Places like Narcisa tell the story.

Some places – we could say – were destined to tell the story. Yes, we are not talking about superstitions or utopias. Places like the old Central Narcisa, in the municipality of Yaguajay, enclose a mystery that makes them unique in time and forces them to transcend.

It was right there where on December the 29th, 1898, at the end of the Spanish-Cuban-American War, the then General in Chief of the Liberation Army, Máximo Gómez, expressed his Proclamation, in view of the dissatisfaction with the treatment of the American authorities towards the Mambo troops.

The document, which immediately took the name of the place where he camped in the territory belonging to Las Villas, makes very clear the concern of the Generalissimo about the Yankee intervention, which he declares «had to be ended as soon as possible». Of course, in order to do so, it was essential to set up the country’s own government first, since the situation -he said- was too afflictive.

«The evacuation of the island by the Spaniards will be done slowly and comfortably, to be occupied later by the Americans. Meanwhile, in the meantime, we Cubans have had to endure (…) hunger and nakedness that would have been more bearable in the middle of the war than in this peace», he pointed out.

It was also in Narcisa where the patriot raised the Cuban flag without the presence of any foreign force; but where a century later a strong workers’ movement developed, to such an extent that the combativeness of the Narcisa Sugar Industrial Union forced its owners to give in to some of the workers’ demands.

In its little school, during the 40’s, outstanding figures of the national culture such as Onelio Jorge Cardoso and Raúl Ferrer would give classes. Almost two decades later, Commander Camilo Cienfuegos would arrive with his troops to lead the battle of Yaguajay from this batey and there, in its mechanical workshops, he would have the Dragón I armored car built.

The human and patriotic values behind each of these events fill its inhabitants with pride. They consider it a local monument and take great care to safeguard its treasures even today. They know that everything began on December 29 with the Proclamation of General Máximo Gómez, but the relevance of this event and those that followed may also make them think that there are places, such as Narcisa, destined to tell the story.

Written by Jeidis Suárez García.