Friday, 20 May 2011 18:36
20 May in Cuba
It was an honored date, sacred to my parents and grandparents, although each one thought or had different political tendencies. It was always celebrated in a patriotic sense, because a nation´s history should gather transcendental dates in its evolution, so as to remember events which opened and closed cycles. For Cubans, 20 May, 1902, is one of those dates, although in the last half century, it has been obscured, diminished, ignored. Unfortunately, the more recent Cuban generations totally ignore its significance, as it was a long and painful process that began in 1717 (perhaps earlier).
In 1717, the Havana tobacco planters had an uprising, which continued until 1728 in the city of Puerto Príncipe (Camagüey), always in the locals´ interest´s defense against the Iberian Crown´s arbitrary provisions. Later, in 1762, the defense continued, this time to the huge—for the time—British onslaught, with more than 80 ships and 32,000 troops.
Today, there is not enough emphasis put on their achievements, the approximately 15,000 rebels, poorly armed and underfed, who almost naked, defeated a quarter of a million Spanish soldiers during the nineteenth century´s independence struggles. 20 May, 1902 marks the crystallization, as a massive and irreversible phenomenon of true national consciousness, of the first win for Cuba as a people.
It records a fundamental fact: The consecration of the nation´s existence, by way of creating the national state. Four hundred and ten years after the so-called "meeting of two worlds," and 392 years of harsh Spanish rule, General Emilio Núñez hoisted the national flag at the Tres Reyes del Morro Castle, to our anthem´s rhythm and artillery fire, in an unforgettable ceremony. Commencing Cuba´s new transit as a republic, it allowed all children the possibility to dream. Starting with the first president, Tomás Estrada Palma and with ups and downs since then, setbacks and advances, Cubans began to walk their path, which we hope will someday lead us to José Martí´s coveted nation, where everything is "with everyone and for the good of all."
If you have the opportunity to visit Havana, I suggest that you inquire about the date with any of the elderly, and then with those 20 years old or less; you will then see this national event´s sleight.
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