Convinced that the Spanish Crown was mistreating the people of Puerto Rico and inspired by the ideals of Betances, Rius Rivera joined the pro-independence movement on the island.

[5] The Spanish Crown did not keep its part of the treaty with Cuba, and on February 24, 1895, insurgents rose against the Spaniards in the provinces of Oriente, Santa Clara and Matanzas in what became known as "El Grito de Baire".

The Commander-in-Chief of the Cuban Liberation Army of the West, General Antonio Maceo, was wounded and surrounded in a place called "La Trocha".

In 1897, Antonio Mattei Lluberas, a wealthy coffee plantation owner from Yauco, visited the Puerto Rican Revolutionary Committee in New York City.

There he met with Ramón Emeterio Betances, Juan de Mata Terreforte and Aurelio Méndez Martínez and together they proceeded to plan a major coup.

The uprising, which became known as the Intentona de Yauco was to be directed by Betances, organized by Aurelio Méndez Mercado and the armed forces were to be commanded by General Juan Rius Rivera from Cuba.

[7] On March 28, 1897, Rius Rivera engaged in combat at Cabezedas in the Occidental Province, where he was then overpowered by Spanish General Hernández Velasco.

Among the political positions which he held were: General Rius Rivera was one of the few members of the Cuban Assembly (legislature) who rejected the imposition of the Platt Amendment,[8] which gave the United States the right to intervene unilaterally in Cuba as a precondition for independence in 1902.

His remains were returned to Cuba and he is buried in the Colón Cemetery located in Havana, Cuba.,[11] In 2013, the township of Mayagüez unveiled an equestrian statue of Ríus Rivera on a little park to the side of the Balboa Bridge.

The cast, made by the Puerto Rican artist, Salvador Rivera Cardona, presents the patriot from Mayagüez in Cuba in his role of a military leader with the machete held high.

[14] The National Patriotic Union of Cuba (UNPACU) named its newly founded Puerto Rico chapter after Rius during a visit by the organization's leader José Daniel Ferrer in May 2016.