The chosen date of February 24th for the inauguration of the sculptural monument was a wise choice. El Grito de Yara and el Grito de Baire merged. The bronze image of Major General Ignacio Agramonte y Loynaz, one of the most distinguished mambises of the Ten Years’ War and the first in Camagüey, was unveiled on the very day that marked the continuity of the independence process.
Even the most authoritative voice of the enemy, the Captain General, Superior Civil and Military Governor and General in Chief of the Army of Operations in Cuba Cándido Pieltain, in his memoirs noted:
This leader [Agramonte] was the most important one of the insurrection in the Central department and perhaps in the entire Island, for his education, for the influence he exerted on his followers, for his courage, character and energy, being able to assure Your Excellency, that his absence is a mortal blow for the enemies of Spain, and can greatly hasten the time of the long-awaited pacification.
D-Day
The nine chimes of the Main Church broke the silence on the morning of February 24th, 1912. Juan Antonio Avilés, the mambí bugle under the orders of Agramonte, played Atiendan Todos, the preamble to the National Anthem. The thronged crowd gasped. Amalia let go of the rope…the infinity of absence confronted the bronze. The city, Agramonte’s, shuddered.
On the morning of February 24th, 1912, Raúl Lamar, accompanied by the directors of the Benemérita Santa Cecilia society, local and national personalities, but especially the undivided people, sang the chords of the National Anthem by the General Headquarters Music Band under the baton of mambí Captain José Marín Varona. The hero’s widow, Amalia Simoni, unveiled the equestrian sculpture, and member Walfredo Rodríguez delivered the speech on behalf of society.
The veterans of the war of independence and the generals Javier de la Vega, Lope Recio Loynaz, Maximiliano Ramos and Eugenio Sánchez-Pereira Agramonte, present there, once again paid tribute to their leader. The first two, former chiefs of the Third Army Corps of Camagüey, Jorge Roa Reyes, son of Ramón Roa, who kept El Mayor’s campaign diary, were also among the attendees. Also Salvador Cisneros Betancourt, member of the Cuban Senate, and José Francisco Martí Zayas Bazán, son of the Apostle of Cuban independence José Martí, who was accompanied by his mother Carmen Zayas Bazán Hidalgo. Of great repercussion the presence of the heroines Gabriela de Varona y Varona and Ángela Malvina Silva y Zayas.
The virtuous hands
The Italian artist Salvatore Buemi was crowned the winner of an international contest regarding the emblematic figure of Camagüey; and since 1912 his sculptural work has been the quintessential attraction of Agramonte Park, a landmark of the Historic Center, a World Heritage Site since 2007.
It is a dashing Agramonte, slender on his steed. The Cuban battlefield is represented on the pedestal. The rescue of Sanguily with 35 horsemen, each one with its different physiognomic features. The symbol of the homeland equally worthy of its representation.
The legacy
As a consequence, his legacy grows over time in the hands of children and young people who draw, hang photographs, corner busts on pedestals of different supports, with the image of El Mayor in schools, offices and private spaces. Before the effigy of the paladin, nuptial vows, codes of ethics and labor, student and international commitments of loyalty and fidelity are agreed and consecrated, as his character.
Bibliography
Pieltain, Cándido (1879) La isla de Cuba, desde mediados de Abril á Fines de Octubre de 1873. La universal, Madrid, España.
Henry, Kezia (2021) “Ignacio Agramonte, la esencia de un carácter. Revisitado desde las artes visuales”, en Senderos no. 24, El Lugareño, Camagüey, Cuba.
Translated by: Aileen Álvarez García
