José Francisco Lemus was a Cuban revolutionary and businessman who led one of the earliest secret societies advocating for Cuban independence and sought to align with Bolívar's revolutionary efforts in Latin America. He was the leader of the Suns and Rays of Bolívar during the events surrounding the Revolution of the Suns and Rays
Biography Early life José Francisco Lemus y Escámez was born in Havana, Spanish Cuba, in the late 18th century. He was of Creole descent and the son of a Spanish naval officer.The Caribbean: A History of the Region and Its Peoples. (2013). United Kingdom: University of Chicago Press.
Suns and Rays of Bolívar Lemus left Havana in the mid-1810s for the United States. In Philadelphia, he established contact with Simon Bolívar's envoys and was given the rank of colonel in Bolívar's Colombian Army of Independence.Cuba, a Country Study. (1987). United States: Headquarters, Department of the Army. He returned to Cuba in the early 1820s.Simons, G. (1996). Cuba: From Conquistador to Castro. United Kingdom: Palgrave Macmillan UK. In 1821, Lemus founded the masonic lodge, Suns and Rays of Bolívar, alongside José Fernández Madrid, José María Heredia y Heredia, and Sévère Courtois.Gibson, C. (2014). Empire's Crossroads: A History of the Caribbean from Columbus to the Present Day. United Kingdom: Grove Atlantic. They planned an uprising that would proclaim Cuba as the independent Republic of "Cubanacán" and sought to abolish slavery.Pérez, L. A. (n.d.). Cuba: between reform and revolution (5th ed). Oxford University Press. The conspirators planned to invade Cuba by coordinating the combined action of Colombian troops loyal to Simón Bolívar with the movement in Cuba. Lemus spread the conspiracy through Cuban masonic lodges, including the Rational Knights of Matanzas and the Triangular Chain of Camagüey (). By the summer of 1823, government spies working for Francisco Dionisio Vives had suppressed the separatist plot just before the uprising, leading the Captain General to issue arrest orders for the conspirators.Free Cuba: Her Oppression and Struggles for Liberty. History and Description of the Island .... (1898). United States: Publisher's Union. On August 19, 1823, Lemus was detained in Guanabacoa, Havana, as some co-conspirators fled abroad, and he was later exiled and sent to Spain.
Upon escaping Spain, Lemus took refuge in Mexico and aligned with the Cuban Liberty Promotion Board (), founded on July 4, 1825, in Mexico City.Varela, F., Piqueras Arenas, J. A. (2007). Félix Varela y la prosperidad de la patria criolla. Spain: Fundación MAPFRE.
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