20 Centavos José Martí

Cuba's transition to copper-nickel coinage in this period coincided directly with the post-revolutionary restructuring of the national monetary system following the 1959 revolution and the subsequent US trade embargo, which severed the island's long-standing commercial relationships with American metals suppliers and minting contractors. The shift required sourcing both materials and technical agreements through Soviet-aligned channels.

José Martí died in 1895 — the first cavalry charge of the war he had organized — just weeks after returning to Cuba from exile. His appearance on circulating coinage predates the revolution by decades, making him one of the few figures the Castro government retained without controversy.