In 1792 slaves of the French Saint-Domingue colony began a revolution on the nearby island of Hispaniola; they finally gained independence in 1804, declaring the new republic of Haiti, the second in the Western Hemisphere and the first founded by former slaves.
In the long run, Santiago de Cuba proved to be a receptive landing point for men and women who hoped to restore the social relations of slavery, and for their project of redefining others among the refugees as slaves.