- Monument to Hatuey at Yara, near Baracoa, Cuba - Author= Michal Zalewski |Permission= {{CC-self}} |other_versions= }}
El Cacique Hatuey, as he is known in Spanish, fought the Spaniards in the island of Quisqueya, today’s Hispaniola, and when the more technologically advanced Europeans defeated his forces, he escaped with some 300 warriors plus about 100 women and children, across the Windward Passage to eastern Cuba.
His mission was to forewarn the natives of the island about the coming of the Spaniards and organize them for the upcoming conflict with the colonizers.
Arrival in Cuba
Hatuey, it is said, landed in Cuba with a veritable treasure of gold and precious stones. According to Fray Bartolomé de las Casas, Hatuey gathered together many of the caciques of the area and showing them the cache, said: “Here is the God the Spaniards worship. For these they fight and kill; for these they persecute us and that is why we have to throw them into the sea... They tell us, these tyrants, that they adore a God of peace and equality, and yet they usurp our land and make us their slaves. They speak to us of an immortal soul and of their eternal rewards and punishments, and yet they rob our belongings, seduce our women, violate our daughters. Incapable of matching us in valor, these cowards cover themselves with iron that our weapons cannot break…”
As legend has it, Hatuey then led the natives in a semi-Catholic ceremony and the treasure was dumped into the sea to prevent it from falling into the hands of the Europeans.
On Hatuey’s heels, the Spaniards under the leadership of Diego Veláquez de Cuéllar, also landed on the island’s eastern shore eastern. It was 1510 and the so called “conquest” of Cuba had begun.
Resistance
Under Hatuey, the Cuban Taínos presented a fierce opposition to the colonizers. For almost two years they used guerilla tactics, similar to the ones North American Indians would use later against the British and the French, in their fight.
But, alas, stone axes, wooden arrows and naked bodies were no match for the Spaniards fire arms and armor. In addition, the invaders had two notable secret weapons in their arsenal: horses and hunting dogs. The natives were more terrified of the hounds than of the foreigners.
Eventually the rebellion was put down and Hatuey captured.
The Death of Hatuey
Rapidly the chieftain was sentenced to death. A Catholic friar that accompanied the colonizers tried, first, to prevent his death. Then he tried until the last moment to convert Hatuey to the Christian faith. He failed, too.
When told that he needed to convert in order to go to heaven, Hatuey asked where the Spaniards would go. When the priest told him that the Spaniards would go to heaven, too, for they were Christians, Hatuey answered: “If Spaniards go to heaven, then certainly I don’t want to go there. So don’t baptize me, I rather go to hell”
Because las Casas wrote the story of Hatuey, many believe he was the priest that tried to convert the cacique.
Hatuey was burned at the stake on February 2, 1512 near the town of Yara, in today’s Gramma province.
The legend of Yara
It is said that from dawn to dusk, a strange light moves around the outskirts of the town. Two reasons are given for this legend, and they both have their origin on Hatuey’s execution.
One version is that the light is the soul of the cacique that, emanating from his mouth at his death, roams the area as a reminder of the harm done to him. The other is that his mate, Yara –for whom the town is probably named – threw herself into the flames and died with him. Now, her soul wonders the roads looking for Hatuey.
Hatuey is honored with numerous monuments through Cuba and Hispaniola. Cuba’s most famous beer, brewed by the Bacardi Corp., is named after him.
Sources
- Hatuey: The Forgotten Haitian Cacique
- Hatuey
- 1512: Hatuey, defied Spanish colonization
- De las Casas, Bartolomé, Translated by Nigel Griffin. Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies. Penguin, London 1999
Ivan Castro - Ivan Castro, a former reporter for The Miami Herald, is a free lance writer specializing in History and Archeologiy. He is the author of ...
