1. Captain General Valeriano Weyler y Nicolau, 1st Duke of Rubi, 1st Marquess of Tenerife was a Spanish Army officer and colonial administrator who served as the Governor-General of the Philippines and the Governor-General of Cuba, and later as the Minister for War.
Valeriano Weyler was educated in his place of birth and in Granada.
Valeriano Weyler decided to enter the Spanish army, being influenced by his father, a military doctor.
Valeriano Weyler graduated from the Infantry School of Toledo at the age of 16.
At 20, Valeriano Weyler had achieved the rank of lieutenant, and he was appointed the rank of captain in 1861.
From 1878 to 1883, Valeriano Weyler served as Captain-General of Canary Islands.
Valeriano Weyler granted the petitions of 20 young women of Malolos, Bulacan, to receive education and to have a night school.
Valeriano Weyler happened to visit Malolos afterward and granted the petition on account of the persistence the women displayed for their petition.
Valeriano Weyler was then made captain-general at Barcelona, where he remained until January 1896.
Valeriano Weyler was made Governor-General of Cuba and was granted full powers to suppress the rebellion and restore Spanish rule alongside Cuba's sugar industry.
Valeriano Weyler responded by implementing the reconcentration policy, which was intended to separate the rebels from the civilian Cuban populace by confining the latter to concentration camps guarded by Spanish troops.
The reconcentration policy weakened the rebel position but resulted in the deaths of between 170,000 and 400,000 Cubans, causing widespread international outrage, particularly in the United States, where Valeriano Weyler became known as "The Butcher".
Valeriano Weyler's strategy was successful only in completely alienating the Cuban populace from the Spanish as well as galvanizing international opinion against Spain.
Valeriano Weyler served as Minister of War three separate times and as Chief of Staff of the Army in two separate terms.
Valeriano Weyler was minister of war for a short time at the end of 1901, and again in 1905.
Valeriano Weyler was charged and imprisoned for opposing the military dictator Miguel Primo de Rivera in the 1920s.
Valeriano Weyler was buried the next day in a simple casket without state ceremony, as he himself requested.