Writing Cuba To Independence

Writing Cuba To Independence

During the Little War, fought for the independence of Cuba, Spain used propaganda to cast that the war was not a struggle for national independence but one for black supremacy. Spain manipulated the idea of a national war, with the objective to fight colonialism, into a race war with the objective of blacks uprising against whites. Cuban independence activists, therefore, campaigned diligently--mainly through writing--to negate Spain's representations. Writings of the Ten Years War were conceived as lessons or guidelines to help pave way to a new revolution. Writings also helped reevaluate the image of the black insurgent into one that was more heroic and less threatening than that of the image depicted by Spain. Like their white counterparts, writers of color were critical in constructing these representations, but theirs were more active for black citizenship and therefore, differed from the portrayals of the passive insurgent created by white intellectuals. Whatever the difference in representation however, the writings of the harmless black insurgent as well as the nation's struggle for independence, where blacks fought alongside with whites in union, invalidated Spain's arguments about the racial dangers of rebellion and the impossibility of Cuban nationhood.

Essays and memoirs of the Ten Years War were written by authors who saw their works as writings for a new generation of Cubans. They sought to motivate patriotism with stories of courageousness, and achieve new successes through the telling of past mistakes and failures. They wanted to depict the first war in a way that would inspire activists to prepare for the next one, and by doing so, writings of the old war became a medium in which the course of a new revolt would be influenced. Writing then became more then just words on paper; it became a weapon that was fundamental to the strategy of insurgency (115).

Spain, in an attempt to suppress insurgency, was spreading the propaganda that if Cuba revolted, its colored supporters would transform the struggle for an independent republic into a racial domination by blacks. Therefore a strategy was needed to reevaluate the black insurgent who was depicted by Spain as the leader of the dreaded race war and the black republic. Through reexamination, separatist writers were able to neutralize that figure into an acceptable component in the making of the Cuban nation. One transformation is of a slave named Ramon, who went from being the cause of the death of Carlos Cepedes', the leader of the first insurrection, to a faithful and trustworthy servant. The reformulation of the story--that Ramon was honorable and innocent, and wept desperately over Cepedes' death--erased any former accounts of an ungrateful slave who betrayed his master and his country (118). The black insurgent was not only portrayed as safe and unthreatening, but also heroic and patriotic. Writers created characters that were fearless warriors; who sacrificed their own lives rather than denounce their compatriots and serve the interests of Spain.

The black insurgent was also depicted as obedient to his Cuban nation, loyal to his former master, and thankful for his freedom given. For instance, Ramon Rao's character Jose Antonio Legon did not resist the authority of Spain to free himself but rather to consecrate the wishes of his master. In this manner, his rebellion suddenly became less intimidating because it was not to serve his own personal objective but instead was an outcome of his master's will. As for freedom, Jose Antonio had neither demanded nor promoted himself to a Cuban soldier or citizen. Rather, it was his benevolent master upon the master's death, who freed him. Therefore, freedom was cast as a gift from the white leadership, and the black slave knowing that it was a gift, was thankful. In the overall picture then, black insurgents were written as characters that obediently complied with their duties as servants to the Cuban nation, and therefore neither politically nor socially could pose the threat of assembling a black republic.

Manuel Sanguily stated that though "many men of color had fought for Cuban independence in 1868, the Revolution, in its character, its essence, its aspirations, was the exclusive work of the whites. The man of color was called by them and by them placed, for the first time [...] in a position to figure, to lend eminent services, and to distinguish himself as much as whites" (123). Therefore, the revolution was thought to be the salvation that brought the blacks back to humanity and the sole act that saved them from slavery. It was on the basis of this concept that patriot intellectuals dismissed the idea of racial conflict because blacks would always be indebt and devoted to the white leaders of the revolution that became their savior. In fact, the very idea of black Cubans as "grateful sons of the revolution" was the foundation on which the image of the black rebel,