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MARIO J. TORRES
Where is our freedom
hiding?
The search for freedom in Cuban history goes back as far as the times of the
Indians and their desires of breaking the chains of slavery imposed by the
Spanish colonists with the frustration to see one of their principal
leaders, the Indian HATUEY, original from La Espanola, now called Dominican
Republic, be burned to death and the final outcome of their total
extermination. Hatuey, Indian Chief from the neighboring island, had fled to
Cuba to escape from a death sentence imposed on him by the Spanish Crown
there. After helping the Taino Indians' resistance in Cuba, Hatuey was
finally captured and sentenced to be burned alive. On execution day, he was
offered to be converted into Christianity and be baptized, which would
remove all his sins against God and would make him go to Heaven instead of
hell after death. Hatuey, after finding out that the Spanish also went to
Heaven, finally rejected the proposal by saying he'd rather go to hell.
After the extermination of the Indian race, the freedom of the island
escaped out of the Indians' hands for the first time in many still to come
and simultaneously, it became necessary to obtain a new enslaved manual
labor and this came of Africa.
With the acquisition of African slaves, who replaced the Cuban Indians whose
race had practically disappeared due to the unbearably hard work and massive
killings, the search for liberty continued as unsuccessful desires of
freedom from slavery. Years and centuries went by and a new generation of
Cuban criollos had developed in the island and in the second half of the
19th century, new attempts for independence were made, this time to free the
island from the Spanish rule, following the example of the North American 13
colonies recently freed from the British rule and also and mostly from other
successful liberation movements in the Spanish colonies in South America
headed by EL LIBERTADOR, the Venezuelan Simon Bolivar, whose army defeated
the Spanish colonists and drove them our of the continent; thus leaving Cuba
as the last Spanish colony in America. This fact describes how unlucky the
island has been in its long search for freedom. In 1868, Carlos Manuel de
Cespedes, later appointed the Father of the Cuban Homeland, a well-to-do
land and slave owner, freed his slaves and started a revolt against Spain
called: "The Yara Cry" which led to the "The Ten Years War", which, although
unsuccessful, was the first open cry of independence among Cubans. Later,
many different movements. like the Small War among others, had no success
till the final war for independence in the last decade of the 19th century.
This war, that started in 1895, fought by the Cuban Mambi Army was headed by
two other important patriots: first by the Dominican General Maximo Gomez
and on its final stage by General Calixto Garcia. General Antonio Maceo, the
bravest man of action and the most outstanding example of courage, was the
Commanding Officer and led the Cuban Mambis in their quest of defeating the
Spanish Army and overthrowing their regime, till his death in combat in
1896. Jose Marti, Cuba's national hero, writer, teacher, poet, lawyer and
main intellectual figure of the island, who opposed the Spanish rule through
his poems and writings, also fought and died in action. This war meant a
deed of courage for the Cuban Army because the Spanish troops outnumbered
the Cuban troops and they also had a powerful navy and a very well equipped
army. The Cuban troops used rifles and machetes and rode on horseback,
having the machete charge as their most effective weapon. Another strategy
of the rebels was the destruction of the economy by burning most sugar mills
and many buildings, also making an invasion to the from the East to the West
of the island. Large sections of the population were taken to concentration
camps so as to prevent them from supplying the rebels with food and help and
many of them died there.
In spite of all this armed rebellion, Spain did not want to give up and this
brought about the Spanish-Cuban-American war in 1898 where the US helped
drive the Spaniards out of the island and Cuba was finally free and in 1902,
the first President of this new nation, Don Tomas Estrada Palma was elected
and a new republic, aiming at a democratic constitution, was instituted.
After that date till 1959 and even though economy thrived, some of the
governments and presidents were corrupt and sections of the population were
not fully satisfied, basically due to violence, gangs, history of
coup-d'etats, lack of personal safety and ambitions for power, mainly during
the terms of President Prio Socarras and Fulgencio Batista, the island's
last presidents before the new era to come . This paved the way to the
revolutionary war led by Fidel Castro, who took the power in 1959 promising
a real paradise for the Cuban people, who believed him and regarded him as
their savior, but this image of hero and savior gradually faded as Fidel
Castro, though initially pretended to favor people with his measures and
laws, turned to be a communist spy of the US in America, breaking relations
with the US and developing a frantic hysteria against everything from
America and blaming the US for all his errors and failures. This policy also
brought about a strong political repression to make everyone "bend their
heads" towards everything he said or commanded, represented by endless
political organizations for that purpose, putting all Cubans on hunger,
misery and chains of slavery again since 1959 after centuries of unlucky
search and unfruitful wait for real liberty and peace, still hidden, in
Cuban history.
MARIO J TORRES
JUNE 2004
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