Monday, 13 June 2011 17:22
San Lázaro Tower
When traveling along Havana´s Malecón Avenue, close to the San Lázaro Tower, you´ll come across the point where on 10 July, 1555 a group of French pirates landed, launching the most devastating attack the city has ever known.
If you live in or are close to the Vedado region, you can easily get to this place where this little-known historical event took place.
The adventurist Jacques de Sores, the assailants´ commander, had previously plagued other Cuban cities as well, such as Santiago de Cuba and Camagüey. Chroniclers of time admit that Havana had weak forces, equipped with little artillery and troops consisting of 16 horsemen and 65 infantrymen. And what´s worse, is that the coward governor at the time, Gonzalo Pérez de Angulo, fled when the pirates attacked.
If curious, you can also visit the surrounding areas, where you´ll find the Real Fuerza Castle and Plaza de Armas, where the valiant Havana city councilmen, Juan de Lobera, resisted the Lutherans´ three charges, led by Sores, with little strength and provisions. In the end, surrender was inevitable, and Sores pardoned their lives and the women´s honor.
The elusive and worst strategist, Pérez de Angulo, with various ideas, wanted to surprise the pirates, but failed in his last attempt at recovery. Worse, due to insufficient funding, the French assailant reject the townspeople who wanted to rebuild their town, and in retaliation, set fire to the rustic houses and boats, lynched black slaves and degraded religious Catholic images. Plainly said, they left Havana in ruins, occupying it for 27 years, hardly recognized in our national history.
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