“Whoever feels its beauty, inner beauty, does not look for borrowed beauty outside: it knows itself beautiful and beauty throws light”.
Thus José Martí advised the women of his time. As the day of the Constitution of Guáimaro approaches, it is worth reviewing the life of a Camagüey woman, who gave light and beauty to her land and sought prestige in that sacred meeting.
La principeña who inspired to follow her example and claimed social value for women, was without a doubt Ana Betancourt de Mora, who turned her house in the Villa into a conspiracy center. He encouraged the men, drafted proclamations of their own ideals, helped the families of those who went to the jungle, leaving everything behind, and cooperated without limits with the libertarian cause.
Ana Betancourt, was fortunate to witness the Assembly of Guáimaro, although from the outside, because women at that time could not participate, much less comment.
Ana asked to take the floor in order to raise the name of the female sex of Cuba very loudly. Through her husband she made the speech to Ignacio Agramonte, who was the Secretary of War.
Carlos Manuel de Céspedes, who presided over that Assembly, congratulated effusively the note’s sender, who ahead of its time, advocated for the rights that today the Cuban woman has. In her letter the voice claimed:
Citizens: Here everything was slave, the cradle, the color and sex, you want to destroy the slavery of the cradle fighting to die, you have destroyed the slavery of color emancipating the servant; it is time to free the woman.
Thus, in the first Constituent Assembly on April 10, 1869, she raised her voice on paper, to manifest her struggle for the emancipation of the female sex.
Knowing all this, I cannot help feeling proud for being a woman. My admiration for Ana Betancourt is so old that many years ago, returning from a trip to Pilón, Granma; when passing through Guáimaro I insisted to the driver to enter the site that keeps the remains of the patriot and pay tribute.
The visit
When standing in front of the obelisk, a strange sensation moves me. I am one of the women most devoted to the country, able to notice in time how much we could contribute to the social work and the just rights we deserve.
Ana Betancourt is my inspiration, whenever I hear a man forget these ideas and wanting to make galas of machismo I invoke it as a sword of light and I remind them … One and a half centuries ago women were redeemed by our forerunner, to give us the dignified place we conquered with our actions, do not forget it.
It is getting late and we must return, The breeze and the shadow of the historic site offer peace and space for reflection. I am very pleased to have achieved this break on the way home. There is a tree surrounded by flowers, I pick up the cutest one and put it on the wall. Ana, this is for you, thank you for giving us the strength to continue creating with the sweet and delicate feminine sage, which in the words of the Master adorns the beautiful works.
Translated into English by Yisel Torres Ruiz
