The Municipal Ordinances of Puerto Príncipe, Cuba, came into force on January 1st, 1857. They were registered in 1856 by El Fanal printing company, under the observance of the Government and Captaincy General, approved in the city of Havana on October 8th, 1856 by Captain General José de la Concha.
This document is made up of 190 articles dealing with preventive, regulatory, mandatory, prohibitive actions, sanctions and procedures, organized into thirteen chapters: Puerto Príncipe Division, Religion, Public Morals, Public Health, Public Order, Public Safety; Cleanliness, comfort and decoration; Supply, Buildings, Carriages, Public Shows, Public Walks and General Provisions.
These regulations had the objective, among others, of achieving greater and better security, thus reducing damage to property and in the same way to people. Additionally, these types of laws sought a better quality of life and a positive relationship with the environment attentive to the contexts in which they were available.
After critical re-readings, it is noticed how health tries to behave as a transversal axis of urban development, despite the slavery regime, social, economic, political exclusions and discrimination in multiple areas, where the human being lived under a state of absolutism.
Tutelary perspective of public health.
The articles shown below refer to the aforementioned. Which deserves a reflection in a socio-historical perspective and with certain current aspects. (The spelling of the time is respected).
In the second chapter: Religion, articles 9 and 10 refer:
Article 9:
On the day of the Patron Saint of this city and the eve of it, all the residents of the place through which the procession must pass will clean the front of their respective house; adorning their windows and balconies with hangings, and on the nights of both days they will illuminate the facades of their buildings; under the fine of one to three pesos.
Article 10:
The residents will also clean the streets through which the Corpus Christi procession passes from the day before and will decorate their houses with hangings in the way that is expressed in the previous article and under the same fine of one to three pesos.
In a similar perspective, regarding public morality, in the third chapter, hygiene takes the center stage again and points out:
Article 15:
No one shall bathe horses or other animals in the following rivers [Hatibonico and Tínima], except at a distance of a hundred yards from the public baths, and their horsemen shall not enter mounted or entirely naked into the water; penalty of one to three pesos.
Already in the fourth chapter itself, which stresses about public health, it is warned with greater precision and it is expressed:
Article 25:
It is forbidden to throw garbage or dead animals in the streets; penalty of collecting them by the offender and paying from one to three pesos.
Article 26:
The carts and animals intended for the cleaning of the streets, squares, houses and latrines, must be loaded and driven in such a way that they do not dirty the streets, the latrines cannot be cleaned until after eleven o’clock at night, in addition, the pots should be covered and a sufficient quantity of lime be poured over their contents to avoid or neutralize the stench; all under the penalty of three to six pesos.
Of considerable scope are the following articles:
Article 30:
Parents, guardians or caretakers of children, and masters of slaves, must have them vaccinated six months after birth; penalty of three to six pesos.
Article 31:
When the one who is vaccinated in the public places designated for this purpose, is not presented within eight days in the same place where he received the vaccine, to use for another, if the doctors consider it convenient, it will be imposed on the father, master or charged a fine of ten to thirty pesos.
Article 32:
If any doctor or surgeon finds out any serious epidemic or contagious disease, they will notify the Subaltern Board of Health of the Jurisdiction before twelve o’clock at night on the same day on which he has news of the case, sending the report to the Secretariat of said Board; penalty of twenty to thirty pesos.
Critical reading
From a national context that sometimes went ahead of the metropolis, it is observed in the Municipal Ordinances, a subsystem, a concern for the development of public health during this colonial period.
The intersystemic relationships between urban planning, popular festivals, food culture, religious customs, the public adornment attentive to trying to avoid social indiscipline such as the throwing of fruit peels in the streets, garbage in rivers, respect and cleanliness of public monuments, even the prohibition of the construction or restoration of buildings with construction materials in a dilapidated state reveals an intention of a city reorganization in favor of important indexes of judicious sanitation.
Part of this space is currently part of the catalog of the Cultural Heritage of Humanity since 2008 and the locals stand out for their awareness-raising behaviors with the care, hygiene and preservation of the city.
Bibliography
Municipal ordinances of the city of Puerto Príncipe. 1856. Imp. Del lantern, calle de las Mercedes No. 15 [PDF Material Retrieved from the Internet on December 30th, 2021].
Translated by: Aileen Álvarez García
