Enrique José Varona was also a member of the Autonomist Party, even serving on its board of directors; however, he became convinced of the infeasibility of peaceful methods and therefore became a staunch supporter of independence.

His work is part of a cultural space that includes both the social sciences and the arts, and especially literature; with respect to the latter, his critical texts are better known than the poetic pieces he conceived.

Intellectually, he was characterized as a sound thinker; however, the formal aspect of his texts, especially those that capture his speeches, is characterized by an elegance akin to classicism and denotes a profound knowledge of the Spanish language. The tone of his discourses was generally imbued with a certain academicism but not vague, and although he dabbled in lyrical poetry, he managed to maintain a distance between the two expressive styles.

In strictly political matters, his discourse was not imperative but rather allusive, sometimes choosing seemingly distant motifs to weave very suggestive analogies, as in his lecture “The Anonymous Poet of Poland” given at the Caridad del Cerro evening in 1887, where the life of Segismundo Krasinski served to illustrate the situation in Poland, very similar to that which was being experienced in Cuba.

In 1895, he emigrated to the United States, settling in New York City. There, he founded the Political Debate Society and gave several keynote lectures on the subject of Spanish colonization in the Americas and its strategic and tactical errors.

In 1896, at the Spanish-American Literary Society, he gave the speech “Martí and his Political Work,” in which he reflected on the mission of organizing the Necessary War, in which Martí had deployed all his energies.

The Apostle had written the following about Varona: “Erudition, if it is more than talent, tends to tarnish it rather than enhance it; or it detaches itself from it if it is a mere prologue science, ill-gotten at the last minute, when the golden, and not golden, trumpets of fame call to the circus; but the vast amount of knowledge Varona knows does not hinder him, because he knows it well, and one sees throughout the book that peace of mind that only comes from sure knowledge, and gives what is written authority and charm.”

Upon the establishment of the Republic, he distinguished himself as a university professor and held important positions at the University of Havana. He was noted for his scientific and pedagogical ideas, as well as for his political stance toward the Machado regime and his anti-imperialist convictions; although these elements will be addressed in the period corresponding to the Republic.