The Cuba Reader: History, Culture, Politics
744
The Cuba Reader: History, Culture, Politics
744eBook
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Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781478004561 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Duke University Press |
| Publication date: | 05/17/2019 |
| Series: | The Latin America Readers |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 744 |
| File size: | 108 MB |
| Note: | This product may take a few minutes to download. |
About the Author
Barry Carr is Emeritus Professor of Latin American History at La Trobe University in Melbourne, Australia.
Alfredo Prieto is an independent researcher and editor.
Pamela Maria Smorkaloff lives and writes in Mexico City.
Read an Excerpt
CHAPTER 1
Indigenous Society and Conquest
There are no written accounts of pre-1492 Cuba and no indigenous accounts of the European conquest. Cuba's indigenous population was not organized into the elaborate hierarchies that existed in Mexico and Peru, and the population was virtually wiped out within fifty years of the conquest. Only in the past fifty years have Cuban archaeologists excavated the pre-Columbian artifacts that have allowed them to begin to piece together a picture of the original Ciboney inhabitants of the island and of their replacement by the Taíno prior to 1492.
Nevertheless, indigenous peoples and the experience of conquest remain important in today's Cuba for several different reasons. The conquest itself led to a set of institutions, relationships, and ideologies that had a long-lasting effect on Cuba's development. It was also the conquest that set the stage for Cuba's incorporation into the growing Atlantic economy, later characterized by the importation of slaves and the production of sugar. In addition, although the depopulation of indigenous peoples was severe, they nevertheless left important cultural legacies. In some areas of Cuba, as José Barreiro describes, there are communities that still identify ethnically with their indigenous past. And everywhere in Cuba, stories of indigenous resistance to Spanish rule are an important part of commonsense knowledge of their country's history. Except for Barreiro's contemporary oral histories, we have no written accounts by indigenous sources that describe their own lives and society. The Spanish priest Bartolomé de Las Casas, however, recorded countless indigenous testimonies as part of his crusade to stop the cruelties of the conquest. Although mediated by Las Casas's own agenda, these testimonies still stand as unique historical documents that capture the voices of those who had no other means of entering the historical record.
Christopher Columbus "Discovers" Cuba
Christopher Columbus
When Christopher Columbus arrived in the Caribbean in 1492, he was convinced that he was near the coast of Japan and China. Europeans termed his landfall a "discovery," though in recent years those more critical of Europe's endeavor have pointed out that while it was a discovery for Europe, the terms encounter or even invasion more accurately capture the nature of the event for the inhabitants of the Americas.
The natives Columbus encountered in the Bahamas indicated that a large island lay to the south, and he concluded that it must be Japan (which he called Cipango) they were talking about. Although there may be some wishful thinking in his comment about Cuba's trade and wealth, it does indicate that the Caribbean natives had a good knowledge of the region's geography and were less isolated than some accounts have suggested. The following excerpts from Columbus's logbook constitute the first written accounts of Cuba and give the first European impressions of the island.
Columbus's original logbook has been lost. The text has come down to contemporary readers through a handwritten manuscript by Bartolomé de Las Casas (author of the second selection in this book), who transcribed and summarized the journal entries from the original. Las Casas copied the sections in quotes directly from Columbus's logbook; the quotes are interspersed with Las Casas's summaries of Columbus's words.
Wednesday, 24th of October
"At midnight I weighed the anchors and left the anchorage at Cabo del Isleo, in the island of Isabella. From the northern side, where I was, I intended to go to the island of Cuba, where I heard of the people who were very great, and had gold, spices, merchandise, and large ships. They showed me that the course thither would be W.S.W., and so I hold. For I believe that it is so, as all the Indians of these islands, as well as those I brought with me in the ships, told me by signs. I cannot understand their language, but I believe that it is of the island of Cipango that they recount these wonders. On the spheres I saw, and on the delineations of the map of the world, Cipango is in this region. So I shaped a course W.S.W. until daylight, but at dawn it fell calm and began to rain, and went on nearly all night. I remained thus, with little wind, until the afternoon, when it began to blow fresh. I set all the sails in the ship, the mainsail with two bonnets, the foresail, spritsail, mizen, main topsail, and the boat's sail on the poop. So I proceeded until nightfall, when the Cabo Verde of the island of Fernandina, which is at the S.W. end, bore N.W. distant 7 leagues. As it was now blowing hard, and I did not know how far it was to this island of Cuba, I resolved not to go in search of it during the night; all these islands being very steep-to, with no bottom round them for a distance of two shots of a lombard. The bottom is all in patches, one bit of sand and another of rock, and for this reason it is not safe to anchor without inspection with the eye. So I determined to take in all the sails except the foresail, and to go on under that reduced canvas. Soon the wind increased, while the route was doubtful, and there was very thick weather, with rain. I ordered the foresail to be furled, and we did not make two leagues during that night." ...
Sunday, 28th of October
"I went thence in search of the island of Cuba on a S.S.W. coast, making for the nearest point of it, and entered a very beautiful river without danger of sunken rocks or other impediments. All the coast was clear of dangers up to the shore. The mouth of the river was 12 brazos across, and it is wide enough for a vessel to beat in. I anchored about a lombard-shot inside." The Admiral says that "he never beheld such a beautiful place, with trees bordering the river, handsome, green, and different from ours, having fruits and flowers each one according to its nature. There are many birds, which sing very sweetly. There are a great number of palm trees of a different kind from those in Guinea and from ours, of a middling height, the trunks without that covering, and the leaves very large, with which they thatch their houses. The country is very level." The Admiral jumped into his boat and went on shore. He came to two houses, which he believed to belong to fishermen who had fled from fear. In one of them he found a kind of dog that never barks, and in both there were nets of palm-fibre and cordage, as well as horn fish-hooks, bone harpoons, and other apparatus "for fishing, and several hearths. He believed that many people lived together in one house. He gave orders that nothing in the houses should be touched, and so it was done." The herbage was as thick as in Andalusia during April and May. He found much purslane and wild amaranth. He returned to the boat and went up the river for some distance, and he says it was great pleasure to see the bright verdure, and the birds, which he could not leave to go back. He says that this island is the most beautiful that eyes have seen, full of good harbours and deep rivers, and the sea appeared as if it never rose; for the herbage on the beach nearly reached the waves, which does not happen where the sea is rough. (Up to that time they had not experienced a rough sea among all those islands.) He says that the island is full of very beautiful mountains, although they are not very extensive as regards length, but high; and all the country is high like Sicily. It is abundantly supplied with water, as they gathered from the Indians they had taken with them from the island of Guanahani. These said by signs that there are ten great rivers, and that they cannot go round the island in twenty days. When they came near land with the ships, two canoes came out; and when they saw the sailors get into a boat and row about to find the depth of the river where they could anchor, the canoes fled. The Indians say that in this island there are gold mines and pearls, and the Admiral saw a likely place for them and mussel-shells, which are signs of them. He understood that large ships of the Gran Can came here, and that from here to the mainland was a voyage of ten days. The Admiral called this river and harbour San Salvador.
Translated by Clements R. Markham
The Devastation of the Indies
Bartolomé de Las Casas
Bartolomé de Las Casas was a Dominican friar who became famous — or notorious — in the 1500s for his denunciations of Spanish atrocities against the indigenous populations of the Americas. In the Spanish court, Las Casas found an audience among those who wished to curb the growing power of local Spanish officials in the colonies and to reassert greater centralized authority. His works were seized upon a century later by northern European colonizers who used them to defend their own, supposedly kinder and gentler, conquests in the Americas, giving rise to the so-called Black Legend of the cruelties of Spanish conquest.
Las Casas (1484–1556) came to America in 1502, and after living in living in Hispaniola for several years he traveled to Cuba, where he was granted an encomienda, or entrustment, of the indigenous village of Canarreo (near Trinidad). The encomienda was essentially a grant of Indian labor, enforced by the Crown and the new colonial authorities. After several years, Las Casas renounced his encomienda and dedicated the rest of his life to trying to convince the Spanish public and the Spanish Crown to abolish the institution.
The story of Hatuey recounted here remains an important historical myth in Cuba today. It is interesting to note the contrast between this story and the story of Pocahontas, perhaps the best-known mythical Indian in U.S. popular culture. Unlike Pocahontas, who is revered for her collaboration with the Europeans, Hatuey is celebrated for his resistance and martyrdom at the hands of the Spanish.
The Island of Cuba
In the year 1511 they went on to the island of Cuba, which, as I said, is as long as the distance from Valladolid to Rome, and which contained large provinces of peoples. They began and ended in the same way there, and with even more cruelty. Some very notable things occurred here.
A cacique and high lord, named Hatuey, had fled from the island of Hispaniola to Cuba with many of his people, to escape from the calamities and inhuman acts of the Christians. Once in Cuba, he received news from certain Indians that the Christians were coming there. He gathered many or all of his people together and said to them: "By now you know that they are saying that the Christians are coming here. And you know how they have finished off this one and that one, and those peoples in Haiti (which is Hispaniola). They are coming to do the same thing here. Do you know why they do it?" They answered, "No, unless it is because they are by nature cruel and evil." Hatuey said, "That is not the only reason that they do it. They have a God whom they worship and love very much, and to get this God from us to worship it, they try to subjugate us and kill us." In his house Hatuey had a basket full of gold and jewels, and he said, "Here you can see the God of the Christians. If you like, let's do an Areito (traditional dance) for this God; maybe that way we will please it, and it will order them not to harm us."
Everyone said, "Good idea, good idea." They danced in front of it until they were all tired. Then Lord Hatuey said, "Look, anyway, if we keep this, they are going to kill us in order to get it from us. Let's throw it in the river." Everyone voted that this was what they should do, so they threw it in a big river and there it stayed.
This cacique and lord, because he knew the Christians, went on always fleeing from them when they arrived on the island of Cuba, and he defended himself when he came across them. And finally they captured him. And just because he fled from people so iniquitous and cruel, and defended himself against those who wanted to kill him and all of his people and his generation, and torture them to death, the Christians decided to burn him alive.
As he was tied to the stake, a Franciscan priest, a saintly man who was there, told him a bit about God and our faith, which he had never heard, as much as he could explain in the short time the executioners allowed. And the priest told him that if he chose to believe, he would go to heaven, where he would find glory and eternal rest. Otherwise, he would have to go to hell and endure eternal torment and suffering.
After thinking a bit, Hatuey asked the priest whether Christians went to heaven. The priest responded that they did, but only the good ones. The cacique then answered without hesitation that he did not want to go there, but rather to hell, so as not to have to be where the Christians were and not to have to see such cruel people. This is the fame and honor that God and our faith have earned because of the Christians that have gone to the Indies.
Once we went twenty leagues away to claim a large town, with food and supplies. When we arrived they gave us large quantities of fish and bread and food with everything else they could. Suddenly the devil took hold of the Christians, and they pulled out their knives and in my presence and with no motive or cause, slaughtered more than three thousand souls, people who were sitting before us, men, women, and children. I saw great cruelties there that no living person could imagine seeing.
Again a few days later I sent messengers to all of the lords of the province of Havana, assuring them that they need not fear us. They trusted me, and I told them not to hide, but to come out and receive us, and that nobody would harm them. For the whole land was terrified because of the earlier massacres. I did this with the approval of the captain. And when we arrived in the province, twenty-one lords and caciques came out to receive us. And the captain seized them, breaking the promise that I had made to them. He wanted to burn them alive the next day, saying that it was the right thing to do, because those lords would surely commit evil in the future. I had to work very hard to get them released, but some succeeded in escaping.
Once all of the Indians of this island's land had been reduced to servitude and calamity by the Spanish, all of them dying or perishing without recourse, some began to flee to the mountains. Others began to hang themselves in desperation. Men and women hanged themselves and took their children with them. Because of the cruelty of one Spanish tyrant I knew, more than two hundred Indians hanged themselves. An infinite number of people perished in this manner.
A royal official in this island was given three hundred Indians in repartimiento [a system of draft labor]. After three months, 270 of them had died working in the mines, and only thirty remained. Later he was given some more, and he killed them also, and they gave him more, and he killed them, until he himself died and the devil took his soul.
In three or four months, in my presence, over seven thousand children died of hunger because their fathers and mothers were taken to the mines. These are only some of the horrifying things I saw.
Later the Christians agreed to go hunt down the Indians who had fled to the mountains, and they carried out shocking outrages. This is how they depopulated all of this island that we saw not long ago. It causes great shame and pity to see how they have turned this island into an empty wasteland.
Translated by Aviva Chomsky
Spanish Officials and Indigenous Resistance
Various Spanish Officials
Although Hatuey is the best-known indigenous rebel-hero, indigenous resistance to the Spanish continued after his death, belying the myth that the indigenous population simply disappeared without a fight. The following brief documents were collected from the Cuban archives by Cuban historian Hortensia Pichardo.
[In 1530 the cabildo (town council) of Santiago, in eastern Cuba, wrote to the Crown:]
Over the past four years we have continually informed Your Majesty how in this island there are always rebel Indians who have greatly harmed the Christians and the tame Indians. ... Your Majesty should know that in addition to other Indians that have rebelled in other provinces, in the Province of Baracoa there is one who is called Guamá, who has a following of over fifty Indians and has been in rebellion for a long time, and he has cultivated a good deal of land in the backlands, and even though up till now he has not done us any harm besides the fact that every day he takes in more tame Indians, we believe that much harm might come to the island in the future as more and more join him: we humbly beg Your Majesty to take care of this because it could be that this problem leads to an explosion in the land that would be difficult to calm. We have spoken to [Governor] Gonzalo de Guzmán about this, but it seems to us that he is not giving the problem the serious attention it deserves.
[A report three years later described the ongoing struggle between the town and the unsubdued followers of Guamá.]
(Continues…)
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Table of Contents
Acknowledgments xiiiIntroduction 1
I. Indigenous Society and Conquest 7
II. Sugar, Slavery, and Colonialism 37
III. The Struggle for Independence 111
IV. Neocolonialism 141
V. Building a New Society 309
VI. Culture and Revolution 405
VII. The Cuban Revolution and the World 453
VIII. The Período Especial 517
IX. Cuba after Fidel: Continuities and Transitions 577
Suggestions for Further Reading 683
Acknowledgment of Copyrights and Sources 697
Index 709
What People are Saying About This
"The Cuba Reader offers a splendid overview of the Cuban experience, past and present, through a dazzling array of points of view. . . . The very fullness of its vision makes The Cuba Reader an indispensable book for courses—of every academic discipline—on Cuba.”
“What a beautiful journey through five hundred years of Cuban history, culture, and politics! The Cuba Reader is a sumptuous medley of poetry, song, speeches, interviews, and vignettes from novels new and old. You'll hear the voices of santeros and sugar workers, prostitutes and politicos, revolutionaries and reporters, dissidents and dancers. It's the next best thing to being in Cuba, so sit back with a mojito and enjoy the masterfully guided tour.”
"The Cuba Reader offers a splendid overview of the Cuban experience, past and present, through a dazzling array of points of view. . . . The very fullness of its vision makes The Cuba Reader an indispensable book for courses—of every academic discipline—on Cuba.”
“Cuba is often a mirage, especially for North Americans, who feel they must know something about the place because of its proximity and the outsized influence the island has had on the United States. And yet it often still feels just out of reach. What The Cuba Reader does is provide incisive, intimate insight, not so much a road map as a vision of what has been and what could be. It's indispensable.”