Cubillo was born on 3 June 1930 in
San Cristóbal de La Laguna. He was married and had three children. While exiled in
Algiers, escaping the
Francoist dictatorial regime, he began a campaign to gain independence for the Canary Islands in the late 1970s. After the Canary Islands Independence Movement was disbanded in 1982 following the creation of the
Autonomous Community of the Canary Islands, Cubillo was able to return to Spain and founded the
National Congress of the Canaries, a democratic party, in 1985. In 2002, the Supreme Court of Spain recognized that the Government of Spain committed
state terrorism against Cubillo in the 1978 assassination attempt and paid him
damages as a result, the first time the State officially recognized it engaged in crimes against civilians. In 2011, a documentary called
Cubillo, historia de un crimen de Estado (Cubillo, story of a state crime) was shown on national television highlighting the role of the State. Cubillo's core claims were that the Canary Islands could be better off if they could preserve and develop more of its resources and thus maintain greater autonomy from Madrid. He claimed that resources were considerable in terms of tourism, geo-political location for maritime traffic development, fishing fields, oil fields and natural energy resources. The movement he founded, however, failed to attract public support among the Canarian populace owing to its violent nature. The organizations that have succeeded Canary Islands Independence Movement, such as the
Popular Front of the Canary Islands (FREPIC), have remained largely marginal. Cubillo died on 10 December 2012 at age 82 at his home in
Santa Cruz de Tenerife. He was buried in the Cementerio de Santa Lastenia in the same city. == References ==