[4] Cavalry lieutenant colonel José María Espínola Baeza y Bravo arrived to Guatemala on 12 June 1822, in charge of six hundred men of the Mexican Army and under the command of Vicente Filísola.

[5] Spínola graduated high school from Instituto Nacional Central para Varones, where he was classmate of pioneer Guatemalan photographer Alberto G.

[9] Upon return to Guatemala, Spínola studied medicine in the National University, although he finally chose Literature, journalism and -above all- public speaking.

[5] From 1896 to 1897 Spínola was editor in chief of La Ilustración Guatemalteca, a biweekly cultural magazine that, even though it was only published until 1898, is to this day an important reference for the economic and political situation of Guatemala during the last year of general José María Reina Barrios government.

[12] La Ilustración Guatemalteca included extended articles about the Exposición Centroamericana of 1897 –in which Spínola pronounced the inaugural speech–[13] the demarcation of the international border with Mexico in 1897 and the economical crisis that resulted in the September 1897 revolts and the eventual assassination of president Reina Barrios on 8 February 1898.

Summarizing it, Spínola welcomed the Central America nations that joined the event, and the other countries that presented their products and services: Germany, Belgium, Chile, Spain, the United States, France, England, Italy, Mexico, Peru and Russia.

[15] Finally, Spínola told the audience that there was a political goal from the Exposition: to serve as a pacific event to work toward the unification of the Central American republics.

[16] In return for his extensive work in La Idea Liberal once Estrada Cabrera was elected president, he appointed Spínola as second secretary of Infrastructure on 2 October 1898.

[16] Spínola died when he was 45 years old, on 4 October 1901, and therefore he did not see what the "Fiestas Minervalias" became nor the strong influence and political power that the United Fruit Company had in Guatemala, along with its subsidiary, International Railways of Central America.

[22] Spínola's wake took place in the Ministry that he was in charge of, presided by Manuel Estrada Cabrera; cabinet members, national representatives and diplomats were in attendance .