The militias of free pardos and morenos and the fuero militar

Free men of colour in the Spanish Caribbean served in battalions of their own with commissioned officers of their own colour. The Cuban militia rulebook gave every militiaman the fuero militar, exemption from municipal burdens and hospital care on veteran terms, and ordered that officers of the pardo and moreno battalions never be insulted. The same law barred them from the cadet route, paid moreno officers less than pardo officers, and shut them out of the military widows' fund.