He died in San Agustin de la Florida, on February 25, 1853, where he had settled in his exile to try to find a more appropriate climate to deal with the illness that had afflicted him since years ago. Father Felix Varela was considered the The first revolutionary intellectual of Cuba, the man, according to one of his disciples, who taught us what to think about. His death occurred a few days after the birth of Jose Marti in Havana, who with the passing of his existence knew how to value the great contribution of the priest Felix Varela to his homeland and the cause of his independence.

Felix Varela was born in Havana on November 20, 1788. He became one of the most important Cuban figures of the nineteenth century.

He advocated the necessary separation of Cuba from Spain, the struggle for independence and the abolition of slavery, as well as the radical modernization of education in our territory. He introduced the teaching of modern physics and Newtonian mechanics. Despite being a priest his philosophy and pedagogy were openly anti-scholastic. His work and his publications had a great influence on the generations of his time and the following ones.

At age three Varela was orphaned by his mother, and in 1790 his grandfather took him to San Agustin de La Florida. He studied his first studies under the guidance of his father and grandfather who were Spanish soldiers. He was also in a convent of friars. His father and grandfather wanted him to be a military man but he preferred the priesthood.

In 1801 he returned to Havana and studied at the Royal and Conciliar College of San Carlos and San Ambrosio, where he studied humanities, philosophy and theology.

He graduated from bachelor in theology in November 1806 and in that year he went to officiate at the monastery of Santa Catalina. Later he was acquiring other ecclesiastical ranks.

Felix Varela in 1811 began to teach teaching from the chair of philosophy at the Seminary of San Carlos and San Ambrosio.

He was the one who extirpated the last roots of scholasticism in teaching in Cuba and also raised a series of moral concepts of great significance.

In 1817 he joined the Economic Society of Friends of the Country, which later gave him the title of Merit Partner.

After the constitution was proclaimed in Spain, on April 15, 1820, he was elected in Cuba as a deputy to the Cortes.

He traveled to Spain in July 1821. In the Cortes he made several speeches and elaborated papers on dissimilar subjects. After the attack and occupation of Spain by the French troops, Varela went to the United States of America. He arrived in New York in mid-December 1823. There, with very few economic resources, he had to face a hostile environment and suffered great loneliness. But even in very difficult conditions of subsistence, he continued to think of his oppressed homeland. In 1824 he began to publish a publication called "El Habanero" in which he assessed the situation in Cuba and referred to the future destiny of his native land. The King of Spain condemned the circulation of "El Habanero". Even in April 1825 Varela was tried in absentia by the Royal Court of Seville and sentenced to death. In response, he could not return to Cuba any more. He remained exiled for more than thirty years in the United States and there he carried out an intense religious work.

Jose Marti described Varela as an advance and emphasized that when he saw the government of Spain incompatible with the Creole character and needs, he said without fear what he saw.