Foundation of Camaguey: an enigma lost in time

Camaguey, Cuba. When was founded the Village of Santa Maria del Puerto del Principe? Historians, archaeologists, and people in general have rekindled the controversy over the foundation date of this city, today Camaguey, and we can not redict clear up yet.

Built by the coasts of Nuevitas harbour, later moved to the indigenous village of Caonao and afterward, in 1528, to its current settlement, the tradition marks the origin of the city on February 2nd, 1514.

But this is only a tradition, because the official document, its copies or its further certification are nonexistent or missing, even when researchers have searched them in the Archive of the Indies, in Spain.

Did the wanted file disappear in the flames of one of the fires that devastated Puerto Principe, didn’t it? Did it ever exist? In 1986, the publication of the book "La fundación de las primeras Villas de la Isla de Cuba", (The foundation of the first villages of the Island of Cuba), written by PhD Hortensia Pichardo called into question the year 1514, as the time the town was founded.

After analyzing several documents like the correspondence exchanged between the King of Spain and Governor Diego Velásquez, she did not find the date when the cornerstone of this settlement was first set and inferred that it occurred on June or July 1515.

The new date, however, also lacks evidence and goes around in the hurricane of suppositions. Responses came fast and according to one of them, foundation did occur on February 2nd, 1514, but Velásquez didn’t tell the monarch for reasons presumably explained in that hypothesis.

Once again the supposition and the overwhelming lack of evidence. In 2005, the title "Cultura y costumbres en Puerto Príncipe. Siglos XVI y XVII" (Culture and customs in Puerto Principe. Centuries 16th and 17th) by local historian Amparo Fernández was published. It was another log thrown to the fireplace.

The book cites excerpts of the memoirs written by priest Ramón Antonio Miró in the 19th century. Based on documents and testimonies, the minister reflects how there were mortal remains in the shire since 1513.

Amparo Fernández also refers that the changes of places the village went through also included the moves of the dead to each site.

Another criteria surrounding the foundational year of Camagüey aroused, but also accompanied by objections: 1513, 1514 ó 1515? Who has the answer? No one, and the pros and cons fall like a diluvium rain.

Meanwhile, above all the contradictions, the people of Camaguey, faithful to their traditions, party the birth of Santa Maria del Puerto del Principe on February 2nd every year. (By Adolfo Silva)