Jose R. "Pepe" Fernandez was born in San Nicolás de Bari, Cuba, and since 1962 has been living in exile. Although his professional life has unfolded in the business sector, from an early age Pepe developed a love of reading and historical research. He is currently putting the finishing touches on yet another extensive research project on little known people and accounts relating to the Cuban wars of independence. The current work was born from the desire to understand how a falsehood of the eighteenth century could become a fact validated by the last three generations of our most important historians. In good measure, it is thanks to professional support that belief in the myth of Las Damas de La Habana y sus joyas (the Ladies of Havana and their jewelry) has become one of the best known and loved historical "facts". Although many might object, the author's only purpose in exposing the truth is to help prevent today's lies of propaganda from becoming tomorrow's historical truth.