Strong in Spain in the 1870s, anarchism reached Cuba through immigration and literature in the 1880s, and its successful appeal to Cuban workers threatened the non-political trade union movement organized by the Partido Reformista. By the 1890s, however, it had been largely suppressed by the authorities, its leaders imprisoned or deported to Spain. After the 1917 …
* Por Néstor Carbonell Cortina Si hay algo que en el destierro he tratado de avivar, es la fe en la Cuba Eterna: la que forjaron los fundadores de nuestra nacionalidad; la que libertaron los mambises en la manigua redentora; la que con sus defectos y virtudes encauzaron los repúblicos antes del vil secuestro castro-comunista, y …
The usual term to denote any Afro-Cuban religion and all other practices similarly dismissed as superstitions. The word is also used by followers of the cults themselves to denote black magic – the deliberate misuse of legitimate religious techniques for malicious ends. All santeros are supposed to be capable of black magic, but no one admits to …
Under the Spanish colonial administration, prostitution was widespread and regulated. In 1885 there were two hundred registered brothels in Havana. The majority were located in the waterfront and industrial areas of the old city and employed mostly Canary Islanders, Black, mulattos, and poor white women. By 1900 the number had increased by one half. Prostitutes …
A common practice among a vast portion of the population reflecting the traditionally weak popular confidence in economic ventures. Cockfighting as a betting sport has a long tradition in Hispanic countries. The government lottery, introduced in 1812, was most effective in channeling enthusiasm for seeking large economic gains in the shortest possible time. Other significant forms …
Introduced in 1866 by a group of Cuban students who had studied in American universities, the first team was called “Habana.” Leopoldo de Sola was the first league president, Antonio P. Utrera, secretary, and Alfredo Maruri, treasurer. The first official championship was held in 1878 between the teams “Habana,” “Almendares,” and “Matanzas.” “Habana” won the …
These have been: [Of the República en armas] Carlos Manuel de Céspedes y del Castillo (October 10, 1868 – October 27,1873) Salvador Cisneros Betancourt (October 1873- June 1875) Juan Bautista Spotorno (June 29, 1875 – March 29, 1876) Tomás Estrada Palma (March 29, 1876 – mid 1876) Francisco Vicente Aguilera (1876 – February 12, 1877) …
Religious toleration was an innovation of the 1762-1763 British occupation but had no immediate consequences. Opposed to both Cuba’s established Roman Catholic Church and to the rationalism (in the form of Freemasonry) that was challenging it, Protestantism was introduced into the island by returned émigrés from the United States in 1883, but it remained insignificant …
The Spanish empire in the Americas was carefully regulated to create societies subservient to the Spanish Crown. Church establishment, the patronato real, meant that religious and political affairs were never clearly separated. In Cuba, however, lack of indigenous support restricted the Church to its primary role, to advise and assist the governor, and it did not …
Six thousand American troops participated in the British occupation of Havana in 1762-3, but the island was exchanged for Florida at the peace treaty of 1763. The independent United Stated flirted with the idea of annexing Cuba from the time of Thomas Jefferson’s’ administration. In the 1840s and 1850s, US leaders saw Cuba’s strategic importance …
