“I want to be the eyes of Camagüey to see everything that is left over or missing; I want to be the ears of Camagüey to be always listening; the noses of the Camagüey to sniff out everything that can serve as food or delight; the language of Camagüey to cackle the truth and ask for everything you need; the hands of the Camagüey to grab everything that adorns him or to knock down what he snubs; the legs of Camagüey to bring him always in movement “. El Lugareño
Many names have transcended in Cuban history, mentioning some would be the risk of involuntarily forgetting women and men who have left their undying traces in the sciences, art, jurisprudence and religion to name some of the most significant fields; but Camagüey, a homeland of notable personalities, had the opportunity to have one of the most brilliant voices of progress in the 19th century, a man who served his land and with his pen and voice manifested how much he loved it.
Gaspar Betancourt Cisneros, El Lugareño, – one of his most well-known pseudonyms, used in his vocation to criticize, flatter and remove in case required by the main society from a colloquial dialogue, enjoyable and reflective, was assumed with passion and sense of belonging that only a man of his stature could claim “[…] I want to read El Lugareño understand that a local speaks”
A little history
Betancourt Cisneros was born on April 29, 1803 in the bosom of one of the wealthiest families in the former village of Santa María del Puerto Principe, today Camagüey. From a young age he showed his exceptional intellectual skills in his formative process, which with the discursar of the years would turn him into one of the most important illustrious men of the Island, some consider it was for El Camagüey, as well as Francisco Arango and Parreño for La Havana.
He received a careful education by prestigious teachers in various subjects throughout his life. He mastered several languages, study law and journalism skills exhibited through the essential daily scenes, scientific articles and customs on economics, industry, education, sociology and agriculture; published between June 1838 and June 1840 in the Gaceta of Port-au-Prince, as well as the personal correspondence where the correspondence stands out with his friends José de la Luz and Caballero, José Antonio Saco and Domingo del Monte, among other prestigious lawyers, allow him a place inside the Cuban letters.
He participated in the Philosophical Polemic, -a meeting of the nineteenth-century Cuban illustration that would mark a milestone in society- in which he manifested himself as a facilitator, in favor of the independence positions of his friend José de la Luz y Caballero. The Economic Society of Friends of the Country appointed him a corresponding member in Port-au-Prince; and from this position he advocated education and the introduction of advances that favored the material and spiritual development of his hometown.
Your efforts
Countless pages can be written about this Camagüey, his love for the land manifested it on different occasions, one of the best known judgments about it bequeathed us when he expressed in a writing of the everyday scenes: “I have only one friend, Da. Camagüey; and a dear one, the Camagüey; and a mother, mother Camagüey; and I want it wise and virtuous for my consolation, and I want it beautiful for my pleasures; and I want her healthy and opulent so that she does not die of consumption “which denotes how much her homeland meant.
However, little has been written about one of the most important projects of his life, to which he dedicated dedication and capital to make it a reality, the construction of the railway from Camagüey to Nuevitas, a company that Juan Torres Lasquetti himself in his “Data Collection historical, geographical and statistical of Port-au-Prince and its jurisdiction “, says that it is among its concerns since the early date of 1823, the precarious conditions of the roads and the urgency of improving shipments of goods through the port of Nuevitas. Ideas that he shared with his friend José Antonio Saco in 1825 in New York.
His stay in the United States allowed him to learn about railway innovation and consider its remarkable advantages as an ideal means of uniting Port-au-Prince with the port of Nuevitas in the north, although he also conceived plans for a railroad to Santa Cruz del Sur.
In 1834 in New York, he paid for his personal fortune the expenses of the initial studies for the work. He asks the English engineer Charles Hampter who had participated in the construction of the railway from Liverpool to Manchester, in England to travel to Nuevitas to assess the conditions of the land and the feasibility of the construction of the railway, both factors were confirmed favorably, possibility that is taken advantage of by him to return to Camagüey in 1836 accompanied by the North American engineer Wilson, to execute another study of the terrain, and to decide the beginning of departure of the route from the bay of Mayanabo, place known today as Puerto Tarafa.
A new stage to establish the rail lines between the two zones would initiate the indefatigable Lugareño, approached the Patriotic Council of Port-au-Prince to reconcile their support, later entrusted the scientific recognition of the profile of the land to the North American civil engineer D Benjamin H. Wright , who was helped by D Eduardo Huntington, both with experiences in these tasks.
A reading of the vast report carried out by the experts reveals the well-founded reasons for Cisneros and the advantages of the roads due to the existence of a feasible surface for the movement that entailed the cheapening of the work, which ensured great prospects for its execution.
On January 10, 1837 the Captain General of the Island, Miguel Tacón y Rosique, granted the perpetual property card for the Camagüey railway and obtained the dispensation from the Superintendent of Finance, Claudio Martínez de Pinillos, Count of Villanueva, for the entry of the machines, cars, materials and other utensils required for the construction and exploitation of the iron road.
The press its main ally
In the initiatives of social utility, the press was witness of the innumerable occasions in which it alludes to the railway novelty for all its benefits. Connoisseur of the difficulties and obstacles that the project suffered, he took as an initiative to divulge the organization of a comparsa in the San Juan Camaguey of 1837, with a group of people who exhibited a wooden railroad in miniature along the Calle Real of the Paseo Principeño. its rails, cars and locomotive, ingenious way to demonstrate to the people the remarkable advance and transcendence of the iron road, because according to their own words “these poor land have not seen because they hang on their noses two large flaps, or the udder of a cow or the candongas of a bull ».
Between expectations, discouragement, fears and detractors the railroad advanced.
Between expectations, discouragement, fears and detractors the railroad advanced. In 1840, Engineer Benjamín H. Wright arrived in Nuevitas from New York aboard the schooner Adrián with locomotives, cars and machines. Wright had the idea of baptizing one of the locomotives acquired with the name of “El Gaspar” replaced by the own Lugareño by the one of “El Principeño”, an eloquent gesture of serving the country with public, personal, effective and disinterested services, forms that he believed essential for such tasks.
Many inconveniences went through the railroad works, the inertia of the local patriciate, the failure to pay and the lack of manpower were the most embarrassing. In front of them, Betancourt Cisneros was not intimidated, he invested his personal assets, he managed new loans with the Royal Board of Development of Havana, which contributed $ 5,000 and negotiated a loan of half a million pesos with the English capitalist Mr. Robertson.
Despite being forced to leave the island in 1846, by order of Captain General Leopoldo O’Donnell, El Lugareño, he keeps abreast of the works of the iron road and feels joy when he knows that despite so many setbacks was finally inaugurated on 5 of April of 1846 the first section Nuevitas -Sabana Nueva, with an extension of 61km, for five years later, on December 25, 1851, the railway from Nuevitas to Port-au-Prince, with 72.12 km, was completed. of roads.
The Villager does not forget
This distinguished Camagüey, died in Havana on February 7, 1866 Francisco Calcagno delineated his obituary portrait praising his thought and action: “A man whose life consecrated to the service of the soil that saw him was born has just passed away in Havana, will leave a an everlasting memory in our Cuban hearts, a man in whose history will pass unharmed to the future, to receive in it as many blessings as tears the grateful country pays him today ».
His native city, receives the news with deep respect and pain, Antonio Vidal Morales and Morales relates it in the following way
«In the steps of the railway station of Port-au-Prince, the whole village awaited him and a funeral car pulled by three trunks of chosen horses, guided by two grooms, handsome young men of the most distinguished families, was prepared to lead the last abodes the venerated remains of the one who in his most florid years went out with José Aniceto Iznaga, José Antonio Miralla and others, in a patriotic pilgrimage to Colombia, to demand Bolívar his sword in aid of the freedom of Cuba; but the carriage was unnecessary, their remains were lovingly received by those inhabitants, carrying them on their shoulders to the main parish church that awaited the deposit.
Eduardo Agramonte Piña, Rafael Rodríguez, now head of the Cuban artillery, and Salvador Cisneros Betancourt, just before leaving the church coffin, placed inside the box the flag of the fatherland and the declaration of independence, drafted by the Dr. Manuel Ramón Silva, a civic trait that took great risks, despite being surrounded by Spanish minions ».
In the Ignacio Agramonte Loynaz Provincial Museum there is a posthumously portrayed portrait commissioned by his cousins Salvador Cisneros Betancourt and José Ramón Betancourt to the artist Francisco de Cisneros. The work as José Ramón Betancourt refers reflects the hyperactive personality, the firmness of his intelligence, the energy of his character, in all the power of his wit, in all the abnegation of his spirit, his enthusiasm and his wisdom, at the time when , stirring all hearts, stimulating all intelligences, made the country march on the path of progress, civilization and prosperity. Gaspar, that was the man of the town: his life was throbbing, his desires were concentrated, his hopes were recast.
Photo taken from cubaysuhistoria.wordpress.com
Translated into English by Laura Evelyn Villamar De Armas
