Hatuey

THE STORY OF CACIQUE HATUEY, CUBA'S FIRST NATIONAL HERO"In the 16th century, Hatuey was a powerful Taino Cacique or chieftain, who has since been considered by many as Cuba's first national hero although he was originally from the island of Quisqueya (Domincian Republic).As a witness to the atrocities by the Spanish Conquistadors against his people and other Taino communities throughout the island, Cacique Hatuey and his remaining followers fled to Cuba to escape persecution and a death sentence imposed on them by the Spanish Crown. After some success assisting in the Taino resistance in Cuba, Cacique Hatuey was finally captured and sentenced to death. His execution sentence: being burnt alive at the stake.A Spanish friar who was present on the day of Cacique Hatuey's execution attempted to convert him to Christianity while he was bound and Spanish soldiers with lit torches approached. The friar explained to the chief- tain about conversion, baptism and the Catholic concept of heaven and hell. He offered to baptize Cacique Hatuey, explaining that this action would cleanse him of all his sins against the Christian God.The chieftain is said to have requested some time to think about this offer and after a few moments he gave his legendary response. Cacique Hatuey first asked the friar, "After being baptized, where does one go to after death?" To this the friar responded "To Heaven." The chieftain, continuing his inquiry questioned "And the Spanish, where do they go?" The friar replied "If they are baptized, of course they will go to heaven like all good Christians. To this the chieftain bravely responded "If the Spaniards go to heaven, then I certainly do not want to go there, so do not baptize me, I would prefer to go to hell!"This story of Cacique Hatuey's execution was originally recorded by Father Bartolome de Las Casas and is still part of the oral tradition of the eastern provinces in Cuba. There is a continuing tradition of pilgrim- age to the site of this horrific deed, a place called Yara which is close to the city of Bayamo. This tradition speaks of the "light of Yara" that appears to visitors and the power of physical vigor associated with this belief. Not so coincidentally, a major Cuban rebellion against the Spanish, called the "Cry of Yara," began in the very same area near the city of Bayamo in 1868."United Confederation of Taino People UCTP WEBSITE
"Through a traitor, Velásquez was able to surround and capture Hatuey. On February 2, 1512, Hatuey was tied to a stake at the Spanish camp, where he was burned alive. Just before lighting the fire, a priest offered him spiritual comfort, showing him the cross and asking him to accept Jesus and go to heaven. “Are there people like you in heaven?” he asked. “There are many like me in heaven,” answered the priest. Hatuey answered that he wanted nothing to do with a God that would allow such cruelty to be unleashed in his name.
De Las Casas describes the fate of the Taínos. A village of about twenty-five hundred who welcomed the Spaniards, fed them and gave them drink, was immediately wiped out once the feast was over, “they set upon the Indians,” he wrote, “slashing, disemboweling and slaughtering them until their blood ran like a river.”
Of those sent to the mines, he said, the Spaniards “required of them tasks utterly beyond their strength, bending them to the earth with crushing burdens, harnessing them to loads which they could not drag, and with fiendish sport and mockery, hacking off their hands and feet, and mutilating their bodies in ways which will not bear description.”
Aside from being one of the first guerilla-style warriors in Cuba’s history, Hatuey is the first martyr in the struggle for Cuban independence."
"The history, culture and identity of Indo-Cuban ancestry is certainly alive in the eastern mountains of Cuba. Erudites that casually use the word "extinction" when referring to our Taíno heritage should reconsider their incorrect denials of the Indian presence within the Cuban nation. As Martí wrote: “They should quiet, and learn.”
"Today in Cuba there are few native Cubans, perhaps several hundred families in Oriente. But they give the lie to the common expressions concerning assertions of extinction. In any part of Cuba people will point out to you "see this person, he/she has indian blood." And it is said that Guajiro culture, Cuban peasant culture, has a strong Indian component, even though many guajiros themselves are Canary Islanders.Over the past 20 years, Cuban historians have discovered that Native Cubans survived in far greater numbers than thought previously, well into the 18th century." (taken from: Afrocubaweb/los indios
"We Are NOT Extinct": Indians in Cuba Dr. José Barreiro, American Indian Program Cornell University, Ithaca
"In these eastern mountains of Cuba, region of Baracoa, Guatanamo Province, there are several enclaves of indigenious comunity culture that have survived 500 years of colonization. This remote and yet culturally important area of Cuba has been characterized by its historically rural quality and its major historical import to Cuban movements of authocthonous liberation.While the continued existence of several Native populations appears in the deep scientific record (Marti, Rousse, Arrom, Rivero de la Calle, Nuez), the assertion of complete extinction of Taino Indians in the Caribbean became commonplace in the academy throughout the twentieth century. Recently, however, some of these isolated Native groups have begun to represent themselves within Cuba and to communicate with other Native groups around the hemisphere. Cuban and international documentation was initiated, with several articles appearing in scientific journals. Most prominently, the Taino community at Caridad de Los Indios, near Guantanamo, has retained various Native dances and songs, as well as considerable oral history and understanding of ecological relationships. There are as well, Native populations near Bayamo, Santiago and Punta Maisi in this eastern-most triangle of Cuba. As a result of the indigenous revitalization now in process, the several Native-based community enclaves are now reaching out to each other to generate an awarenes of the remaining Taino identity and culture in the area.While the Taino-descendant population is not dominant, this is a region of Cuba that has maintained the most sustainable indigenous agricultural traditions (the conuco system) and features an "old Cuba" flavor. The agricultural base of the region is largely self-sufficient farming, with families maintaining gardens and small animals. The Baracoa-Guantanamo region is a great living microcosm of the Cuban ethnogensis, rooted in the tri-raciality of Indigenous (Taino), Spanish, and African peoples. The natural history of the region offers nature walks in tropical forests, cultural exchanges with Native communities, ocean fishing and snorkelling and cultural/historical tours tracing the route of Columbus"
"As later recorded by Spanish priest Bartolomé de las Casas, Hatuey showed the Cubans a basket full of gold and jewels. “Here is the God the Spaniards worship,” he said, “for these they fight and kill; for these they persecute us and that is why we have to throw them into the sea…"