THE "RECONCENTRADOS"

The Spanish general Valeriano Weyler was named to head the government of the colony of Cuba at a point when the native insurgents seemed to be winning more and more territory following a guerrilla war strategy. It was February of 1896, almost a year to the day after the beginning of the hostilities.

Intent on crushing the rebellion at the earliest possible time, Weyler put into practice what is considered the first instance of concentration camps for civilians in history, In a series of "bandos" (edicts) he ordered all the inhabitants of the countryside -- first of one province, then another, and another -- to abandon their lands, their houses, their animals and their crops and go to designated "fortified" areas in the towns.

The Spanish government made no provision for the feeding, shelter, hygiene or medical needs of these people who came to be known as "the reconcentrados." Starvation and disease accounted for the deaths of approximately 150,000 persons.

This period of time and some specific stories of savagery are unfortunately contaminated with the exaggerations of the so-called "yellow journalism." This is unfortunate because there indeed was savagery, inhumane conditions and death of innocents. Lack of planning, inefficiency and corruption on the part of the Spanish authorities were also contributors to the tragedy.

What follows is part of a speech given by Senator Proctor of Vermont on the floor of the US Senate on March 17, 1898 after a visit to Cuba:

“My observations are confined to the four western provinces, which constitute about one half the island. The two eastern provinces are practically in the hands of the insurgents, except the few fortified towns. It is not peace, nor is it war. It is desolation and distress, misery and starvation. Every town and village is surrounded by a “trocha” (trench), a sort of rifle pit, but constructed on a plan new to me, the dirt being thrown up on the inside and a barbed wire on the outer side of the trench. Thee trochas have at every corner and at frequent intervals along the sides what are there called “forts”, which are really small block houses, many of them more like a large box, loop-holed for musketry and with a guard of from two to ten soldiers each.

The purpose of these trochas is to keep the reconcentrados in as well as to keep the insurgents out. From all the surrounding country the people have been driven into these fortified towns and held there to subsist as they can. They are virtually prison yards, and not unlike one in general appearance, except the walls are not so high and strong, but they suffice, where every point is in range of a soldier’s rifle.

Every railroad station is within one of these trochas and has an armed guard. Every train has an armored freight car, loop holed for musketry and filled with soldiers. There are frequent block houses inclosed[sic] by a trocha and with a guard along the railroad track. With this exception there is no human life or habitation between these fortified towns and villages and throughout the whole western provinces. I saw no house or hut in the 100 miles of railroad fro Pinar del Rio province in the west, across the full length of Havana and Matanzas provinces and to Sagua la Grande on the north and Cienfuegos on the south shore of Santa Clara, except within the Spanish trochas.

There are no domestic animals or crops on the rich fields and pastures except such that are under guard in the immediate vicinity of the towns. Nearly all the sugar mills are destroyed between Havana and Sagua.

All the country people these four western provinces, about 400,000 in number remaining outside the fortified town when Weyler’s order was made were drove into these towns and these are the reconcentrados. They were the peasantry, many of them farmers, some land owners, others renting lands, other working on estates.

They lived mostly in cabins made of palm or in wooden houses. Some of them had houses of stone, the blackened walls of which are all that remain to show that the country was ever inhabited.

When they reached town they were allowed to build huts of palm leaves I the suburbs or vacant places within the trocha and left to live as they could, Their huts are about 10 by 10 feet in size. They have no floor and no furniture and after a year ear very little clothing.

Torn from their homes, with foul earth, foul air, foul water and foul food or none, what wonder that one half have died and that many of the living are so diseased that they cannot be saved/. A form of dropsy is a common disorder resulting from these conditions. Little children are still walking about with arms and chest terribly emaciated, eyes swollen and abdomen bloated to three times the natural size. Deaths on the streets have not been uncommon.

Of the hospitals I need not speak. Other have described it. It is not within the narrow limits of my vocabulary to portray it. I went to Cuba with a strong conviction that the picture had been overdrawn, that a few cases of starvation and suffering had inspired and stimulated the press correspondents and that they had given free play to a strong, natural and highly cultivated imagination. I saw plenty as bad or worse. I could not believe that out of a population of 1,000,000, 200.000 had died within these Spanish forts, practically prisons walls within a few months past from actual starvation and diseases caused by insufficient and improper food."