From October, 1868 Carlos Manuel de Céspedes had summoned to the fight in Oriente. Successively Camagüey and Las Villas rose up in arms, but the western provinces could not achieve it. Pinar del Río, Havana and Matanzas were closer to the Central Government, where the concentration of military forces was greater. Surveillance and espionage were active and numerous, making the supply of weapons and ammunition impossible. However, the conspiracy set to trigger the struggle under these circumstances was numerous.
Carlos Garcia had been named chief of the uprising and was already in the mountains with a group. Arms were send for Ariguanabo by rail, but they had to be removed as the operation was discovered. A large number of those involved were detained. Federico Poey and the young Du-Breuil, warehouse keeper and employee of the station, respectively, were deported to the African island of Fernando Póo. Given the uncertainty and lack of weapons, Hilario Cisneros made some patriots enlist in the ‘’Cuerpo de voluntarios’’ to obtain weapons and ammunition. Nevertheless, everything collapsed and the uprising planned for the Christmas Eve of 1868 failed.
The Havana ‘s Revolutionary Junta, presided over by Jose Morales Lemus, wanted to carry out uprisings en masse throughout the province, but soon he realized that it was impossible because of the existing deficiencies. The engineer Francisco Javier Cisneros proposed to the Junta to begin the insurrection by Pinar del Río. Morales Lemus and Mestre approved his plan. Agustín Santa Rosa, who was appointed as the chief, went to San Cristóbal along with thirteen or fourteen companions. Eighty rifles were packed before boarding the train. One of the boxes broke into pieces in Candelaria’s station, so the conspirators were exposed and had to go to the mountains. In spite of their resistance they were imprisoned awaiting the execution. The Captain General of the Island, Francisco Lersundi, was replaced by Domingo Dulce, who granted an amnesty and they were released. The patriots did not get discouraged from rising up on the Christmas Eve of 1868.
On December 4th, 1868, Federico Poey, head of San Antonio’s railroad station, was arrested and accused of disloyalty. On January 13th, 1869 he is released because of the amnesty granted by the Captain General of the Island. On February 8 he is arrested again and transferred to La Cabaña, then exiled to Fernando Póo. On December 24th, 1868, everything was planned for the uprising in places like San Antonio de los Baños, Güira de Melena, Alquízar, Vereda Nueva, Ceiba del Agua, Guanajay, Guayabal and Caimito. But the plotters failed due to the espionage and the lack of weapons and ammunition. Over and over again, during the big war, insurrectional plans failed in the western region of Cuba. Nevertheless, the patriots desirous of the Cuba’s independence, ready to take up arms, marched to the mountains of Las Villas, Camagüey and Oriente.
