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El Doce - 1912
The 1912 Massacre of AfroCubans
In 1912, the Cuban army massacred thousands of AfroCubans in what became known as "El Doce," "the Twelve," and the "Guerrita de Raza," the "Little Race War." Many of those murdered, but by no means all, were members of the hemisphere's first black political party
outside Haiti: The Independent Party of Color (PIC). These were largely made up of veterans of the Mambi Army, the Cuban Army of Liberation that defeated the Spanish in two Wars of Liberation (1868-1878 and 1895-1898). Recent research in Cuba has established
that this army was overwhelmingly made up of Cubans of African descent (80% and perhaps as high as 90%): it was one of the largest slave revolts in the hemisphere. See the Mambi photo Gallery. When the Mambises had all but ejected the Spaniards from Cuba, the
plantocracy, as Maceo had predicted, allied themselves with the Americans to bring about the American intervention known as the Spanish American War in 1898. That year, the 9th and 10th Cavalry, the Buffalo Soldiers, took San Juan Hill, with some help from the
Rough Riders, and Teddy Roosevelt then claimed all of the glory.

Rural guard lynching, 1912
The Independents of Color
Articles/Artculos
Evaristo Estenoz (in white suite, right ==>), Pedro Ivonnet, and others founded the Independents of Color (PIC) in 1908 in order to secure a rightful share for AfroCubans in a Cuba which had successfully marginalized them since
Independence. The plantocracy responded with a law, the Morua amendment, to prohibit parties restricted to a particular race, even though there were white members of the PIC. Then, after the party's protests continued, the
plantocracy engaged in an intense media campaign to demonize the party. This culminated in a massacre where Estenoz, along with 6,000 or more other AfroCubans, mostly fellow party members, were murdered by Cuban troops that
President Jose Miguel Gomez ordered to the field in 1912. We have an autopsy photo of Estenoz with army personel - he was shot in the back of the head. As famed sonero Arsenio Rodriguez said: "Adorenla como Mart!" - according to
Eugene Godfried, he was speaking in code about the PIC leadership, and had to use the feminine to hide his feelings.

1912, Breaking the Silence,
documentary by Gloria Rolando
5/2012 - Acerca del centenario de la
masacre de los Independientes de
Color en Cuba, 1912-2012:
Memorias de un simposio
5/2012 - On the centennial of Cubas
Independent Party of Color, 1912-
2012: Conference Papers
Panel de los Independientes de
color, Academia de la Historia de
Cuba
In Guantanamo, the mayor, Pedro Augustin Perez, ordered the massacre of 50 AfroCubans, mostly Haitians, in one night and sanctioned many other murders. Perez came from a family of rancheadors (bounty hunters) tasked with
tracking escaped slaves - his uncle Miguel Perez was killed by Guillermo Moncada on a special mission from Mximo Gmez.
AfroCuban culture and religion as well as political aspirations were all severely repressed across the island. Precisely Marti's son, Jos Francisco Mart y Zayas-Bazn, who had been a captain in the Mambi
Army, was chief of staff of the Cuban Army as it carried out this massacre. After the white supremacist victory, the government and big business held a celebratory banquet in Central Park, Havana, which
was presided over by Marti's son under the statue of his father and attended by many of the troops involved.
The event was rarely spoken of again until Serafin Portuondo Linares wrote about it in 1950. A communist, he was criticized by his party for not following a stricter class analysis, yet his was the first book
written based on primary sources. Interest then waned.
Aline Helg's book Our Rightful Share (1995) and Gloria Rolando's film Roots of my heart (2001) really opened up the discussion in recent years. Without Aline Helg's book, it is doubtful that the Cubans
would have rescued this forgotten and repressed story in time for the 2012 centenary commemoration. In particular, she documented the celebration that took place in Havana right under the statue of Jose Evaristo Estenoz
Marti with Jos Francisco Mart at the head of the table being honored for his genocidal work -- an image reminiscent of the lynching picnics in the USA, except that this was done with the participation of the Gloria Rolando, 2001
son of the Cuban George Washington.

HACIA EL CENTENARIO DE LA This theme has until recent years been largely ignored by both sides of the Florida Straights, but it is increasingly being researched by numerous scholars in and outside of Cuba.
FUNDACIN DEL PARTIDO
INDEPENDIENTE DE COLOR: How many people were murdered? 1/07
APROXIMACIN CRTICA A TRES
NUEVAS CONTRIBUCIONES. Pedro Ivonet, a founder According to Aline Helg (Our Rightful Share, p225), the Cuban Government at the time put the figure at 2,000 while American citizens in Oriente put it at 5,000 to 6,000 and an
1/14/2012 Redalyc: publicado of the PIC Independiente, Guillermo Lara, spoke of 5,000. According to Maritza Elias, professor of history in La Maya, Oriente, that town alone saw 3,000 executed.
1/2008 - Toms Fernndez Robaina 2007 Bohemia
Tomas Fernndez Robaina (2006) did research from the Biblioteca Nacional in Havana, where he is based with access across the country, and reached a total of 12,000 killed.
Tremenda bronca alrededor del libro
"La conspiracin de los iguales,"
Some would still deny the importance or the seriousness of the event, much as today there are those who deny the multiple Holocausts of WWII, the Armenian Genocide, and many other similar events.
del historiador cubano Rolando
Rodrguez sobre 1912. 1/15/2012. References & Links
Comrades struggle over book on
1912 by Rolando Rodrguez,
Silvio Castro Fernndez, La Masacre De Los Independientes De Color En 1912, Editorial de Ciencias sociales, la Habana, 2002
1/5/2012

Comision Organizadora del Rafael Conte, Jos M. Capmany, Guerra de Razas (Negros contra blancos en Cuba), Imp. Militar de Antonio Perez, Muralla 40, Havana, 1912 [4 PDFs, 4MB total] See also
Centenario: Nacional y Internacional, www.gutenberg.org/files/37747/37747-8.txt for searchable text version, no photographs.
2008
Pedro Antonio Garca: Cuba 1912: La masacre racista, Bohemia, 7/2/07
Commemorative Plaque, 2008
Gatewood, Willard B., Jr. "Kansas Negroes and the Spanish-American War." [PDF, 2.5MB]
La matanza de Oriente, Encuentro, Kansas Historical Quarterly 37 (Autumn 1971): 300. Focuses on black newspaper reaction but includes photos of 23rd Kansas, an all black regiment commanded by black officers, which did garrison duty in
4/27/07, defending Martn Mora Cuba, 1898-1899. See also Spanish American War.
Delgado's ideas and accusing the Celebrating the massacre in Havana's Parque
Partido Independiente de Color of Hellwig, David J. "The Afro-American Press and US Involvement in Cuba, 1902-1912." Mid-American 72 (April/July 1990) Also in Between Race and Empire: African-Americans and Cubans Before the Cuban Central: a bottle of wine for each.
having caused their own destruction From "Roots of My Heart" 2001 Gloria Rolando
Revolution by Lisa Brock and Digna Castaeda
through their choice of a race based
party.
Jiribilla, febrero, 2002 - 1912 con Fernando Martnez Heredia, Silvio Castro, Aline Helg
Interview with Eugne Godfried: Call
for dialog on the 1912 Massacre, Mellen, Jim: Cuban Soldiers in the Spanish-American War, Small Planet
10/5/07. Accompanied by
commentary from the former head Serafin Portuondo Linares, Los Independientes de Color: Historia del Partido Independientes de Color, La Habana 1950 - 287 p PDF 4.2MB
of the Caribbean Section of the
Department of the Americas, Sierra, J.A. Race War of 1912, historyofcuba.com, 2007
Osvaldo Crdenas. Entrevista con Race War of 1912 - A Timeline
Eugne Godfried: una llamada para
el dialogo sobre la masacre de Wikipedia: Amador de Jess Liens Cabrera (1849-1912) Teniente Coronel del Ejercito Libertador de Cuba, patriota y veterano de las guerras de independencia (la del 68 y la del 95). "Aunque en la regin de Bayamo no hubo accin ninguna, fue inevitable que la fobia
1912, 5/10/07. Acompaado por a dicho grupo de alzados influyera en las mentes de los racistas y crear grupos armados para atacar a los negros y mulatos pacficos. Amador Liens con sus hijos se opuso a esto pues el deca que esos negros y mulatos pelearon con l por la independencia. Al
comentarios del antiguo jefe de la enfrentarse a uno de los cabecillas racistas, su propio yerno Manuel lvarez (casado con Emilia), este le dispar a Amador Liens"
Seccion del Caribe del
Departamento de las Americas, Monuments in Cuba
Osvaldo Crdenas.
Up until August, 2008, there were no monuments to the Independents of Color. In 2008, the Comision Organizadora del Centenario put together a plaque to commemorate the founding of the party in 1908.
La Prensa Guantanamera y la
Masacre de 1912 en Cuba de The silence imposed on 1912 was highly effective.
Eugene Godfried, 44p, PDF 1 MB,
1/04: investigacion original de los There is a very large statue of President Jos Miguel Gomez on Avenida de los Presidentes, la Habana. He was president in 1912 and ordered the massacre. It was torn down in 1959 with the triumph of the Revolution, but was
archivos del Voz del Pueblo, later restored by Eusebio Leal, the Historian of Havana.
periodico de Guantnamo
In Guantanamo, there is a bust of Martin Morua Delgado, who betrayed his fellow AfroCubans by proposing the Morua Amendment to outlaw the Independents of Color.
Eugne Godfried in Dialogue with
Ricardo Riquenes Herrera on the
Partido Independiente de Color & Former Minister of Culture Armando Hart has transformed the Havana house of Marti's son, Jos Francisco Mart y Zayas-Bazn, into the seat of a Centro de Estudios Marti. Francisco Marti headed a group of vigilante
the 1912 Massacre of Blacks In volunteers on a murderous rampage against the Independents of Color. During the centenial year of the massacre, 2012, Eusebio Leal Spengler and Armando Hart unveiled a plaque commemorating 1912 Massacre leader
Guantnamo, Cuba, 2/07 Eugne Jos Francisco Mart.
Godfried Dialogando con Ricardo
Riquenes Herrera sobre el Partido Pedro A. Perez, the mayor of Guantanamo who ordered the liquidation of numerous AfroCubans, has a street and a park named after him in Guantanamo and there is also a statue honoring him. The black community there is
Independiente De Color y la Masacre aware of his history but party leaders continue to glorify him.
de 1912 en Guantnamo, Cuba, 7/07
Perhaps the most lasting monument to 1912 is in the Cuban psyche: whenever a group of Blacks gather in Cuba, it is not uncommon to hear an Iberian Cuban say, mostly in a "joking" way, "Ustedes estan formando un partido
La Maya y la Masacre de 1912: de negro? Que cosa!" - "You all are forming a party of blacks? What a thing!"
Eugne Godfried En Dialogo
Con Maritza Elias, 11/04 Dialogue
With Maritza Elias: On the Massacre
of 1912 in La Maya, Cuba, 10/07 Conmemoracion de la Fundacion del Partido de los Independientes de Color, 7/8/08 de Gloria Rolando Commemoration of the Founding of the Party of the Independents of Color, 8/7/08 by Gloria Rolando
The 1912 Massacre in the Cuban
Educational System, 10/07

Eugene Godfried Calls on Fidel

Castro for Reflection and Action,
YouTube Video on the topic of the
1912 Massacre, 9/07
Massacres in the Americas
Fidel Castro on El Doce, 8/07
The 1912 Massacre was far from unique in the annals of the Americas. Bust of Martin Morua Delgado
Novel set in 1912: Santa Clara in Guantanamo - courtesy Eugene Godfried
Santa, 2007 The Rosewood Massacre, 1923
How many people were murdered?
Ethnic Cleansing in the Dominican Republic, 1937 and 2015
Over 12,000 and counting, 1/07

Quintn Bandera y su asesinato Tulsa Race Riot of 1921: Coming to terms with Americas terror attack on Black America 11/17/03 Black America Today
traicionero: preludio inevitable para
Third World - 96 Degrees In The Shade: song about a massacre in Jamaica
la creacion del Partido
Independiente de Color
96 degrees in the shade
Eugne Godfried, 9/05
real hot in the shade
Guillermn Moncada and the Defeat
of Rancheador- Slavehunter - said it was 96 degrees in the shade
Miguel Prez Cspedes of ten thousand soldiers on parade
Guantnamo, Eugene Godfried, 5/05 taking i and i to meet a big fat boy
sent from overseas
ALTO SONGO - Son in popular the queen employ
culture and history: resistance and excellency before you i come
liberation, Eugene Godfried, 2/04 La
with my representation
Maya burns in 1912.
you know where i'm coming from
Claudio Menendez, PIC President in
Matanza. Killed in prison? 2/04 you caught me on the loose
fighting to be free
Color Cubano: la Guerrita de 1912 y now you show me a noose
la Conspiracion del Silencio, on the cotton tree
Noventa aos despues, 6/6/2002 entertainment for you
ALTO SONGO, SE QUEMA LA MAYA! martyrdom for me
Miguel Barnet, 2/02
96 degrees in the shade
real hot in the shade

some may suffer and some may burn

Roots of my heart
2001 film by Gloria Rolando
English summary of Races de mi
corazn - English subtitles
but i know that one day my people will learn
as sure as the sun shines, way up in the sky
today i stand here a victim the truth is I'll never die
96 degrees in the shade
real hot in the shade

Aline Helg: Our Rightful Share, 1995.

Los Independientes de Color:

Historia del Partido Independientes
de Color
Serafin Portuondo Linares
La Habana 1950 - 287 p
PDF 4.2MB

Guerra de Razas (Negros contra

blancos en Cuba), Rafael Conte,
Jos M. Capmany, Imp. Militar de
Antonio Perez, Muralla 40, Havana,
1912 [4 PDFs, 4MB total] Members of the Party: the Independents of Color
Gloria Rolando, 2001
Mambises Children in the Liberation
Army

Wars of Liberation (1868-1878 and

1895 - 1898)

Monuments to 1912 in Cuba

Cuban History Time-Line

The 1912 Massacre in Foreign

Media

References & Links

US Actions in 1912

Rafael Fermoselle, Politica y color

en Cuba: La Guerrita de 1912 , 1973.
The author works for the US State
Department and reviews some of
the cable traffic.

Negro Uprising in Cuba, Department

of State, Division of Information, July
9, 1912 PDF, 3.5MB, 41 pages

Papers Relating to the Foreign

Affairs of the United States,
Government Printing Office,
12/3/1912. Cuba: Negro Uprising -
Attitude of the United States -
Protection of Foreign Colonies. PDF
1.4 MB, 34 pages

1912 Cuban Pacification Campaign,

MARINE CORPS HISTORICAL
REFERENCE PAMPHLET, A Brief
History of the 2d Marines, 1970

The 1st Marines in Cuba

1906-1913

Spanish American War 1898-1899

Chronology of Works on 1912

1912 Rafael Conte, Jos M. Capmany, Guerra de Razas (Negros contra blancos en Cuba), Imp. Militar de Antonio Perez, Havana

1950 Serafin Portuondo Linares, Los Independientes de Color: Historia del Partido Independientes de Color, La Habana

1962 Sergio Aguirre, El cincuentenario de un gran crimen, article published in Cuba

1973 Rafael Fermoselle, Politica y color en Cuba: La Guerrita de 1912 (Black Politics in Cuba: The Race War of 1912) , Editorial Colibri, 1st edition 1973, 2nd edition 1998, paperback. The author works for the US State Department.

1974 Joel James Figarola, Cuba 1900-1928: La Repblica dividida contra s misma. The author was director of Casa del Caribe in Santiago. James, deceased 6/2006, left unpublished a reportedly well written manuscript focused on 1912.

1990 Tomas Fernndez Robaina, El Negro en Cuba: Apuntes para la historia de la lucha contra la discriminacion racial: portion on 1912

1995 Aline Helg: Our Rightful Share, 1995.

2001 Gloria Rolando: Roots of My Heart

2002 Silvio Castro Fernndez, La Masacre De Los Independientes De Color En 1912, Editorial de Ciencias sociales, la Habana

Numero 42 de Jiribilla, dedicado al PIC

2004 La Maya y la Masacre de 1912: Eugne Godfried En Dialogo Con Maritza Elias,

2007 Eugne Godfried in Dialogue with Ricardo Riquenes Herrera on the Partido Independiente de Color & the 1912 Massacre of Blacks In Guantnamo, Cuba

2007 Pedro Antonio Garca: Cuba 1912: La masacre racista, Bohemia, 7/2/07

2011 Panel de los Independientes de color, Academia de la Historia de Cuba

See The Independents of Color and the Massacre of 1912 in the media

Cuban Government on El Doce

Fidel Castro on El Doce, 8/16/07

Not mentioned much in current Cuban or exile political discourse, el Doce surfaces in a speech by Fidel on 8/16/07 whose import is that it legitimizes discussion of 1912.

En 1912 el Secretario de Estado de Cuba, Manuel Sanguily, negoci con la cancillera norteamericana un nuevo tratado por el que Estados Unidos renunciaba a sus derechos sobre Baha Honda a cambio de una ampliacin en los lmites de la estacin en
Guantnamo.

En ese mismo ao, cuando se produjo el alzamiento del Partido de los Independientes de Color, que el gobierno del presidente Jos Miguel Gmez del Partido Liberal reprimi brutalmente, salieron de la Base Naval en Guantnamo tropas
norteamericanas que ocuparon diferentes poblaciones de la antigua provincia de Oriente, cercanas a las ciudades de Guantnamo y de Santiago de Cuba, con el pretexto de "proteger vidas y haciendas de ciudadanos estadounidenses".

de EL IMPERIO Y LA ISLA INDEPENDIENTE, Granma, 8/16/07

www.granma.cubaweb.cu/secciones/reflexiones/esp-043.html

The context is a list of depradations committed by US troops out of Guantanamo.

Abel Prieto, Minister of Culture, on the 1912 Massacre, 2003

Several students in the audience, noting the racist character of U.S. society, asked how Cuba is confronting the legacy of racism today. "Fighting discrimination and marginalization is at the heart of many of the educational campaigns in Cuba, like the training of social
workers," the Cuban minister said.

He noted that a growing discussion is taking place in Cuba about Black organizations in the years prior to the revolution and the history of the struggle against racist oppression.

For example, "a massacre of Blacks who had revolted in 1912 was covered up for many years before the revolution, and for many years after the triumph of the revolution it was not discussed much, but some books have recently been published that talk about that
history." The uprising was led by a Black party called the Independents of Color.

Pointing to another example, Prieto said, "In their music, Black rap musicians react to the continuing manifestations of racial prejudice in Cuba."

in "U.S. youth discuss defense of revolution with Cubans"

www.granmai.cubasi.cu/ingles/2003/agosto03/vier29/perpectiva.html

Prieto would be referring to the following books:

Los Independientes de Color: Historia del Partido Independientes de Color Serafin Portuondo Linares La Habana 1950, reprinted in 2002

Aline Helg: Our Rightful Share, 1995. Published in Cuba in 2000 as Lo que nos corresponde: la lucha de los negros y mulatos por la igualdad en Cuba 1886-1912

La Guerrita del Doce, noventa aos despus, UNEAC

Gisela Arandia Covarrubia, Granma, 6/17/02

La Masacre de los Independientes de Color, 20/5/07, Granma, Silvio Castro

The Communist Party line has in the past tended to diminish the importance of the role of President Gomez in 1912 and accentuate the role of US troops, who were involved in only one reported shooting incident. Rather they "Cubanized" the action, supporting Cuban
troops by taking over the guarding of plantations, rail roads, and other strategic points so the Cubans could prosecute their massacre. As more of the 1912 events have come to light, this emphasis has diminished.

El Exilio on el Doce

LA GUERRA RACIAL DE 1912

Por Hugo J. Byrne
www.amigospais-guaracabuya.org/oaghb115.php

La matanza de Oriente
Dimas Castellanos, Encuentro, 4/07

"No fue la Enmienda Constitucional, sino la desatencin de la agenda de los negros, el empleo de la violencia verbal o fsica para dirimir sus diferencias y la persistente discriminacin racial, los factores que condujeron al mar de sangre de 1912 y que an estn
presentes en la sociedad cubana: una enseanza de vital importancia para nuestra historia presente."

A classic blame-the-victims exposition from Encuentro, a publication run by exiles in Spain with funds from NED. In the words of one researcher, "this is the most employed lame excuse that the ibero-spanish elite uses to rationalize the criminal acts of their class
represented by Jose Miguel Gomez."

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