«[…] I beg you idolized Ignacio […] that you do not fight with such desperation […] because of Cuba’s interest you should be more prudent, expose less an arm and an intelligence that you need so much. For Cuba, my Ignacio, I also beg you to take care of yourself more »

Amalia Simoni

There are facts that in light of new historical research are more perceptible, which does not mean that they are fully understood, one of them, very recurrent in Camagüey, is undoubtedly the death of one of his most valuable sons: El Mayor, the words of the master and poet Cintio Vitier continue revealing aspects that as a kind of explanation can serve for the uncertainty that is still breathed concerning this:

«There remains, yes, an endless aroma, and perhaps it is for that reason, because we can not assume his death, that the last minutes of his life are invisible for the historical narration»

Then a question is imposed permanently by my students-no matter how old they are-in the absence of what we assume as essential names in the history of the country. Would the fate of Cuba have been the same if such a fatal event had not happened?

At first, I debated in the logical explanations about what conjectures represent for history, now knowing and understanding the event I formulate some coordinates that serve for its analysis, allow disquisitions, understanding of the circumstances and even of the geographical context where it occurred.

Views…

I support the ideas of specialists in the subject, in particular from the researcher Elda Cento Gómez, who reiterates the thesis that the results of the scientific research of the multidisciplinary team-archaeologists, military engineering, cartography, military history and historians of national and regional institutions- summoned by the director of the Office of the  Historian of Camagüey City between 2005 and 2006 to study the combat of Jimaguayú and the circumstances of the Agramonte’s death, collected in the work of an authors’ group Ignacio Agramonte and the combat of Jimaguyú, is not the last explanation for one of the most tragic events in the history of Cuba.

The people need their heroes, along with the legends and traditions that mark the present and the future of a nation, build the popular imagination that is transmitted from generation to generation to establish itself as an irreducible wall against oblivion. For that reason, many tributes were made in the past 20th century for this founding father of the nation where stood out  the commemorations of the centenary of his birth and death in 1941 and 1973 respectively.

The celebration of December 23, 1941, had the support of many people from Camagüey, living in the city and beyond. For this purpose, in August of the same year, it was established the Pro-Centennial Commission of the birth of Bayardo. It also proposed a broad and diverse program, with conferences, honor evenings, pilgrimage to Jimaguayú, the exhibition of historical relics in the old Hospital of San Juan de Dios, among others. These activities took place during 15 days and ended on December 30, 1941.

Meanwhile, for the centenary of its fall in combat to commemorate May 11, 1973, a National Commission was organized a year earlier to prepare a project that included expanding the investigative work on the life of El Mayor by the Commission on History of the PCC, the publication of a permanent section on the Centennial in the newspaper Adelante, the conclusion of the work of restoration of the  hero’s birthplace, among other actions.

Commemoration programs

On May 10, 1973, on the eve of the anniversary, the name change from the old Estrada Palma street to the one of Ignacio Agramonte became official. The same day 11 in the Plaza de los Trabajadores 160 horsemen left in caravan to conclude the route “Youth on the roads of Agramonte” which had marked the sites of the patriot combats and culminate their journey with participation in the military ceremony with students of the Camilos Cienfuegos School, recruits, officials and people in general in front of the obelisk erected by the veterans in 1928 to the hero of Jimaguayú, where the Commander Francisco Cabrera, Deputy Minister and chief of the DAAFAR, took the floor, highlighting the military qualities of Agramonte:

“On a day like today our victorious Revolutionary Armed Forces in the Sierra and Girón pay tribute. On a day like today our troops march through the place where he fell. […] that they are liberating weapons like the ones he organized, like the ones he forged and now pay him respect. ”

In the afternoon the Casa Natal de El Mayor was inaugurated, the opening words were given by Jorge Enrique Mendoza, secretary of the Centennial National Commission, the tape was cut by Ignacio Eduardo, accompanied by his brothers Osvaldo and Jorge Agramonte Betancourt, grandchildren of Ignacio Agramonte.

The solemn evening was held in the Plaza de San Juan de Dios, there the Camagueyan people waited in silence to Commander in Chief Fidel Castro Ruz who was accompanied by diverse leaders of the Revolution: Armando Hart Dávalos, Carlos Rafael Rodríguez, Faure Chomón, Isidoro Malmierca, Rafael Curbelo, among others.

His speech was a history lesson, his words moved us from the colonial past to the revolutionary present, a constant learning of full force for this 21st century “And how useful it is to delve into the extraordinary history of our people! How many teachings, how many lessons, how many examples, how inexhaustible it is for heroism!

In the music also a tribute

Later another historical moment, the singer-songwriter Silvio Rodríguez, accompanied by the Sound Experimentation Group of the ICAIC, sang for the first time “El Mayor”, a hymn since then for Camagüey.

The square vibrated with the chords and symbols of the melody and lyrics “Mortal ingredients made the Major: light of landowner and Revolution, […] El Mayor is riding with his wound and the more mortal the cut, is more life. He is riding on a written palm and at the distance of a hundred years he is resurrected »

Today, 146 years after its fall, an invitation to all is urgent, not to look at its sculpture in the Agramonte Park or in the Plaza de la Revolución as the unattainable example that commemorative buildings often return us from these great men, deepen their legacy full of humanism, of the one who taught to read a member of his escort in the leaves of the trees, who scolded and demanded as a father does with his children, who loved infinitely his idolized Amalia, who was pure courage, courage, recklessness and honor.

Photo: Heriberto Valdivia Jiménez

Translated into English by Yisel Torres Ruiz