It is a monument dedicated to a Spanish soldier in the Cuban War independence who, in September 1896—during a siege by a party of about 2,500 Cuban
mambises equipped with 70 mm battalion guns on a small regiment of Spanish soldiers garrisoned in the small village of — reportedly volunteered to his superiors in a nearly suicidal mission to infiltrate the enemy lines and fire the hut used as a warehouse for the weaponry of the enemy. Reportedly equipped with a 10-liter gasoline can, a
Mauser rifle, a torch and a rope (to tie himself allowing for the retrieval of his corpse in case he fell in action, as he was certain of) he succeeded against all odds, helping to demoralize the enemy until the lift of the siege by General
Adolfo Jiménez Castellanos, only to die of
dysentery in
Matanzas in June 1897. The bronze statue designed by
Aniceto Marinas (cast in
Barcelona at Masriera y Campins' foundry) represents a 2.30 metre full-body Eloy Gonzalo wearing the
rayadillo uniform characteristic of the Spanish soldiers during the conflict, featuring notable figures such as
Bravo Murillo,
Agustín Argüelles,
Lope de Vega,
Francisco de Quevedo, and
Goya. == References ==