CAMAGÜEY.- The Chinese presence in our country transcends the borders of the well-known “Made in ...” that we find on clothing labels or on the seal of an electrical appliance. On June 3, 1847, the first inhabitants of the land of Confucius disembarked, who set sail on the Oquendo ship, from the port of Amoy. They were looking for progress, but they only discovered the fate of African slaves. However, they knew how to defend the Cuban ensign, when the moment came for the clarion call.
After arriving on our shores, the Asians signed a contract in a language foreign to them. Then, the Spanish colony had the right to dispose, for a period of eight years, of those men and women who had to work for a whole week, except Sunday, about 12 hours a day for only four pesos a month. Some could not bear the inhumane labors and took the path of suicide in the hope of being reborn in their native country. With the outbreak of the Great War, in 1868, many of them took up the machete and saw in the freedom of Cuba a common cause.
One of the most relevant warlike encounters of the '68 war was the siege of the town of Manzanillo, in 1873, carried out by several members of that ethnic group who were under the command of the Bronze Titan, Antonio Maceo. The attack of the Chinese, thus the event was known for the facilities to overcome the trails and enemy posts that those soldiers, infiltrated in the town, offered to the Mambí's hosts.
Insurrectionists such as Captain Pablo Jiménez, who participated in the Ten Years' War and the Necessary War, enshrined Bartolomé Fernández, Saturnino Anchón, Sergeant Manuel Ojein and Corporal Joaquín García Lipiar, gave courage and honor to the Cuban camps, just to cite a few examples.
Gonzalo de Quesada, disciple of our National Hero, José Martí, offers an accurate perception, in his writings, of the courage of the Asians who fought alongside the Cubans in an article published in the newspaper Patria, in 1892: “(…) they skillfully entered the cities to recruit among their race, without the Spanish authorities being able to recognize them because they were difficult to distinguish one from the other. And at another moment he describes how the Chinese, before the Cuban troops "swore full of enthusiasm to serve the Republic."
Among the rebellious ranks of Camagüey, those brave men with the torn gaze also stood out. When it was the turn of the generalissimo, Máximo Gómez, to assume command of the Camagüey cavalry after the death of El Mayor, Ignacio Agramonte Loynaz, on May 11, 1873, he realized the usefulness of these warriors, mostly from the margins of the Canton River.
In the renowned Battle of the Guásimas there were around 500 Chinese in the insurgent army, made up of 1,300 men, who successfully faced the more than 3,000 Spaniards, well armed and prepared by one of the academies with the greatest military experience in the world. Gómez, to a flatterer who praised him for his victories in the region, replied that Ignacio Agramonte had left a violin with very good strings, and very well tempered, and I have done nothing but pass the crossbow to him ”. And he well knew that the courage of those from China had been decisive in achieving glory. Captain Lam Fu King, renamed Juan Sánchez, was one of those braves.
Gonzalo de Quesada in another of his notes recounts the capture of Lieutenant Tancredo and the heroic outcome of the event: “(…) The Spaniard, upon seeing him, with contempt, said:" This is a manila Chinese. " And what would not be his astonishment when he heard the worthy response of the wounded Chinese, leaning against a tree and bleeding: "He is not a Manila Chinese, no: he is a lieutenant of the Cuban Liberation Army" and his voice vibrated with fiery courage and decision: "Shoot me!"
There are countless passages that show the waste of courage of that brother people, in our nation. They did not hesitate, in 1878, to oppose, together with the most just, the shameful Pact of Zanjón. "Freedom to Asian slaves or settlers who are today in the insurgent ranks," read the concession that would accommodate their interests. But, as de Quesada stated, “There was not a Chinese Cuban deserter; there was no Chinese Cuban traitorous ”, and a peace without independence would be insufficient for those disciplined people, reluctant to pronounce the“ r ”and who loved and fought for the sovereignty of Cuba, the second homeland.
- Translated by Linet Acuña Quilez