(Orden al Mérito Mambí). Instituted in 1955. Three-piece construction, in bronze gilt with red, white and blue enamels, measuring 53 mm (w) x 64 mm (h), original ribbon with pinback, chipping evident in the white enamels on the centrepiece, scattered gilt wear on the reverse, very fine.
Footnote: The Order of Merit Mambi was instituted by Decree Number 4049 of December 8, 1955 and was awarded to soldiers and officers who took part in the Cuban Wars for Independence against Spain in the nineteenth century. The Order was awarded in two classes. Cuba was the last Spanish colony in the Americas to gain its independence, following a protracted insurgency. After Spain’s defeat in the Spanish-American War of 1898, the United States occupied the country until 1902 and retained the right to intervene militarily until 1934. The Mambises were guerrilla Cuban independence soldiers.