In 1899, the Antonio Maceo Grajales association was established in the city of Camagüey, by the Mambises of the Wars of Independence who decided to reorganize themselves into associative spaces to overcome the challenges of the exclusionary social structure.
In the interconnection with the social system, the Maceo association promotes the transformation of Paula Square for its change into Maceo Square, just in salute to the commemorations of the centenary of the birth of the Bronze Titan, Antonio Maceo and Grajales.
Pro monument Committee and Commemoration of the centenary of Antonio Maceo
The Pro monument Committee and the commemoration of the centenary of Antonio Maceo is established, both represented by the City Council.
The town is committed to the development of this process until the placement and inauguration of the bronze bust.
The different social partners: associations, churches, private and state companies, private and public schools in the city offered well-deserved tribute to the Titan.
Dr. Francisco Guillén Batista, director of the association and the Antifascist Provincial Front in 1944 at the Ordinary General Meeting of the Antonio Maceo Association, on December 16th; in point four, this lawyer asks to speak to:
[…] Propose to the Assembly that it be agreed to pass a telegram to the House of Representatives, the Senate of the Republic and the Honorable Mr. President of the Republic Dr. Ramón San Martín, so that as soon as possible and before the celebration of the Centenary of the Birth of Antonio Maceo, the complementary laws of the Constitution that guarantee the equality of all Cubans are approved by Congress and sanctioned by the President of the Republic. (Guillén, F. 1944).
Proposal that was approved unanimously. Likewise, Dr. Guillén stood out in the celebrations of the centenary of the birth of the Bronze Titan Antonio Maceo y Grajales and in the Pro monument Committee and the commemoration of the centenary of Antonio Maceo, both represented by the City Council.
The designer of the bust was the artist Fernando Pita Camacho. The musical band of the Agramonte Regiment starred in the act, in this sense. The Revolutionary Socialist Party issued an address to the people of Cuba that said:
On this date of May 20th, 1947 … the legendary Camagüey, cradle of Agramonte, Cisneros Betancourt, Loynaz del Castillo, Joaquín de Agüero and other heroes of our Nation, greets you patriotically under the blue sky of our idolized Cuba … will have a definitive culmination the plausible gesture of the commission of acts of our City Council … the celebration of the Centennial and the bust of the Titan.
LOOR to Lieutenant General Antonio Maceo.
Signed by Porfilio Díaz de Rada. (President) and Ramón Gonzáles Cifuentes (secretary).
A new symbolic construction
In this educational sense, the association developed social and political actions on patriotic dates related to homeland freedoms: January 28th, February 24th, May 20th, October 10th, December 7th, among other civic commemorations in public spaces such as the centric Agramonte Park, Maceo Square, Casino Campestre.
Historical tours were carried out on these dates; floral offerings were deposited at the Ignacio Agramonte monument.
In 1959, its members were part of the army of volunteer teachers and literacy teachers that the country demanded in different profiles until 1961, when it declared itself free of illiteracy.
Perpetual tribute
Every December 7th, very early in the morning, a tribute is paid by school children, pioneers, adolescents, university students and workers in general on a pilgrimage to the Camagüey cemetery, to honor with the Tribute Operation, those who by internationalist principles helped to liberate peoples from apartheid.
Translated by: Aileen Álvarez García
