Historical Synthesis

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At the arrival of the Spanish colonizers in the sixteenth century with their regime of grants, begins the process of disappearance of its primitive inhabitants in a not very peaceful way, judging by the evidence found in the most inaccessible of the Cordillera de Guaniguanico, which denote the presence of Maroon Indians.

The colonialists, supported by slave labor, began to develop the economy in Vueltabajo from tobacco, cattle and forests to the west and sugar to the east, and based on abuses and oprobial exploitation.

In 1774 the organization of the jurisdiction of Nueva Filipina began in the westernmost part of the territory, followed in the first half of the 19th century by three others - Guanajay, Bahía Honda and San Cristóbal - that on June 9, 1878, by Royal Decree, would integrate the province of Pinar del Río.

The rebellion provoked by the yearning for justice and independence of its inhabitants led, during the Ten Years' War, to the attempts of uprisings that took place in the territory, to dozens of its inhabitants being taken prisoner, and to the figure of Rafael Morales y González (Moralitos) remaining with the offering of his life to freedom as a constant source of combative inspiration for the people of Pinar del Río.

Seventeen years later, when the necessary war organized by the strategic genius José Martí restarted, Vueltabajo was ready to join the fight.

Thus, when Lieutenant General Antonio Maceo, in command of his 1500-man Invasion Column, entered the province on January 8, 1896, there had already been uprisings that were crushed by the Spanish army and were ready for combat at Mambises detachments in Cabañas and Bahía Honda. On January 20, the first cavalry regiment from Pinar del Río was incorporated in Paso Real de Guane, with the people armed and equipped.

In 15 days Maceo completed the most audacious feat of the century. On the 23rd of January the act was signed in Mantua that testified to the decision of the Cubans, demonstrated on many occasions and whose greatest example was the combat of Rio Hondo where the bisoña people commanded by Pedro Delgado threw themselves against the Spaniards with the glass of drinking water through all utensils.

About patriotism and the courage of the people of Pinar del Río, Maceo wrote to his wife from Havana once the Invasion was over: "In short, I am already leaving in the province of Pinar del Río 4000 men on the weapons product of the invasion and patriotism of those people, who, according to others, is what has best corresponded, resembles the East in enthusiasm and deeds.

It was in this spirit that the Pinar del Río people fought in the subsequent Western campaign, begun on March 15, 1896, which filled the Mambisa arms with glory in more than 64 combats, among them Ceja del Negro, "the bloodiest in the war" and the Montezuelo-Galón campaign, which brought the colonialist high command to the brink of crisis.

Likewise, the people of Vueltabajo faced the concentration decreed by Weyler, turned into a war of extermination. Nevertheless, the 6th Corps of the Liberating Army continued in combat until the end of the war; and repudiated the North American intervention that frustrated our independence.

In the years that followed, the spirit of the lower back mass was maintained in rebellion against the exploitation of the dominated class, allied to Yankee imperialism. At the time of the Machado dictatorship, the position of the Pinar del Río people became clear when an unconditional tyrant wrote it in 1931: "This capital is a true revolutionary camp... because in all the offices the subversive and revolutionary propaganda predominates. Unsustainable general atmosphere.

After two decades, when the Cuban people had to face a new dictatorship that usurped power with the certain coup d'état of March 10, 1952, the socioeconomic contradictions of the nation and the unemployment, misery, hunger and all the evils inherent in the domination of the native oligarchy under the imperialist master became a word of order. But the Pinar del Río people, faithful to their combative traditions, actively participated in the struggles against tyranny.

Top examples of this stage for the definitive liberation and independence were the dozens of young people from Pinar del Río who got together with Fidel in the movement that organized and carried out the assaults to the Moncada and C barracks.

Thus, when Lieutenant General Antonio Maceo in command of his 1500-man Invasive Column penetrated the province on January 8, 1896, uprisings had already taken place that were crushed by the Spanish army, and were ready for combat mambises detachments in Cabañas and Bahía Honda. On January 20, the first cavalry regiment from Pinar del Río was incorporated in Paso Real de Guane, with the people armed and equipped.

In 15 days Maceo completed the most audacious feat of the century. On the 23rd of January the act was signed in Mantua that testified to the decision of the Cubans, demonstrated on many occasions and whose greatest example was the combat of Rio Hondo where the bisoña people commanded by Pedro Delgado threw themselves against the Spaniards with the glass of drinking water through all utensils.

About patriotism and the courage of the people of Pinar del Río, Maceo wrote to his wife from Havana once the Invasion was over: "In short, I am already leaving in the province of Pinar del Río 4000 men on the weapons product of the invasion and patriotism of those people, who, according to others, is what has best corresponded, resembles the East in enthusiasm and deeds.

It was in this spirit that the Pinar del Río people fought in the subsequent Western campaign, begun on March 15, 1896, which filled the Mambisa arms with glory in more than 64 combats, among them Ceja del Negro, "the bloodiest in the war" and the Montezuelo-Galón campaign, which brought the colonialist high command to the brink of crisis.

Likewise, the people of Vueltabajo faced the concentration decreed by Weyler, turned into a war of extermination. Nevertheless, the 6th Corps of the Liberating Army continued in combat until the end of the war; and repudiated the North American intervention that frustrated our independence.

In the years that followed, the spirit of the lower back mass was maintained in rebellion against the exploitation of the dominated class, allied to Yankee imperialism. In the times of the machadist dictatorship, the position of the Pinar del Río people was clear, when an unconditional tyrant wrote it

Top examples of this stage for the definitive liberation and independence were the dozens of young people from Pinar del Río who got together with Fidel in the movement that organized and carried out the assaults to the Moncada and Céspedes barracks on July 26, 1953, fifteen of whom offered their valuable lives in that feat.

Many other revolutionary events took place in the town of Pinar del Río, facing the growing repression unleashed by the regime.  Workers' struggles, just demands of the peasants, student protest demonstrations, were common expressions of the time.

As a result of the organizational and war preparation work of the 26th of July movement, more than fifty of its members -disarmed since the weapons had been occupied by the regime's forces- rose on November 30, 1956 towards the Cordillera de los Órganos to support an eventual landing of the Granma along the Pinar del Río coasts. Thirty were arrested and tried.

A few months later, twelve Pinar del Río fighters, members of the Revolutionary Board of Directors, fell in the assault on the Presidential Palace. This event, together with the increase in propaganda work, action and sabotage activities, and the struggles of the masses of workers and peasants from different sectors, caused the repression of the dictatorship to increase, which can be exemplified by the assassination of the young Luis and Sergio Saíz Montes de Oca on August 13, 1957, in San Juan and Martínez, and the aggression of the police to the funeral procession of the Pinar del Río fighter Celso Maragoto, killed in Havana, which caused the death of the worker Francisco Donatién and injured more than twenty people in September of the same year, events that moved all the people of Pinar del Río.

On July 26, 1958, a guerrilla front was established in the Cordillera de los Órganos, led by Commander Dermidio Escalona, thus crystallizing the various attempts of this type made by Pinar del Río revolutionaries. This marked the beginning of the last stage of the armed struggle in Pinar del Río, which added to the offensive of the Rebel Army, the invading prowess of the columns of Camilo and Ché and the intensification of clandestine actions throughout the country led to the victory on January 1, 1959.

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