Goicouria's early efforts were marked by this annexationist stance before he gradually became a committed advocate for independence, ready to endanger his life on the front lines.

In 1853, Goicouria was appointed treasurer in the arrangement of a larger expedition to invade Cuba led by American General John Quitman, the former Governor of Mississippi.

Goicouria viewed Nicaragua as a strategic location for a future invasion of Cuba, believing that aiding Walker in establishing control there provided a better staging ground than the United States.

[10] Walker, as the President of Nicaragua, commissioned Goicouria as a brigadier-general in the Nicaraguan Army and appointed him as Minister to England and the Court of St James's.

He was to proceed to England as the diplomatic representative of Nicaragua and open negotiations to secure the port of San Juan del Norte for the country.

[15] Refusing to engage in the American Civil War, he worked extensively in trade and sea transportation, generating considerable wealth in New Orleans.

Seeking the necessary backing for his goals of Cuban independence, Goicouría consulted with Mexican President Benito Juárez during his exile in New Orleans.

Goicouria, in 1860, owned the Indianola, an American steamer that facilitated trade and sea transport between New Orleans and Vera Cruz and was later chartered by the Juárez government.

[20] As a result of the economic collapse from the Reform War, the Mexican president declared a two-year foreign debt moratorium to France, the U.K., and Spain after a recompensation date was missed in 1861.

In 1862, Juárez appointed Goicouria as Mexico's commissioner to Washington, D.C. Acting on behalf of the Mexican economic mission in the United States, he met with Abraham Lincoln's interior minister, Caleb B. Smith to confer on the transfer of runaway slaves to the city of Veracruz.

The land was suggested as a Latin American establishment for freed slaves following an emancipation decree and to have the proceeds serve as a loan repayment from the Mexican government.

[23] In the same year, Domingo de Goicouria paid $42,000 on behalf of Brazilian authorities to charter the steamship Circassian for the transportation of emigrants from the U.S. to Brazil.

Upon reaching the Florida coast on October 1, they were met by the Lillian and Teaser, carrying 1600 men under the Commander-in-Chief Goicouria as well as a large cache of arms and ammunition.

[29] When Gen. Thomas Jordan vacated his position in February 1870, Céspedes offered Goicouria the role of General-in-chief of the Cuban Liberation Army, which he turned down.

He explained to Rodas that he had planned to leave the island with Gen. Jordan, but was retained by President Carlos Manuel de Céspedes for business.

Céspedes had tasked him with an important commission to Juárez in Mexico, and on his way to complete it, he was intercepted by the Delamater-built gunboat Soldado and forced onto Guajaba Key.