Alberto Fussar (1846-1899) was a Spanish-Cuban colonel, sugar industry advocate, and the Governor of Guarma during the late 19th century. Fussar was a flamboyant and cruel military man who was seen by the United States business world as a great friend and by the Guarman people as a monstrous tyrant, and he was killed during the Guarman Revolution in 1899.
Biography[]
Alberto Fussar was born in Cuba in 1846 son of a wealthy Spanish family. He started his career as a captain in the Spanish Army, obtaining the Cruz Laureada de San Fernando (the Spanish Army's highest honor) during the Ten Years' War. Fussar at first was loyal to Spain, but he later joined the rebels and fought in the Cuban War of Independence before rising to high rank in the Cuban military. In 1898, upon independence, Fussar was appointed Governor of Guarma, a small island to the east of Cuba which produced much of the island's sugar. Taking advantage of a Caribbean sugar boom, Fussar implemented a quasi-military regime on Guarma and forced local farmers to switch from growing food to growing sugarcane; Guarma soon became a single-crop economy which required food to be imported. Fussar established links with American businessmen such as Leviticus Cornwall, J.D. McKnight, and Angelo Bronte, who enriched themselves through investing in the sugar business; these tycoons hired police and guards to oversee the grueling work at their plantations on Guarma, where the local workers toiled 14 hours a day to meet their production quotas. Fussar was affiliated with the conservative Moderate Party of Cuba, which supported free trade while also supporting a rigid social order.
Downfall[]
In 1899, popular discontent boiled over in the Guarman Revolution, during which rebellious sugarcane farmers, Haitian pirates, and Dutch van der Linde's shipwrecked gang took up arms against Fussar's regime. The rebels freed several captured farmers from Fussar's men, rescued the captured outlaw Javier Escuella from Aguasdulces, defeated Cuban reinforcements as they assaulted the Cinco Torres fortress, and finally assaulted Aguasdulces with the intent of defeating Fussar once and for all. Dutch's right-hand man Arthur Morgan killed Fussar's overseer Levi Simon, causing Fussar to flee to a watchtower, where he manned a cannon and attempted to blast the outlaws. However, with the help of Hercule Fontaine, Morgan used a nearby cannon to fire on the top of the tower, destroying the cannon and killing Fussar.
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