluntly on February 12, 1959.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
  2. In a return letter, Gonzalo was no less critical:\u00a0\u201cWe all know that you are [Mart\u00ed\u2019s daughter], and if, for example, we Quesadas have never expressed it publicly, it is because\u00a0it is only now that\u00a0you have authorized it\u2026.\u00a0I believe, then, that if you are resolved to reveal this secret\u00a0\u2014\u00a0which\u00a0in reality isn\u2019t\u00a0a secret, but which takes on special significance coming from you\u00a0\u2014\u00a0the only thing I could do in this case is\u00a0write\u00a0an article\u2026.\u201d\u00a0The letters appear in the book\u00a0<\/span>La\u00a0patriota\u00a0del\u00a0silencio: Carmen Miyares<\/span><\/i>, by Nydia Sarabia.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
  3. Carmen Miyares and Mar\u00eda learned of the Dos R\u00edos tragedy from the\u00a0<\/span>New York Herald<\/span><\/i>. Estrada Palma asked them to spend their mourning period in Central Valley, where acquaintances would come to offer them comfort. Among the letters Carmita wrote during those bitter days, the one sent to Irene\u00a0Pint\u00f3\u00a0stands out:\u00a0\u201cYou can imagine the state of desolation I am in; this is the greatest sorrow that could have befallen my soul. I\u00a0don\u2019t\u00a0know how I will be able to bear so much pain. I swear that if it\u00a0weren\u2019t\u00a0for these children of mine, I would lower my head and let myself be carried away by this grief that\u00a0is doing away with\u00a0my life. Imagine what will become of my life without Mart\u00ed, the greatest love of my life. All my happiness has gone with him: for me, the sun has been eclipsed, and I will live in eternal darkness.\u2026\u00a0Mart\u00ed had become one with our souls\u2026.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
  4. During his lifetime, Mart\u00ed was aware of the shadows of love affairs that loomed over them. Incidentally, in 1989, the Yearbook no. 12 of the Center for Mart\u00ed Studies published an unpublished draft letter that\u00a0\u2014\u00a0around 1885\u00a0\u2014\u00a0he addressed to Victoria Smith Miyares, living in Venezuela, who had harshly reproached her cousin Carmen for her alleged infidelity.\u00a0\u201cNow, as for\u00a0the gossip, what can I tell you? Neither Carmita nor I have taken a single step that she wouldn\u2019t have taken naturally, had I not been alive, or that, given the degree of moral responsibility, of piety, if you will, that\u00a0her\u00a0situation should inspire in every good man, a close friend of the family shouldn\u2019t have taken\u00a0\u2014\u00a0a friend who is no more so today than he was when Carmita\u2019s husband was alive. I repeat, I know how to take care of this: if some wicked person, who, judging by the growing esteem in which she and I live, are surrounded, suspects, without any possible justification and against all appearances, that she receives a favor from me that tarnishes her, that, Victoria, will be one of many evils, much less [attributable] and widely spread than others, that mercilessly wound undoubtedly good people for years on end, who bear them calmly.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
  5. At one of the banquets organized by the Centennial Commission, Mar\u00eda and Tet\u00e9 Bances, widow of General Jos\u00e9 Francisco Mart\u00ed Zayas-Baz\u00e1n, met.\u00a0\u201cI\u00a0didn\u2019t\u00a0know Mar\u00eda Mantilla personally. I only had\u00a0hearsay\u00a0about her. This subject was delicate with my husband, and we never spoke of Mar\u00eda\u2019s existence,\u201d\u00a0Mart\u00ed\u2019s\u00a0daughter-in-law would confess. But at the banquet, she was astonished:\u00a0\u201cWhen I saw her for the first time in person, and quite\u00a0close up, I was struck by her resemblance to Pepe Mart\u00ed, my late husband. I\u00a0couldn\u2019t\u00a0believe that this physical resemblance was related to Pepe. As I watched her converse with those around her, I noticed that her gestures, her smile, even the way she sat, aside from the physical resemblance\u00a0\u2014\u00a0her face, her hands\u00a0\u2014\u00a0were so similar to Pepe Mart\u00ed\u2019s that I couldn\u2019t help but be convinced that there was a family connection between them.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
  6. Dr.\u00a0Ercilio\u00a0Vento Canosa, a man of history and science, also meticulously examined specific details to complete a comparative morphological and anthropometric examination in 2012, a patented technique for use in paternity suits before legal courts. Convinced that his attempt to seek scientific truth might\u00a0\u201creap some unease,\u201d\u00a0the expert reviewed extensive photographic material of Mart\u00ed and Mar\u00eda Mantilla, verifying points of convergence in the axes of their eyes, eyebrows, facial shapes, nasal angles,\u00a0corners of the mouth\u00a0and several other features, concluding with an incredible 74.3% similarity index. This extraordinary analysis, along with other supporting evidence, was\u00a0<\/span>published<\/span><\/a>\u202fby Yamil D\u00edaz G\u00f3mez.\u00a0\u201cLet the DNA test be done. I never said this was the only conclusive proof; however, with this test, there\u00a0are no elements\u00a0to deny the alleged paternity,\u201d\u00a0Vento Canosa concluded.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
    \"Some
    Some of the striking coincidences verified by Dr. Ercilio Vento in his morphological and anthropometric study. Photo: Cubadebate.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

    Pocket\u00a0photo<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

    When, driven by his quixotic nature, Mart\u00ed took the bow oar and felt the\u00a0great joy\u00a0of landing in the war, he carried with him a photograph of Mar\u00eda Mantilla. As he wrote to her under the sun of Free Cuba: he marched with her portrait on his chest, like a bulletproof vest. Struck down\u00a0\u2014\u00a0and not only by enemy bullets\u00a0\u2014\u00a0Jos\u00e9 Mart\u00ed fell, ambushed\u00a0by\u00a0a dagame tree.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    \"Portrait
    Portrait found on Mart\u00ed\u2019s body after he fell in combat at Dos R\u00edos. Photo: Bohemia magazine, May 13, 1983.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

    In the forest of History dwells the whisper. The rustling of leaves\u00a0\u2014\u00a0even those of incunabula\u00a0\u2014\u00a0scatters whispered truths. In what universe does the wind not blow? Just because you\u00a0don\u2019t\u00a0understand it,\u00a0doesn\u2019t\u00a0mean you should reject it.\u00a0It\u2019s\u00a0worth remembering that sometimes the questions are much more interesting than the answers. The dead man\u00a0\u2014\u00a0who used to dress in black and whimsically rode his last horse as if dressed for a party\u00a0\u2014\u00a0was found with a small, bloodstained photograph of a little girl in his left pocket.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Almost five decades later, she would open her own can of worms without hesitation: she claimed to be the daughter of the man dressed in black in the photograph, Jos\u00e9 Mart\u00ed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12346255,"featured_media":331845,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13902,13912],"tags":[22988,19256,959,35062],"ppma_author":[34888],"class_list":["post-331841","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cuba","category-cuban-history","tag-cuban-history","tag-featured","tag-jose-marti-en","tag-maria-mantilla"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nMar\u00eda Mantilla: the daughter of silence? | OnCubaNews English<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Mar\u00eda Mantilla claimed to be the daughter of the man dressed in black in the photograph, Jos\u00e9 Mart\u00ed\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/cuba\/maria-mantilla-the-daughter-of-silence\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Mar\u00eda Mantilla: the daughter of silence? 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