Cuba to Feature Women on New Notes

The Central Bank of Cuba will soon introduce two new bank notes that feature women for the first time in the country’s history. Previously, Cuba’s highest denomination bank note was the 1,000 peso, but these new issues will surpass it. 

Mariana Grajales

The first is a 2,000-peso note (equivalent to US$4). Rendered in shades of violet and pink, the note bears a portrait of Mariana Grajales, a patriot of Cuban independence. She is best known as the “glorious mother of the Maceos,” the most famous of whom was her son, General Antonio Maceo (1845-96), but she was a fighter herself too. She gave up an established position with three small farms and a townhouse to fight against slavery and Spanish colonialism. Grajales, her daughters, and her daughter-in-law ran base camps during the first war of Cuban independence, tending to the wounded and providing food and clothing. In 1878 Maceo agreed to leave Cuba with his family to muster support for the cause among Cuban communities abroad. The family moved to Kingston, Jamaica, where Grajales continued to contribute to the renewed independence effort until she died in 1893.

Celia Sánchez

The second new denomination is a 5,000-peso note (US$10). This blue-toned issue will depict Celia Sánchez, a guerrilla fighter who became a close collaborator of Cuba’s former president Fidel Castro. Intelligent, loyal, and organized, Sanchez played an indispensable role in Castro’s life, taking on the position of his personal manager. As his secretary and assistant, she brought order to his life, and she conscientiously saved many of Castro’s documents, preserving them for posterity. Over time, her positions included secretary of the presidency and of the council of ministers, as well as membership in the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba (CPC) and a seat in the National Assembly. Since her death from lung cancer in 1980, Sanchez has been remembered as the woman who most embodies Cuba’s revolutionary ideals.