He lost his parents since he was very young and had the support of his older brother to study law and learn some languages. He was like a father to Jose Marti as he guided him in his studies and taught him his patriotic ideas. Such was his influence on his student that some years after Jose Marti dedicated himself to fight for the independence of his homeland. Mendive´s house was the point of attention of the Spanish authorities after the beginning of the independence war in Cuba, in October 1868. Havana shuddered by the events in Theater Villanueva. Mendive was there and could go out of the place but was later arrested in his house. He was sentenced to go to Spain into exile and later went to the United States of America. He could not return to his homeland until the War of the Ten Years finished. He went to live in Matanzas, where he leads the publication Diario Liberal. He worked as a journalist and as a lawyer. He led the Colegio de Segunda Enseñanza in Cardenas in 1886 but got critically ill and died on November 24th of the same year in Havana.