The War of 1912 occurred in 1912 when the black Cuban Independent Party of Color - consisting almost entirely of former slaves and veterans of the Cuban War of Independence - launched a revolt in Cuba's eastern Oriente Province.
Black Cubans endured great hardships both under Spanish rule and post-independence; most worked in the sugarcane industry. In 1895, Evaristo Estenoz began a movement to better conditions for Afro-Cubans, who made up the majority of the Cuban Army during the war of independence. In 1908, black and mixed-race Cuban veterans formed the Independent Party of Color (PIC) in opposition to President Jose Miguel Gomez and in response to the lack of Black representation after the 1908 local and municipal elections. The PIC demanded equal treatment under the law, free university education, free immigration, guaranteed public employment, and distribution of lands to veterans of the War of Independence.
As racial tensions simmered in Cuba, American businesses quietly bought up land in eastern Cuba's Oriente Province, taking land from Afro-Cuban peasants and causing standards of living to decline. President Gomez ordered the banning of the PIC under a previous law that outlawed political parties based on race. The PIC responded by appealing to the United States government to live up to its promise to protect the life, property, and individual liberty of the citizens of Cuba, but the USA did not accept the PIC's plea. In response, protests were mobilized through Oriente Province and Cuba in 1912.
On 20 May 1912, Estenoz launched a rebellion in Oriente Province, beginning to attack the Cuban National Army. Outbreaks of violence also occurred in the west, including in Las Villas Province. The Cuban government responded with severe repression, and the US Marine Corps was sent in to protect US-owned property, railroads, trains, and mines. The rebels only attacked the Marines once with no casualties on either side; eventually, 2,789 Americans would be sent to occupy towns and cities in eastern Cuba and to man the Guantanamo Bay naval base. President Gomez offered amnesty to the rebels who surrendered by 22 June, but Estenoz continued to fight with a few hundred men. By the end of June, rebel forces had dwindled from 3,000 to 1,800, as the government engaged in racist dehumanization of the rebels and massacred several Afro-Cubans. Estenoz was killed by government forces on 27 June, and his rebel army splintered into small factions which were soon defeated. Pedro Ivonnet continued his struggle until he ultimately decided to surrender on 18 July 1912, only to be killed, allegedly during an escape attempt. The Marines began to withdraw after Ivonnet's death, and the last Marines left Cuba on 2 August. The PIC was dissolved, and conditions in Cuba remained unchanged.