This is a draft:
Histories are shaped by the struggles of mankind for freedom. Philosopher Friedrich Hegel
In 1879, slavery was still not outlawed, despite Cuba’s best attempts. it was formally disbanded in 1886. Slaves who fought in the Ten Years’ War were released by the Zanjon Pact in 1878, but those who stayed in servitude were not. One of Cuba’s three battles of independence from Spanish colonization was the Ten Years’ War. The Cry of Yara started this battle on the night of October 9-10, 1868, at Carlos Manuel de Cespedes’s La Demajagua estate in Manzanillo. At its conclusion, “The Zanjon Pact” guaranteed the Spanish government that the war’s two primary goals—Cuba’s independence and the elimination of slavery—would remain unfulfilled by mandating the surrender of the Cuban Liberation Army (Mambises).
Vicente de las Tunas is a tiny village near the San Geronimo church that was built in 1796. The landowners in the area did not liberate their slaves after 10 years of violent conflicts. In addition, they ramped up their abuses as a kind of revenge. Located in eastern Cuba, this city goes by many names than just Victoria de las Tunas. Legend has it that it was originally a part of Camagüey. According to our forefathers, Camagüey and Holguin were the two most affluent provinces in the nation.
Among the landowners, one of the most brutal slavers was Mr. Rodolfo Valencia, a member of the most famous and rich family in the region, the Valencias. El Cornito, currently called Cucalambe Park, was located near the old farm. Just five kilometers outside of town is a lovely spot where poet Juan Cristóbal Napoles Fajardo—also known as The Cucalambe—wrote most of his poetry. Typically, Lord Valencia would put his slaves to work first thing in the morning and keep them going all night long. He was the one who flogged and tortured them for any reason he thought fit. Not only were his slaves submissive, but they were also gelfes, a tribe notorious for their gluttony, arrogance, and defiance. Scholars disagree on whether this tribe remained whole or if some of its people were sold in Brazil, Cuba, or New Orleans.
The tribesman and slave Bakkan had long been unhappy with the treatment he received from landowner Valencia and his servants. Slaves were enslaved during the day and kept in the barracks at night to cultivate the land. Don Rafael, one of the peons, once ordered Bakkan to bring firewood to the hacienda, but the wood accidentally dropped out of his hands. Don Rafael mercilessly thrashed this chubby slave till blood spurted out from every crevice. Bakkan rushed at him, freed his hand from the shackles that had been connected to his right foot, deftly disarmed him, and then murdered him with a flurry of strikes. Consequently, he had no choice but to run into the heavily forested fields at that moment. Nobody could keep up with him as he dashed barefoot through the underbrush. The landowner and his peons, accompanied by hunting hounds that were trained to locate slaves and wild animals, were still no closer to him after several weeks. Those who fled from slavery were known as runaways.
Bakkan discovered a cave and took refuge inside it behind a little waterfall. He would emerge from concealment only at the crack of dawn to go hunting and gathering for sustenance. He spent almost a decade completely alone. Bakkan reportedly encountered a band of Spanish troops while hunting, according to a popular tale in Las Tunas. As he ascended a little slope, clutching his machete tightly in his hand, he braced himself for the inevitable barrage of bullets from the soldiers’ muskets. But the Spanish troops had a code of honor. The modern male finds it very challenging to decipher this code. Instead of firing their weapons, they approached the African fugitive one by one and engaged in a hand-to-hand combat with their swords. Indeed, Bakkan, who was noticeably plump and bulky, injured and disarmed each and every one of them. Once they acknowledged that the campaign had failed, they let him go. Our forefathers, the Spanish troops, lived by those principles.
Some Creole peasants found Bakkan in 1887, two years after Cuba abolished slavery. Upon reaching the city, they informed him that slavery had been abolished in Cuba. He was terrified since it had been 10 years since the last escaped slave had emerged from the Eastern Balcony fields. His baptism took place in the only church in Las Tunas at the time, and he was given the name Victor—a form of Victory—because of this. Miguel and Bakkan were Victor’s kids from his marriage to a stunning mulatta. He deserved nothing less than a life full of love and tranquility. The role of coachman had a profound impact on Victor’s life. Slender horses move delivery wagons in Las Tunas instead of mechanic taxis.
As Cuba fought for its ultimate freedom in 1895, Victor enlisted with Antonio Maceo’s forces. He took seven gunshot wounds to the chest during the East-West invasion. His funeral was held in the Las Villas province with all the pomp and circumstance befitting a Mambi warrior. Tomas Estrada Palma, the first president of Cuba to declare independence from Spain, had a monument built at Las Tunas in honor of Bakkan. “Bakkan, the last runaway slave and the bravest Mambi warrior.” The monument also includes the machete that Bakkan wielded for 10 years. Whenever I visit Cuba, I make sure to visit the Church of San Geronimo to remember our hero Bakkan.
