The history as a compass.
Tamara Caridad Mesa González 24 julio, 2018
For centuries Matanzas historians have dedicated their efforts to unraveling mysteries and answering questions about the past of Cuba, its people, traditions and the beating of its identity. From the first years after the founding of the city of Matanzas, there were researchers passionate about the historical past of this land of culture and beauties.
The current context is very different from that of those years but, as did José Mauricio Quintero and Almeida, Pedro José Guiteras, Raúl Ruiz and all the most worthy students of history located in this city, no less significant challenges are assumed if you have It tells the globalized world in which man lives today, where the most powerful try to supplant the cultural roots of peoples and impose their language, beliefs, artistic expressions and lifestyles, in an attempt to monopolize the rest of the world.
In Matanzas there are other equally demanding challenges, said Armando Santana Montes de Oca, vice president of the Union of Historians of Cuba (UNHIC) in the province. “The debts of the Matanzas historians are located in the area of how the tangible and intangible heritage of the city is preserved today.
“There is a Plan 325 that aims to restore and preserve a city with the presence of Matanzas, but we still have many challenges with the research that should serve as a foundation for reconstructive actions.
“Our projections are also aimed at breathing the spirit of slaughter in the students of all schools, the workers of each workplace and entity where there are projects linked to the UNHIC.
“We have established work agreements so that children from very young can receive that encouragement that leads them to love Matanzas, admire a unique city in the world.”
The long tradition of historians in the Athens of Cuba and its essential work in terms of researching, solving, transmitting and enhancing the cultural and social past of the nation, led to the creation of the province where the first UNHIC subsidiary at national level will be inaugurated, after that of Havana.
“I’m not surprised because Matanzas has an intellectual potential dating from the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, when the Athens of Cuba is proclaimed. Here there was always a group of people very interested in history and that constitutes strength.
“Matanzas is a complicated cultural square because everything that is not done in favor of culture sins against the history of Matanzas culture development,” said Ercilio Vento Canosa, Historian of the City.
With more than three decades of work, the UNHIC in Matanzas fulfilled the dream of having its own headquarters, a cozy space that it shares with the José Martí Cultural Society in the heart of the historical center of Matanzas, National Monument.
“It was a yearning for many years. Today the social house has a very beautiful colonial style and in a privileged place within the historic center of the city. This is a cultural center of first level for the locality and the province where we develop activities of different nature, “recalled Alfredo Lauzurica, president of the José Martí Cultural Society in Matanzas.
“This is a subsidiary that has had an important occupation if its productions are taken into account, among them Matanzas magazine. The UNHIC in Matanzas is strong because there is a long tradition of historians here, “Vento Canosa added.
In spite of the fact that it took 35 years for the Matanzas historians to have their own space, at the height of their work and what they contribute to national and local identity with their research, and their headquarters is a reality. But, that’s not the end of dreams, but rather they intend to strengthen their structures with new work projects, argued Santana Montes de Oca.
“It is true that big solutions generate new problems. That is one of the issues that the provincial executive is discussing today in view of the need to generate new space for interaction with the population.
“We already have, for example, the Afternoons with history every Wednesday dedicated to presenting and discussing research, socializing results and historical knowledge. We created a Documentation Center with the papers discussed during more than two decades in events about history, such as the Athens scientific workshop. I believe that this is a living source of historical knowledge of Matanzas, with the purpose of excellent to deepen, to seek ideas for new topics of thesis.
You cannot think of a country without its history. Without that past that returns again and again to the present to illuminate the future, we would be no more than lifeless beings, wandering soul in search of identity for the Earth, without roots, without reasons, without destiny.
The story is the result of facts, personalities and circumstances, which propitiated our country going through the world. That itself is the answer to our questions, the motive, the result and expressions of our traditions. Each of us is an important part of the history that we share, of the history of Matanzas and of Cuba.
