Abolition of Slavery was a Revolutionary Measure
Cuba was one of the first colonies to which the African slaves arrived, motivated by the extinction of the indigenous population and the growing need to exploit the conquered lands
By Carlos Heredia Reyes
The end of the sixteenth century and the beginning of the seventeenth century are considered the period in which African slavery was introduced in Cuba.
The Spaniards began to bring small numbers of African slaves as a workforce in order to continue the colonization process. Those African slaves were brought through the Royal Trading Company of Indies, at the same time they made sporadic purchases for English slave traders.
However, the amount of slaves were not enough due to the development of the sugar and coffee plantations areas.
Commander in Chief Fidel Castro stated, on October 10th, 1968, at the commemorative evening for the beginning of the independence wars centenary: “It became a considerable slaves mass, who were brought criminally to our land to be exploited mercilessly when the exploiters had annihilated the primitive native population of our country”.
Many masters mistreated their slaves, any fault committed was brutally punished. Slaves were taken to the stocks where they were whipped without mercy, they were placed face down on the ground before the others to witness the cruel punishment, with the intention to scare them so they do not commit more mistakes.
Sometimes they stayed there for days and nights. In the Cuban sugar cane mill were very frequent these kind of instruments of torture.
Another punishment was the application of shackles that were placed on the ankles and that the slave had to drag, sometimes with a thick chain from which hung an iron ball. This prevented them from fleeing and also caused deep sores that ulcerated their members.
The spirit of rebellion, the desire to be free and to face so much injustice caused many rebellions and revolts, which ended with the massacre and other brutal acts towards its protagonists.
They were, along with the enslaved Indians, who constituted, in mountains, caves and swamps, the first bastions against colonialist oppression and created the conditions for the Ten Years’ War, in which the Afro-Cuban palenques joined the Liberation Army.
Black Africans contributed not only to the liberation movement but also to enrich our music, poetry, folklore. Their muscles were crucial in turning Cuba into the world’s sugar factory, in making its entire geography passable, in building towns and cities.
The contribution of African tribes and nations is significant in the formation process of our people and its culture.
Congos, Lucumi or Yoruba, Mandinka, Carabali and others mixed with the Iberian peoples: Castilians, Andalusians, Galicians, Catalans, Basques and others, who in turn joined the Taíno and Siboney, and then with Yucatecans and Chinese and other peoples, the French among them, to form the Cuban.
When the black and white blood mixed, the mulatto emerged, the Cuban bears the color of the future nationality. Afro-Cuban music emerged from the Hispanic rhythms fused here with those of Africa. The poetry of Ballagas and Guillén sprang up from the reciprocal influence of the oral literature of blacks and of the written literature of whites. The myths and rites of each other syncretized from the clash of the religions of the “Black Continent” with the Christian beliefs.
The time to discussed the problem of slavery came and the landowners, the wealthy people, the oligarchy that dominated our country, whether Spanish or Cuban feared the abolition of slavery. For all this, Fidel in his speech of October 10th, 1968 stressed:
“And today may be easy that decision, but that decision to abolish slavery was the most revolutionary measure, the most radically revolutionary measure that could be taken within a society that was genuinely slave.
“That is why what enhances Céspedes is not only the decision adopted, firm and determined to rise up in arms, but the act with what he accompanied that decision —which was the first act after the proclamation of independence—which was to grant freedom to their slaves, while proclaiming their views on slavery, their willingness to abolish slavery in our country …”, said the leader of the Cuban Revolution.
Translated by ESTI