the spanish sent alexander o'reilly to cuba to form a militia. he was appointed governor of louisiana and head of the army later on. he arrived in august, 1769, and took formal possession of louisiana for spain. think of new orleans and cuba, in particular havana, governors there were also in cuba so there was all this traveling from one city to another because later when i got my ph.d. from tulaine university and i went to the irish channel. it's interesting, the irish history connected with new orleans. so the o'reilly family has been in louisiana for centuries. in cuba, nobody remembers him but it was the street of calle oreilly, famous until the 50's for its banks and bookstores. it was one of the favorite streets of (inaudible) secretary of the spanish count of fernandino, my grandfather, another irish man feeling at home in havana. there, at the busy corner of calle street and oreilly was a cafe bakery owned by a catelan. it was described by many foreigners, in particular british and irish who lived in havana at the time, as one of the best