The XXVIII National Workshop on Wars of Independence, convened by the National Association of Cuban Historians (UNHIC), culminated with the call to hold, exceptionally, the 29th nationwide workshop next year 2025, on occasion of the 130th anniversary of the Landing of José Martí and Maximo Gómez on the southern coast of the municipality Imias, in Guantanamo Province.
It was said by Jorge Luis Aneiros Alonso, president of UNHIC, who praised as excellent this edition of the event, due to the quality of the more than forty papers presented by Cuban historians from several provinces of the country, in the halls of the Plaza Mariana Grajales, where they presented new historiographic studies about issues, figures and events that were previously very little known, absent or novel and specific in the teaching of Cuban History.
For her part the PhD. Idania Núñez La O when giving the conference “Transcendence of the revolutionary work of Major General Pedro Agustín Pérez (Periquito) in the formation of the identity of the Guantanamo people, in the patio from the 11 de Abril Museum, in Imías Municipality, explained the need to study and know the development of the Guantanamo region from its origins to assume the local identity.
The researcher, leader of the project to improve the teaching of local history, highlights the role of Periquito in the Liberation Army of Cuba, as the first Mayor of Guantanamo, when he promoted sanitation campaign in the Villa del Río Guaso with new health services, organizes the board of veterans of the War of Independence, in addition to its pronouncement in the anti-imperialist fight after the imposition of the Platt Amendment and the transfer of land to erect the North American Naval Base in 1903.
Prior to the conference held at the Salustiano Leyva House Museum, the delegates attended the provincial event in honor of the 129th anniversary of the landing of José Martí and Máximo Gómez in the Playita de Cajobabo (National Monument), in the Imías Municipality, and toured there the Marti’s Forest, a day that culminated with a visit to the Frontier Border Brigade Museum, where they learned about the current military relations between Cuba and the United States in the illegal North American military camp in Guantanamo Bay.
From April 11 to 13, the academic program of National Workshop on Wars of Independence included visits to historic sites like La Confianza Mausoleum, el Patio de Adela Sociocultural Poject, and other places of interest in the Guantanamo City, where historians exchange and knew about the origin, socio-economic development, and the rich culture and tradicitions of the Cuban easternmost region.
