National Monument

On 22nd April 1949, when Carlos Prío Socarrás was president, Baracoa was designated a National Monument together with its principal colonial fortresses and historical places.  However, time passed and the fortresses and historical places fell into ruin.

On 4th November 1978, Dr. Antonio Núñez Jiménez, Vice Minister of Culture and President of the National Commission of Monuments said:

We meet this morning to proclaim Baracoa a National Monument of our Fatherland, and we perform this act under the vigilant headland of the Yunque and at the edge of the historic bay which the Admiral Discoverer described in 1492.

Upon declaring Baracoa a National Monument, we should remember the effort of those who constituted the workforce used by the Spaniards to construct the Hispanic foundations of this city, which was built upon Indian huts, because in truth the history of Baracoa does not begin with the arrival of the Spanish.  Its true foundation is lost in the mists of time.

Baracoa bears the historical blazon of a tradition of armed resistance.  We remember the sacrifice of Hatuey… it was he who began in Cuba the tradition of struggle to the death against the enemy.

Throughout the months of its existence, the National Commission of Monuments has dictated three resolutions.  The first declared all the documents written by José Martí to be a National Monument, the second declaration belonged to heroic Bayamo, which preferred to succumb to the flames rather than fall anew into the chains of slavery.  Now we come to Baracoa to proclaim solemnly, with the reading of resolution number three, its condition as National Monument:

Thus… using the faculties that are conferred upon them by clause C of the fourth Article of Law number 2 of 4th August 1977, the National Commission of Monuments resolves:

First: To declare National Monuments the following historical centres, sites and constructions, the seven first settlements.