Cubans Mark Start of Independence War on Spanish Colonialism

Cubans Mark Start of Independence War on Spanish ColonialismGranma, Cuba, Oct 10.- Thousands of citizens in eastern Granma province, on behalf of the Cuban people, are commemorating the 145th anniversary of the start of Cuban independence war against Spanish Colonial rule, which kicked off at the La Demajagua locality, in the municipality of Manzanillo.

The ceremony, which is taking place by the ruins of a former sugar mill that operated at the site, includes the reopening of the La Demajagua National Park, which among its new artistic pieces shows a life-size statue of Carlos Manuel de Cespedes, the Father of Cuban Homeland. Cespedes was a sugar mill and plantation owner who, 145 years ago, on a day like today, decided to free his slaves and take arms against Spanish colonialism.

Commemorations will be animated with artistic presentations by cultural community projects, while participants will tour the sites where Cespedes and his companions set their camps October 10-17, 1868.

In the Granma city of Bayamo, where the Cuban independence hero was born 18 April 1819, the people will lay wreaths at his monument and at the statue of Perucho Figueredo, author of the Cuban National Anthem.

Cespedes' uprising led to the 10-year Cuban independence war, which did not meet the objective of freeing Cuba from Spanish colonialism or abolishing slavery, but changed the course of history on the island by mingling for good the factors that make up a nation, a homeland and Cuban nationality.(ACN)