Cuba Commemorates Anniversary of the Beginning of the Great War in Cuba

Havana, Cuba_ Cubans commemorate today the 149th anniversary of the beginning of the Ten Years War, a struggle waged to break the chains of Spanish rule, Prensa Latina publishes.

The Great War, as it is also known in history, began on October 10, 1868 under the direction of lawyer Carlos Manuel de Céspedes, with the support of a group of patriots.

Céspedes, who released his slaves that day at La Demajagua mill, attacked a village the next day in Yara, hence the name of this revolution, also remembered as the Yara Cry.

The insurrection spread throughout the eastern part of the country and several groups gathered in different parts of the island to support the call of Céspedes, baptized here as the Father of the Fatherland.

Western landowners were not ruined like those of the East, so many had a reactionary role in the independence campaign thinking the war would affect their economic interests.

Among the causes that gave rise to the Spanish-Cuban conflict (1868-1878) were the prohibition of forming political parties, Spain's refusal that those born on national territory held public office, and these could not meet unless under supervision of a military chief of the metropolis.

From the economic point of view, there exists slavery, which in addition to being cruel was a brake on economic development, because at that time it was essential to use the skilled workers.

The western region was more developed, had more slaves, more production and more trade facilities than the eastern zone. This caused many landowners to be ruined.

Spain imposed high taxes, maintained a rigid trade control that affected the national economy enormously and used the funds extracted for matters outside the interest of the criollos, such as financing wars in this continent.

There was an awareness of the need to introduce wage labor as the only way to improve the sugar industry, and this would never be achieved under Spanish rule.

In social terms Cuba lived a marked division of classes, racial prejudices, lack of press freedom, and slaves, peasants, small producers, free blacks and mulattoes and other sectors were subjected to a double exploitation by Spanish officials and landowners.

The War of 68 as it is also known, did not have a happy ending, influenced by an uncontrollable autocratic leadership and regionalism among the Cubans, something that made unit to failure and therefore, the efforts to reach the independence of Spain.