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AfroCubaWeb
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Carlota Lucumí
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by Eugene Godfried, 7/06
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In order to understand liberation processes in the Caribbean we have to take into account all occurrences which preceded our days and contributed to the formation of our collective consciousness. Cuba, in this sense, possesses an impressive historical legacy of which needs more discussion.
MASSACRE OF THE LIBERATION FIGHTERS |
de Eugène Godfried, 7/06
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Marta
Rojas La quinta década del siglo XIX se caracterizó por las sucesivas rebeliones de esclavos africanos y criollos, sobre todo en la gran llanura La Habana-Matanzas, emporio de la oligarquía negrera, dada la riqueza de sus tierras y profusión de la industria azucarera. Infame, por su crueldad, resultó la represión, y se recuerda especialmente la llamada Conspiración de La Escalera y su impresionante secuela de torturas, crímenes y fusilamientos ordenados por el general O`Donnell, entre ellos el del gran poeta mulato Gabriel de la Concepción Valdés (Plácido) y un grupo de hombres pertenecientes a la incipiente burguesía de color, y millares de negros y mulatos libres o esclavos. Fue tan largo y escalofriante ese proceso, que 1844 ha llegado a nuestros días con el apelativo de "El año del cuero".
La rebelión que encabezaran Carlota y un grupo de esclavos rebeldes tuvo repercusión internacional. A pocos días de iniciada la rebelión, apareció en el puerto de La Habana una corbeta de la marina de guerra de los Estados Unidos, la Vandalia, al mando del contraalmirante Chauncey, portador de "un oficio" del Encargado de Negocios de España en Washington en el cual "participaba" —voces de la época— al Capitán General O'Donnell que podía contar con la ayuda del Gobierno de los Estados Unidos para aplastar la rebelión de los "afrocubanos", documento que el comandante Chauncey, acompañado de un tal Mister Campbell, cónsul norteamericano en La Habana, entregó en ceremonia oficial, con todo el rigor diplomático, al propio gobernador colonial. Este apoyo estimuló aún más la represión de las autoridades españolas en Matanzas, desde el Gobernador, y los capitanes pedáneos, hasta los esclavistas, dueños de fincas e ingenios, y mayorales simples, contra los esclavos participantes en la gesta de Triunvirato. Finalmente Carlota fue descuartizada. Pero su acción fue una epopeya. Este fue el comienzo: los tambores "hablaron" en el ingenio Triunvirato en los meses de julio a agosto de 1843. Había dos africanos en contacto. Eran lucumíes: Evaristo y Fermina, del ingenio Acana. Ellos se dedicaron a hacer campaña entre los esclavos para poner fin a la brutalidad de aquel sistema. Lograban comunicarse por los tambores que interpretaban con elocuencia. El 5 de noviembre de 1843 se rebelaron los esclavos de Triunvirato. Hubo una causa militar, de la cual se extrae que la Comisión Militar de Matanzas había descubierto una vasta conspiración en los mencionados ingenios. Además de Fermina, otras mujeres participaban con energía en el movimiento antiesclavista, al igual que sus compañeros. En primera línea estaba una mujer de dotes militares y audacia extraordinaria: se llamaba Carlota, de origen lucumí, perteneciente al ingenio Triunvirato. También, con ella se involucraron en la rebelión Eduardo, fula; Carmita y Juliana, criollas; Filomena, gangá, del ingenio Acana, y Lucía, lucumí, del ingenio Concepción. Todos en Matanzas. Para los blancos esclavistas lo escuchado podía pasar solo como un toque de tambor desde un barracón de los negros llamando a los ancestros. Pero lo cierto fue que a las ocho de la noche del domingo 5 de noviembre, Eduardo, intérprete de la voz del atabal avisaba a todos, y Carlota, Narciso y Felipe, más el gangá Manuel, ya tenían, como el "vocero", bien templados sus machetes de trabajo. A esa hora el objetivo no era el cañaveral sino el brutal administrador del ingenio, sus mayorales y lacayos. Fueron ellos quienes primero sintieron el filo de los aceros y abatidos, les arrebataron las pistolas y escopetas, así como las armas semejantes de otros individuos blancos que las abandonaban a toda carrera. Los partes oficiales de la Comisión Militar un tanto parcos en estos casos, dan cuenta para la historia de que los negros "incendiaron la casa de vivienda, parte del ingenio y los bohíos del batey". Aquella Fermina, del ingenio Acana, quien participara en una rebelión el 2 de agosto, había sido encerrada con grillos de los cuales la liberaron sus hermanos el 3 de noviembre. Carlota y sus capitanes, de acuerdo con su plan, ya acordado en secreto, se habían dirigido de Triunvirato al Acana para liberar a los esclavos. Nadie debe imaginar, porque sería iluso, que Carlota anduviera con cartuchera terciada al pecho, y calzada con botas. Iba descalza, con su vestido de esquifación raído. Los éxitos de Triunvirato y Acana debieron estimular a los esclavos rebeldes que luchaban por la libertad y prosiguieron con sus ataques sorpresivos en la zona. Libertaron a los esclavos de los partidos de Santa Ana, Guanábana, Sabanilla del Encomendador, pertenecientes a los ingenios Concepción, San Lorenzo, San Miguel, San Rafael, y de cafetales y fincas ganaderas del entorno. Pero ya las poderosas tropas del Gobernador seguían a la lucumí Carlota, al fula Eduardo y sus demás compañeros, y en un combate tan desigual como encarnizado —es de suponer por la diferencia de fuerza, calidad y cantidad del armamento enemigo— fue apresada Carlota, a quien viva la ataron a caballos que tiraron en sentido contrario hasta descuartizar su cuerpo. Según se consigna en los anales, Blas Cuesta, administrador y codueño de la finca San Rafael, apeló con ruegos tenaces al Gobernador de Matanzas, que acababa de llegar a su propiedad, para que no siguieran masacrando más negros inermes. Algunos esclavos que se tomaron la libertad llegaron hasta la Ciénaga de Zapata y continuaron luchando en el Gran Palenque de las Cuevas del Cabildo. Fermina fue fusilada con cuatro lucumíes y tres gangas, en marzo de 1844. Esta no fue ni la única ni la primera conspiración o rebelión de esclavos. Habría que recordar a José Antonio Aponte en 1812. Y mucho antes a la protesta empecinada y victoriosa de los esclavos mineros del Rey, en el Cobre (1677), hasta tener que reconocer de jure su libertad en 1801. La lucha libertaria de Carlota, por su vigor y valentía, forma parte del patrimonio cubano de rebeldía contra la opresión. De ahí que su nombre haya sido enarbolado como símbolo de la operación que dio inicio a la Misión Militar cubana en Angola hace treinta años. Fue como si los huesos y la sangre de Carlota y sus compañeros de sublevación se juntasen nuevamente para servir a la liberación de los descendientes de aquellos africanos que contribuyeron a la fragua de la nación cubana. Los rostros de la guerra sucia
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by Marta
Rojas THE fifth decade of the 19th century was characterized by successive rebellions on the part of African and Cuban-born slaves, particularly in the great plain of Havana-Matanzas, the emporium of the slave-owning oligarchy, given the wealth of its land and the profusion of the sugar-cane industry. The repression was infamous in its cruelty and one particularly recalls the so-called Escalera (Ladder) Conspiracy and its dramatic sequel of torture, crimes and shootings ordered by General O’Donnell, including that of the great mixed-race poet Gabriel de la Concepción Valdés (Plácodo) and a group of men belonging to the incipient black bourgeoisie, thousands of black and mixed-race free persons and slaves. That process was so extended and horrifying that 1844 has come down to our days as the Year of the Strap. Traditional Cuban history never touched on the impetuous beginnings of
the slave rebellion in that historical period. But that silence – or
deliberate omission in more than a The uprising led by Carlota and a group of rebel slaves had international repercussions. A few days after the rebellion began, the Vandalia, a U.S. Navy corvette, appeared in the port of Havana under the command of Rear-Admiral Chauncey, the bearer of an "official" letter from the Spanish Business Attaché in Washingon, which notified Captain General O’Donnell that he could count on the aid of the United States to crush the "Afrocuban" rebellion, a document that Commander Chauncey, accompanied by a Mr. Campbell, the U.S. consul in Havana, presented to the colonial governor in an official ceremony with full diplomatic rigor. This support further spurred on the repression meted out by the Spanish authorities in Matanzas of the slaves who participated in the Triunvirato uprising, from the governor and district captains, to the slave owners of farms and sugar mills to simple overseers. In the end, Carlota was literally torn apart. But her action was an epic one. This was the beginning: the drums were talking in the Triunvirato mill in the months of July and August, 1843. Two Africans were in contact. They were Lucumies: Evaristo and Fermnina, from the Acana mill. They devoted themselves to campaigning among the slaves to put an end to the brutality of that system. They managed to communicate via drums which they played with eloquence. On November 5, 1843 the Triunvirato slaves rebelled. There was a military trial from which it emerged that the Matanzas Military Committee had uncovered a vast conspiracy in the above-mentioned mills. In addition to Fermina, other women had an energetic participation in the anti-slave movement, as well as their men. There was a militarily gifted and exceptionally daring women in the front line: Carlota, of Lucumbi origin, who belonged to the Triunvirato mill. Involved with her in the rebellion were Eduardo, a Fula; Carmita and Juliana, Cuban-born; Filomena, a Ganga from the Acana mill; and Lucía, a Lucumi from the Concepción estate, all of them in Matanzas. For the white slave owners what they heard was merely a drumming ceremony from a black slave cabin calling to the ancestors. But the fact is that at 8:00 p.m. on the night of Sunday, November 5, Eduardo, the interpreter of the kettledrum voice advised everybody, and Carlota, Narciso and Felipe, and the Ganga Manuel, like the "spokesperson," had already sharpened their work machetes. At that hour the objective was not the cane plantations, but the brutal plantation manager, his overseers and lackeys. It was they who first felt the blades of steel and were felled, their pistols and rifles seized, as well as similar weapons from other white individuals who abandoned them in all haste. Somewhat terse concerning these cases, the official municipal representatives on the Military Committee relate for history that the blacks "set fire to the main house, part of the plantation and the sugar mill huts." The Fermina from the Acana mill, who took part in a rebellion on August 2, had been imprisoned with shackles from which she was released by her brothers and sisters on November 3. Carlota and her captains, according to their secret plan, had gone from Triunvirato to Acana to free the slaves. Nobody should imagine, because it would be naïve, that Carlota went with a holster strapped to her chest, and in boots. She went barefoot, in her threadbare dress. The successes at Triunvirato and Acana must have encouraged the rebel slaves who were fighting for freedom and they continued their surprise attacks in the area. They liberated the slaves from the administrations of Santa Ana, Guanábana and Sabanilla del Encomendador, belonging to the Concepción, San Lorenzo, San Miguel, San Rafael sugar mills, and the neighboring coffee plantations and dairy farms. But the governor’s powerful forces were already pursuing Carlota the Lucumi, Eduardo the Fula and her other comrades, and in a battle as unequal as it was bitter – presumably due to the difference in the strength, quality and quantity of the enemy firepower – Carlota was taken prisoner and tied alive to horses pulling in opposite directions until she was torn apart. According to the annals, Blas Cuesta, administrator and co-owner of the San Rafael mill, earnestly appealed to the governor of Matanzas, who had just arrived on his property, not to continue massacring defenseless blacks. Some slaves who escaped got as far as the Ciénaga de Zapata and continued fighting in the Gran Palenque (hideout of runaway slaves) in the Cuevas del Cabildo. Fermina was shot with four Lucumies and three Gangas in March 1844. This was not the only or the first slave conspiracy or rebellion. One would have to recall that of José Antonio Aponte in 1812. And long before, the determined and victorious protest of the slave miners of Rey in El Cobre (1677), until their freedom was de jure acknowledged in 1801. In terms of its vigor and bravery, Carlota’s liberation struggle is part of the Cuban heritage of rebellion against oppression. Thus her name has been enshrined as a symbol of the operation that gave rise to the Cuban military mission in Angola 30 years ago. If was as if the bones and blood of Carlota and her comrades in the uprising joined together again to serve the liberation of the descendants of those Africans who contributed to the forging of the Cuban nation. |
Carlota y Fermina, ¿una historia de amor en tiempos de esclavitud? 11/6/2019 Negra
Cubana: "Asegura la tradición transmitida por Evarista que Carlota conoció a
Fermina en una visita a Ácana y entre ambas se estableció una relación que
motivaría a una de las mayores sublevaciones de esclavos en la historia cubana.
El levantamiento empezó con toques de tambor que llevaban un mensaje cifrado. Al
parecer, Fermina llevaba semanas sometida a tortura y por eso Carlota,
acompañada por decenas de personas, la liberó el 3 de noviembre en una
expedición organizada desde Triunvirato. Dos días después, comenzó el
levantamiento en mbas plantaciones. Es tradición que las acciones fueron
dirigidas personalmente por Carlota."
She was a rebel slave leader, a cold war symbol, and a modern icon. 3/15/2019 Daily
Kos: "But one such figure stood out to me as I did my research. From her rise as
19th century slave rebellion leader, to a 20th century cold war symbol, to a
21st Century UNESCO world heritage figure. She is Carlota Lucumi, La Negra
Carlota de Cuba, an Afro-Cuban freedom fighter."
Carlota, precursora de las revoluciones sociales hace 175 años 11/5/2018 ACN: "A
175 años de la mayor sublevación de esclavos del siglo XIX en Cuba, su líder,
Carlota, trasciende como mujer precursora de las revoluciones sociales por la
libertad, afirmó Damarys González Benítez investigadora del museo, ubicado en el
antiguo ingenio Triunvirato."
Meet Cuba’s Machete-wielding Freedom Fighter 10/26/2018 Institute of the
Black World 21st Century: "The Nov. 5 uprising did not take place in a vacuum,
says Aisha Finch, author of Rethinking Slave Rebellion in Cuba. Enslaved people
had been resisting in violent and nonviolent ways throughout Cuban history. But
increasing numbers of slaves arriving from Africa — over 600,000 were brought to
the island in the 19th century, some with military training — combined with
harsher conditions of confinement, Finch argues, gave the 1843 revolt a much
greater resonance than prior rebellions."
CARLOTA LUCUMÍ “La Negra Carlota”. An Obscure Episode of Cuban Rebellion. <>
CARLOTA LUCUMÍ “La Negra Carlota”. Un Oscuro Episodio de Rebelión Cubana. 10/25/2018 The
Cuban History: "Carlota led the slave uprising of the sugar mill “Triunvirato”
in the province of Matanzas, Cuba on November 5, 1843. Her memory has also been
utilized throughout history by the Fidel Castro government, at the time, in
connection with his political goals, most notably Operación Carlota, or Cuba’s
intervention in Angola in 1974 backed by the Soviet Union." [Operation Carlota
was primarily an MPLA and Cuban operation, the Soviets were reluctant
supporters.]
Lili Bernard. Carlota Slaying the Slaver (after Artemisia Gentileschi’s Judith
Slaying Holofernes, 1612), 2017. Oil on Canvas, 60?x72? 2/1/2018 Lili
Bernard, Facebook: "This fourth work in my Antebellum Appropriation series is
inspired by Artemisia Gentileschi’s Judith Slaying Holorfernes (1612), which is
considered to be one of the first European feminist paintings and a protest of
the artist’s own raping. Gentileschi’s painting becomes Carlota Slaying the
Slaver which imagines the plot that Carlota carefully executes in which she
kills her slaver. In my imagined rendition of this real-life female-led slave
revolt; Fermina pins the slaver down as Carlota decapitates him while he rapes
another enslaved woman. In order to render the slaver submissive, so that
Carlota can swiftly decapitate him, the enslaved rape victim threatens
castration with a machete when the slaver is at his most vulnerable state: at
the point of ejaculation. The bearded female warrior Orisha, Oya-Yansa, who
wields fire and tornadoes, intercedes by providing light and subduing the
slaver’s wife with her commanding presence."
‘Lili Bernard: Antebellum Appropriations’ at MoAD, San Francisco 6/14/2017 Blouin
Artinfo: "Through large-scale oil paintings, Lili Bernard reconfigures the art
historical canon by turning classical European paintings into slave narratives
in her series, ‘Antebellum Appropriations’. Bernard’s work exposes the
post-colonial paradigm of suffering and resilience, through a collision of
cruelty against compassion. The generational struggle of her Afro-Cuban
immigrant family and Caribbean ancestors, coupled with her personal experiences
as a rape survivor, informs Bernard’s visual exploration of the impact of trauma
and the unconquerable nature of the human spirit."
La historia censurada de la esclava Carlota 1/30/2017 Radio Marti: "Mucho
más que una rebelde, Carlota era una mujer enamorada. Negra esclava del ingenio
Triunvirato, en la provincia de Matanzas, Cuba, lideró una sublevación de
esclavos en 1843, para liberar a Fermina, del ingenio Acana, la mujer que ella
amaba." [Tremendo falta de respeto!]
Carlota en Angola 12/19/2015 Jiribilla: por Marta Rojas
Carlota: Heroine of Cuba 12/17/2015 Weekly Challenger: "Carlota,
accompanied by her captains, went from Triumvirato to Acana to liberate their
enslaved brothers and sisters. Of course, Carlota and her collaborators
carefully prepared the whole plan of action in secret. The successes at
Triumvirato and Acana had an impact on the enslaved population, resulting an
increase in guerilla attacks by freedom fighting Africans in the area. Together
they broke the chains of their brothers and sisters in the areas known as
Sabanilla del Encomendador, Guanábana, Santa Ana, belonging to the sugar –
estates San Miguel, Concepción, San Lorenzo, and San Rafael. The coffee and
cattle estates of the area, were also attacked. Carlota was captured during an
unequal battle. The repressive forces tied her to horses sent to run in opposite
direction in order to destroy her body completely so that she would be
unrecognizable forever."
La homofobia alrededor de Carlota 11/9/2015 Cubanet: "Cerca del Triunvirato
había casi una docena de otros ingenios. Por aquella época era costumbre, al
menos en Matanzas, permitir que los esclavos –si no otros, sí los de “buen
comportamiento” – visitasen esos lugares vecinos con el fin de intercambiar
viandas y otros artículos. Fue así que Carlota conoció a Fermina, esclava de la
dotación del ingenio Ácana. Cuentan que al instante surgió entre ambas una
pasión avasalladora. Los planes de sublevación del Triunvirato estaban ya muy
avanzados, pero aún no había llegado la fecha escogida. Pero quiso la casualidad
que Fermina fuese castigada y enviada al cepo. Carlota, al saberlo, enloqueció y
adelantó el alzamiento. Toda la furia contenida por los siglos de explotación y
tortura estalló aquel día en Triunvirato."
This day. Carlota’s revolt in Matanzas, Cuba 11/5/2015 Tony Seed: "When
Cubans in the 20th century say they are part of Africa, they acknowledge not
only the high per centage of Cubans descended from Africans but their
internationalist duty to the mother continent. Operation Carlota, Cuba’s
internationalist mission of solidarity with the Angolan and southern African
peoples, was to last more than 15-years. During that time, more than 330,000
Cubans served in Angola. More than 2,000 Cubans died defending Angolan
independence and the freedom and right of self-determination of the peoples of
southern Africa."
Carlota: Heroine of Cuba 11/5/2015 Kentake Page: “There was a militarily
gifted and exceptionally daring woman in the front line: Carlota, of Lucumbi
origin…”
Cuba’s Operation Carlota 40 Years Later 11/5/2015 Counterpunch: "MPLA
leader Agostinho Neto would appeal to Fidel Castro on Nov. 3 for reinforcements
to ward off the racists. The answer came less than 48 hours later on Nov. 5.
Yes. “The Communist Party of Cuba reached its decision without wavering,” García
Marquez wrote. He noted the date had historical significance for Cubans: “On
another such November 5, in 1843, a slave called Black Carlota, working on the
Triunvirato plantation in the Matanzas region, had taken up her machete at the
head of a slave rebellion in which she lost her life. It was in homage to her
that the solidarity action in Angola bore her name: Operation Carlota.”"
Auténtica maka con Furé 9/10/2015 Granma: [Teresa Polledo desciende de
Carlota, jefe de una rebelion en la provincia de Matanzas] - "Otra de las
integrantes del Conjunto, la bailarina matancera Teresa Polledo, también de
excelente trayecto escénico, “nieta de una gran iyalocha —sacerdotisa— de la
tradición lucumí yoruba”, se llegó hasta la Maka, invitada por su “captor”
para reconocerla ante los presentes como hija de verdaderas bibliotecas
vivientes, a juzgar por el acervo cultural de la familia de esta excelente
artista, a la que he visto levantando público."
Carlota 9/6/2015 The
Female Soldier: by Liii Bernard - "Kidnapped by slavers as child, Carlota was
brought from West Africa to the Matanzas province of Cuba. There she worked as a
slave harvesting sugar cane on the Triumvirato sugar plantation. In response to
the appalling work conditions and brutal treatment by the Spanish landlords,
Carlota began to plan an uprising along with another slave woman named Fermina.
However Fermina's role in the planning was discovered by the Spanish, who had
her severely beaten and imprisoned. Despite this Carlota continued to organise
the uprising. Known for both her intelligence and musical skill, she sent coded
messages using talking drums to coordinate a series of attacks."
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carlota_(rebel_leader)
directoriodeafrocubanas.com/2016/02/18/carlota/
Media Source #2: Carlota Leading the People
scalar.usc.edu/works/santa-rosa-de-lima-segn-vsquez/carlota-leading-the-people-1
Un cuadro de Lili Bernard que refleja los temas post-coloniales desde la
perspectiva de una mujer cubana americana.
Lili Bernard. Carlota Slaying the Slaver (after Artemisia Gentileschi’s Judith Slaying Holofernes, 1612), 2017. Oil on Canvas, 60?x72? 2/1/2018 Lili Bernard, Facebook: "This fourth work in my Antebellum Appropriation series is inspired by Artemisia Gentileschi’s Judith Slaying Holorfernes (1612), which is considered to be one of the first European feminist paintings and a protest of the artist’s own raping. Gentileschi’s painting becomes Carlota Slaying the Slaver which imagines the plot that Carlota carefully executes in which she kills her slaver. In my imagined rendition of this real-life female-led slave revolt; Fermina pins the slaver down as Carlota decapitates him while he rapes another enslaved woman. In order to render the slaver submissive, so that Carlota can swiftly decapitate him, the enslaved rape victim threatens castration with a machete when the slaver is at his most vulnerable state: at the point of ejaculation. The bearded female warrior Orisha, Oya-Yansa, who wields fire and tornadoes, intercedes by providing light and subduing the slaver’s wife with her commanding presence."
Rethinking Slave Rebellion in Cuba: La Escalera and the Insurgencies of 1841-1844
by Aisha K. Kinch
Envisioning La Escalera--an underground rebel movement largely composed of
Africans living on farms and plantations in rural western Cuba--in the larger
context of the long emancipation struggle in Cuba, Aisha Finch demonstrates how
organized slave resistance became critical to the unraveling not only of slavery
but also of colonial systems of power during the nineteenth century.
While the discovery of La Escalera unleashed a reign of terror by the Spanish colonial powers in which hundreds of enslaved people were tortured, tried, and executed, Finch revises historiographical conceptions of the movement as a fiction conveniently invented by the Spanish government in order to target anticolonial activities. Connecting the political agitation stirred up by free people of color in the urban centers to the slave rebellions that rocked the countryside, Finch shows how the rural plantation was connected to a much larger conspiratorial world outside the agrarian sector. While acknowledging the role of foreign abolitionists and white creoles in the broader history of emancipation, Finch teases apart the organization, leadership, and effectiveness of the black insurgents in midcentury dissident mobilizations that emerged across western Cuba, presenting compelling evidence that black women played a particularly critical role.
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Those struggles began in July and August of the year 1843. By means of 'talking drums' the rebels were called for battle. When hearing the sounds of the drums, the slave-owners most likely thought that the Africans were paying tribute to their ancestors in sessions held in and around their barracoons.
La
historiografía tradicional cubana nunca abordó el impetuoso comienzo de
rebeldía esclava de esa etapa histórica. Pero ese silencio —u olvido
ex profeso en no pocos casos— ha dejado de ser en estos tiempos de
Revolución. Entre los hitos reivindicados se halla la rebelión del
ingenio Triunvirato, en Matanzas, y más específicamente la dimensión
heroica de Carlota, la esclava libertaria.