For the days around October 10, the day of the cry for independence and the beginning of the libertarian campaign that was waged for 10 years in the Cuban countryside, the Demajagua National Park, near a rural community of the same name, about 13 km from the eastern city of Manzanillo, revives with greater force the pride of those born in this land, prized for being brave.
It was on October 10, 1868 when the Bayamese patrician and lawyer Carlos Manuel de Céspedes freed his slaves and, at the head of a quickly organized popular army, began the war against Spanish colonialism from the small Demajagua sugar mill, belonging to the so-called Initiator, today also venerated by all Cubans as the Father of the Nation.
The industry was prosperous when Céspedes left it to go to the redemptive forest -intricate mountain, according to the Creoles- and it was not in decline, as it had been for a long time. But very soon it was shelled from the sea by a Spanish ship and destroyed, leaving only the remains of some machinery, where there was an agrarian community.
Some patriots put their historic bell safely underground, the one that gave the first bells for the freedom of the Antillean island. Today converted into a beautiful historical park, in a natural environment, there is an interesting museum.
La Demajagua shares with the Santa Ifigenia Patrimonial Cemetery, in Santiago de Cuba, the honorable epithet of Altar of the Homeland, although for different reasons, but in the hands of Carlos Manuel since 1866, the sugar mill had a modern steam engine, a staff of 53 slaves, and also 60 employees reinforced the labor force, since the enlightened owner was aware of the most up-to-date ways to increase yields.
However, the main objective of that great man and other patriots around him was to free Cuba from the yoke of Spain. This National Historical Park is a peaceful place today, where the vibrant memories of its history still beat.
The memorable bell is its most precious symbol and the saga of its protection and participation in other patriotic events. Also, the old sugar factory Catalina, imprisoned between trees, the green esplanade that surrounds it, along with other objects from the Museum, invite you to travel to the roots of the forge of the nation.
They say that even the sound of bugles and galloping horses are sometimes heard at dawn, if you think about those glories and tune up your ears.
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