Subscribe to DeepL Pro to edit this document. Visit www.DeepL.com/Pro for more information.

Local History Limonar Municipality

General characteristics of the municipality.

The territory occupied by the municipality of Limonar borders on Matanzas and Cárdenas to the north, Jovellanos to the east, Pedro Betancourt and Unión de Reyes to the south, and Unión de Reyes, Matanzas and Madruga to the west, in the province of Mayabeque.

It occupies 3,8 % of the territory of the province of Matanzas. It has a territorial extension of 449,07 Km2. Its population is 26704 inhabitants, 13262 females and 13442 males.

The main population settlements are: Limonar (municipal capital), Horacio Rodríguez, Fructuoso Rodríguez, Triumvirate, Santa Ana, Jesús María, Las Marías and San Francisco.

The territory is located at 220 57' 04'' north latitude and 810 25' 38'' west longitude and is formed topographically by a relief that goes from flat to hillock. The predominant soils are of the clayey type, derived from the limestone rocks of the upper Cretaceous. Among the deepest soils are the famous black soils of the Guamacaro valley of the palmarito type.

In the northern elevations of the Guamacaro valley and in the Las Nieves savannah the vegetation is that of cuabal, typical of the shallow serpentine soils where the cana palm abounds.

The soil is mainly red ferrallitic in 70% and some brown, where there is a wide range of vegetation and their lands are devoted primarily to the production of small fruits, vegetables, grains, fruit trees and livestock development.

The predominant climate is warm, the average annual temperature is 25-300 and in the cold months it is 210 C. The average rainfall is between 1100 and 1300 millimeters.

Among the most significant elevations of the territory are the Sierra de Guamacaro, to the northeast of Limonar, which marks the limit of the fertile valley of the same name and reaches up to 251 meters (on the hill of Botino). To the east-southeast are the picturesque elevations known as the hills of Domingo Alonso, which reach their peak at San Juan Bautista, at 245 meters. To the southeast is the Sierra de Limones, a mountain range that extends from Las Nieves to Limones, known as the lomas de Sitio Vianda, in whose eastern portion is the highest elevation in the municipality at 253 meters. To the west of the municipality on the border with Madruga, are the elevations of some importance known by the Mogote, whose highest point reaches 216 meters.

The south-western portion (closer to the municipal capital), presents a series of hills through which flows the Canímar River, which is the most extensive and abundant, which has as its main tributaries the Las Mozas River, which comes from the eastern slope of the Sierra de Caobas and the Yaití or Limones Grandes, which is born in the Sierra de Santana de los Caballeros.

To the northeast, in the Sierra de Guamacaro, the Moreto or Guamacaro River has its source, which flows into the Canimar River, in the place known as El Tumbadero, and which was a river port for the shipment of sugar during the colonial period.

There are other rivers such as the Mariposa, Charco Largo, La Palma and San Juan, which crosses territories to the west of the municipality.

The North American writer Samuel Hazard, who visited the country in the middle of the 19th century, impressed by the beauty of the place wrote: ¨Cerca of Matanzas, on the road to Bemba, is the small and beautiful town of Limonar, one of the most pleasant places on the island, very suitable for those with delicate health, because of its pure air and vigorizante¨. *

*Hazard,Samuel. Pen and pencil vat. Cultural SA. Havana, 1928p. 136

II Pre-Columbian stage According to the map drawn up by José María de la Torre in 1841, which shows the territorial areas in which the different tribes were formed. Guamacaro is located in the chiefdom of Sabana or Sabaneque and to a lesser extent, also in the chiefdom of Cubanacán. The primitive man located in the lands of Limon developed in the Paleolithic, in the Mesolithic stage.

Among the Cuban aboriginal communities is the proto-archic man, considered the oldest in the country. It has been determined that this primitive man inhabited the banks of the Canímar, Moreto and Yaití rivers.

The geographical environment influenced the establishment and development of these communities that lived for thousands of years in these regions, mainly in the places surrounding the Canímar River, whose course slid faster and more impetuously than other river currents. In this place the proto-archic man, found the suitable conditions for the subsistence, being the hunt his fundamental activity.

In our municipality the mark of the aboriginal cultural contribution has been left through names, such as Caneymar, known as Canímar, which meant ¨¨Templo from Mar¨¨, Guamacaro, Yaití, Moreto and other geographical features or places that bear the mark of our first inhabitants.

III Colonial Stage

The fertility of the Guamacarense soil, as well as its proximity to the Bay of Yucayo (Matanzas) must have awakened the greed of the colonists, if we consider that the first known land grant in the country was granted on March 4, 1558 to Inés de Gamboa, widow of the conqueror Diego Velázquez, granting her the herd of Caneymar, so that she could promote the raising of livestock. On August 5, 1663, the corral Laguna de Palos was given to Doña Petronila Recio, which was adjacent to Limones Chicos and the Caneymar herd; for the breeding of large livestock. In 1747 these lands belonged to the Countess of Buena Vista Braulia Carrillo de Albornoz and her brother-in-law Don Mateo Soubervilley. At the beginning of the 19th century these lands became the property of the Marquise Jústiz de Santa Ana. The existence of an incipient population in Guamacaro's lands, since the 17th century, is revealed in the request of transfer of the seat of its corral Caneymar that formulated in 1672 the Ensign Cristóbal de Poveda for that place, to avoid the attacks of the filibusters. This way, numerous large and small cattle ranches appeared in this jurisdiction, among them; Caneymar of Philipe del Castillo, Cahobas of Francisco Sequeira, Limones (site) of Agustín Fernández, Limones (corral) of Cristóbal Frómeta, Limones Chicos of Joseph Solís and Laguna de Palos of Ambrosio Sotolongo.

In February 1805, Bishop Espada visited the church of Guamacaro and in his notes on the visit, Fr. Hipólito Sánchez Rangel noted, ¨... We followed the path here, which was already

very flat and very beautiful because of the many mountains that offered a variety of fruit trees, including the lemon. For this reason they call a site of the king where the commander of Cortés and I had lunch, El Limonal¨.

On May 17, 1807, the church of Guamacaro was authorized for El Limonal, under the patronage of San Cipriano and the Purísima Concepción, patron saint of the village, whose day of remembrance is celebrated on December 8.

In 1800, the Marqueza Jústiz de Santa Ana, owner of the Laguna de Palos hacienda, had given up a plot of land to promote the town, which was distributed in plots of land where five pesos were paid annually to the church. In this way, a certain number of settlers who lived in the hacienda began to gather in the area, giving rise to the formation of a small town called Limonar. Its name is attributed to the lemon plantations that the French colonists had in the place.

The date of foundation is taken as 28 October 1808, as there is a document drawn up by the parish priest of Limonar, dated 15 July of that year, where he reports that the church of Limonar was being built, according to the plan made by the engineer Miguel Dubroc. It is from that date onwards that we begin to talk about Guamacaro, as a judicial district and Limonar as the head of the same.

In the second half of the 17th century, the Spanish government changed the administrative territorial organization, dividing them into smaller structures at the head of which were the captains or pedophile lieutenants. In 1812 the party of Guamacaro includes the following territories: Sumidero, San José, Sabanilla, Lagunillas, Pendejeras, Camarioca and Siguapa.

In 1827 Guamacaro did not have a city hall, it was recognized as the only authority to the captain judge who was helped by the lieutenants who were in charge of each of the quarters that made up the territory that at that time were five: San Jose, La Sierra, Caobas, Limonar and Sabanilla.

According to Estaban Pichardo's map, it stands out that in 1838, Guamacaro, belongs to the jurisdiction of the city of Matanzas, which included the rural neighborhoods of Santa Ana and Guamacaro, among others.

At this stage the game in Guamacaro was governed by a pediatric judge with the name of party captain, helped by a lieutenant.

The game was divided into quarters, with other subordinates called the corporal. The military jurisdiction was presided over by the Arms Command and the Maritime Command was represented by a sea mayor, both with a seat in Limonar.

In 1843 a political-administrative division was applied, making modifications to the jurisdictions of the parties, leaving the Guamacaro party made up of the Sumidero, La Sierra, Caobas, Limonar, Guamacaro, Canímar, San Miguel and Coliseo quarters and Sabanilla del Encomendador was broken up. The captaincy was second class, being based in the town of Limonar. In 1865, Don Miguel Nodal was captain of the party. The last municipal mayor during the colony was the Spaniard Eugenio Bobia Noriega, owner of the Ermita estate in Sumidero.

With regard to the socio-economic development of the territory, it should be noted that at the end of the 18th century, the municipal economy was based mainly on livestock farming and tobacco was also grown on the banks of the River Canímar. Proof of this is that in 1755, Joaquín Rodríguez, Vicar General of the Bishopric, on visiting the parish of Guamacaro, noted the existence of a large number of fertile plains on the banks of the River Canímar. In addition to this productive line, other products were cultivated for subsistence. At the end of the 18th century, the cultivation of sugar cane began. In 1796 the San Ramón de Aguiar and Nuestra Señora del Carmen or Julia sugar mills were built. The 1820s marked the beginning of the territory's economic splendor. In 1826, the district had 57 coffee plantations whose production amounted to 45375 arrobas, becoming the largest producer in the province, where the San Patricio coffee plantation, owned by Enrique Didier, based in El Francisco, stands out. The main coffee growing areas were in Canímar, Sumidero and Limonar. In the year 1863 there were 22 coffee plantations in the district of Guamacaro that produced 20618 arrobas of the product. In the second half of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century the sugar industry underwent an accelerated growth.

The following table illustrates this:

Stage Number of mills 1770 1796 4 1815 1830 40 1831 1840 6 1841 1850 3 1851 1860 9 1861 1870 - 1871 1880 4

1881 1890 1 Total number of 67 mills

Sugar became the most important economic line in the territory, displacing coffee production. The main sugarcane areas of the municipality were the Caobas, Limonar, Guamacaro and Santa Ana quarters. The technological advances of the sugar industry soon penetrate the Guamacaro area. In 1835 the rich landowner Wenceslao Villaurrutia y Puente eliminated the oxen trapiche in his mill La Mella, Petrona or San Juan de Nepomuceno, to install the steam engine.

In 1843 the first stretch between Matanzas Bay and Guanábana was inaugurated. In 1845 the second branch was built between this last place and Sabanilla, which favored the development of the sugar mills in the area, especially Antonia, San Cayetano and Triunvirato.

On June 1st, 1848, the Guanabana - Coliseum section was inaugurated, which had stops in Ibarra, Caobas, Limonar, Sumidero and Coliseum, where the sugars from most of the sugar mills in Guamacaro were shipped.

Another important route for the shipment of sugar was the fluvial transport by the Canímar River, from the pier known as El Tumbadero, at the mouth of the Moreto River with the Canímar; where the sugar mills Botino, La Choza, El Diamante, Dolores Junco, Nuestra Señora del Carmen, Mercedes Junco, La Perla, Yarini, San Laureano, Santa Lucía and El Triángulo shipped sugar. Another important means of communication for the development of the territory was Cuba's royal road, which passed through a part of the territory, including its municipal capital.

Other sugar mills in the western zone, also belonging to rich landowners such as the Ibarra, La Guardia, Mádam, Terry, O'farril and Villaurrutia, were able to face the crisis due to their economic power. The northeastern sugarcane area of the municipality did not present the same conditions in terms of level of development, due to the technological backwardness of its mills, the lack of resources of its owners to introduce the new machinery and thus be able to alleviate the crisis, as well as the process of concentration and centralization of the sugar industry, where the smaller and less productive mills were forced to collapse. The depression of 1883-1884 where sugar prices reached their lowest point, together with the abolition of slavery in 1886, deepened the process of concentration of the sugar industry, since with the situation presented, the only solution to be able to produce more

sugar, was not to have more mills and slaves, but the necessary introduction of new techniques in the mills and the expansion of the sugarcane areas.

A peculiar example of the process of concentration and centralization of the sugar industry took place in the Limones sugar mill, which its owner, the rich Cienfuegos landowner Don Emilio Terry Dorticós, turned into a powerful sugar factory, using two variants; The first, the ownership of the lands of the demolished sugar mills Rosario and Nuestra Señora de Las Nieves, passed to the central and the second, the land was left in possession of the former owners, but they were forced to sell their cane, as happened with the demolished Santa Catalina or Chacon. In the case of the Julia mill, it was also technified and converted into a central mill by its owner José Sotelo, who acquired the cane from the neighboring factories that were demolished; San Salvador or Botino, Dolores Junco, La Perla, El Diamante, Yarini and Santa Lucia; where the majority of these owners were dedicated to the planting, harvesting and pulling of the cane, swelling the ranks of the colony. At the end of the independence struggle in 1895, the economic situation was extremely difficult, since the sugar industry, the main line of the municipality's economy, was deeply affected, as well as livestock and minor crops. In the 1898-1899 harvest, only three mills ground their canes: Lemons, owned by Emilio Terry Dorticós, Julia, by José Sotelo and Luisa or Condesa, by Mrs. Menéndez. In terms of social structure, the territory had a population of 2130 in 1816, of which 57.4% were slaves. In addition to the incipient economic and social development, the first educational centers appeared, so that in 1827 the first school was founded in Santa Ana, directed by Ambrosio José González. In 1840 the district of Guamacaro had the villages of Limonar, Sumidero, Caobas, Guamacaro and La Sierra, where there was a great mixture of races due to the Spanish colonization that brought the introduction of diverse nationalities in the territory. The most populated areas were the quarters of Limonar, Caobas and Guamacaro, due to the sugar mills and coffee plantations in those places. In 1843 Limonar had a company of dramatic artists, of very good interpretative quality, who offered their activities in the town's theatre.

The party of Guamacaro was visited on several occasions by distinguished foreign personalities, such as the Swedish novelist Fredrika Bremer, who stayed at the visiting house of the Ariadne sugar mill, owned by John Chartrand, where she wrote the book ¨ Letters from Cuba¨, in March 1851.

In 1853, the thirteenth vice president of the United States, William Rufus Kings, who came to Cuba to recover from his broken health, also stayed at that residence and being there, on March 24 of that year, he took office, which was the first time that an American official of such high rank took office outside his country.

The first school to be created in the municipal capital was the Isabel II or Santa Isabel public school, founded in 1847, with an enrolment of 25 students. In 1863, the San Vicente de Paúl free primary school was founded in Santa Ana, directed by José María Ordoñez, an important figure in Matanzas education.

The main educational event in the municipality was the founding of the school ¨La Encarnación¨ in the village of Limonar on June 30, 1891, a prestigious institution that gave free classes and admitted students of both sexes and races. The building was constructed by virtue of a donation made by Brothers Basilio and Encarnación Martínez, owners of the Rosario sugar mill in Laguna de Palos, and the contribution of the Sociedad Económica Amigos del País.

The art, although it did not have a remarkable development at the beginning of the 19th century, there were important figures who stood out in the different manifestations: the historian and writer Juan Arnao Alfonso, the writer José María de Cárdenas y Rodríguez and his brother Nicolás, the poet Luisa María de la Merced Molina Díaz ¨ La Alondra del Moreto¨, the painter Esteban Chartrand - Dubois, Miguel Faílde Pérez, musical creator of the danzón and other great figures.

In relation to public health, in the year 1881, there was a very critical situation, since in the municipality, there were only three private doctors who lived in Limonar: doctors Florentino and Lino Tapia and AdulfoValhuerdi.

On the social level, the reconcentration of Weyler, an inhuman and criminal method, dictated by the Spanish captain general, in October 1896, had a catastrophic effect on the municipality. Crammed into public buildings, in the doorways of the houses, wandering the streets, lacking food, shelter and medicine, the reconcentrated families died in an alarming proportion, according to statistics the number of deaths in the municipality was 4245 people.

If we propose to go back in history to delve into the genesis of the struggles of the children of Guamacaro, to reach independence, we point out as the original manifestation of local rebellion, the slave uprising that took place on June 15, 1825, in the coffee plantations of Faukier and Chapelin, in Sumidero and Sabanazo; which included the coffee plantations of Camarioca, Guamacaro and Limonar. Of the slaves who rebelled, 43 were killed and 54 were taken prisoner and sentenced to hard labor.

In their libertarian struggle, other slave uprisings arose in the territory, such as the one that occurred on June 21, 1825, where 16 black muzzlers rose up in the Magdalena sugar mill; in January 1843, there was a major uprising of more than 300 black muzzlers from the El Triángulo sugar mill, in the vicinity of Limonar; but the most relevant was the one that occurred in the Triunvirato sugar mill, on November 5 of the same year.

That day, Sunday at 8:15 p.m., the slaves gathered at the batey, by the call of Eduardo's drum and Carlota's speech calling for insurrection and also captained by the gangá Manuel and the lucumíes Narciso and Felipe, launch themselves into the struggle.

The rebels, after attacking the house of residence and setting fire to several batey huts, went to the Ácana sugar mill, where the slave Fermina from Lucumí went to meet them to show them the route to follow and to support them in the struggle and to free the slaves who had been imprisoned, who joined the libertarian contingent. The rebels continued their impetuous march, freeing the slaves of the Concepción, San Lorenzo, San Miguel and San Rafael sugar mills, where after a fierce struggle against the troops led by Spanish Brigadier García Oña, they were defeated. The history of our redemptive struggles cannot be written without mentioning Brothers Juan and Ramon Arnao Alfonso. The former was the protagonist of the meeting of the Yumurí on October 8, 1850 and one of the leaders of Ramón Pintó's conspiracy in Matanzas, which had branches in Caobas, Canímar and Limonar. In the armed uprising of Jobo Rosado, in Jagüey Grande, on February 10, 1869, the peasants from Limón, Pedro Milvera and Antonio N. Montoto, participated together with the captain of Santa Ana, Felicito Pérez. The armed uprising of La Ignacia in Ibarra on February 24, 1895, under the leadership of Juan Gualberto Gómez and Antonio López Coloma, had a special historical significance.

As agreed, some 400 patriots were to be concentrated on the site, but unfortunately this was not the case, nor did the main military leaders who would be at the head of the conspiracy show up; so the action failed; but it lit the flame of freedom against Spanish oppression. The territory of Limón had the presence of Máximo Gómez, together with Antonio Maceo, at the Las Flores estate in Sumidero, on the night of December 23, 1895, where in the early morning of the following day, they undertook the strategic countermarch or lasso of the invasion. The figure of the General Lieutenant Antonio Maceo, was present in several places of the municipality, where on February 25, 1896 he fought the bloody combat of La Perla, in the valley of Guamacaro, action in which 53 mambises fell in combat.

IV Neocolonial Stage

On April 18, 1900, the Electoral Law was promulgated to constitute the city councils. Elections were held on June 16 of that year and the elected took office on July 1, 1900, for a period of one year. In these elections, the first after the Spanish rule, five colleges were established, which were located in Limonar, Canímar, Guamacaro, Sumidero and Caobas and 230 voters were registered. When concluding the independence gesture of 1895 the municipality of Guamacaro, was going through a precarious situation, which did not justify its reason as a municipal term, so the American interventionist government decreed the military order number 23, dated January 24, 1902, which established the suppression of the Guamacarense municipality, which was annexed to Matanzas.

It was not until July 8, 1910, that by a law of Congress, on the initiative of the representative to the chamber, Antonio Génovas, the city council was again created, maintaining the name of Guamacaro as the municipal district and the town of Limonar as its capital. José Ramón Rodríguez was elected Mayor. The municipal jurisdiction was made up of the quarters of Limonar, Caobas, Canímar, Guamacaro, Sumidero, Coliseo and San Miguel (these last two territories, after the 1976 D.P.A., are the People's Councils of the municipality of Jovellanos).

The municipal government consisted of the mayor and the chamber, which were elected for a period of four years and new representatives were elected at the end of the term. The chamber was composed of the president, the secretary and the councillors. In the absence of the mayor, the president of the chamber assumed the functions of the mayor.

In 1952, with the new political division, the province of Matanzas was structured into five judicial parties and twenty-two municipal districts. On that date, Limonar and Santa Ana became municipal districts belonging to the judicial party of Matanzas.

On the economic front, after the first U.S. military intervention, the Limones sugar mill resumed operations thanks to the capital invested by the rich Cienfuegos landowner Emilio Terry Dorticós. Among the improvements introduced to the plant are the expanded rolling stock and transportation, with the entry into operation of eight locomotives, twenty steel cars of thirty tons each, one hundred and thirty wooden cars and thirty-five kilometers of own railroad track.

In 1917 the mill became the property of José Ignacio Lezama Reyes, who introduced technical improvements including: 27 kilometers of newly built railroad tracks, two narrow- gauge railroad bridges, two houses with 210 sacks of sugar each, a sugar refinery, a stone crushing plant for the railroad, a plant to manufacture cement and two electrical plants.

This period of development of the plant is part of the stage known as ''fat cows'', when sugar prices were fabulous. This pace of development came to an end when an embargo was implemented through a judicial process against Lezama Reyes, who declared himself bankrupt on May 22, 1922. In 1942 it was transferred to the University of Havana, to do its internship.

The Julia sugar mill also received technical improvements, such as a triple effect machine and a double grinding machine and seven kilometers of railroad tracks belonging to the Havana Bay Railroad Company. At the end of 1920, only the Limones and Julia mills were active in the municipality of Guamacaro, since the Luisa or Condesa mills carried out their last harvest in 1919. With the world crisis from 1929 to 1933, the economic situation of the municipality worsened, as the sugar industry was affected by the boom in world production of crude oil, which caused prices to fall, leading to restrictions on sugar production and reduced harvesting time. To give you an idea of the impact of the crisis on the territory, the Julia plant at the beginning of the crisis in 1929 produced 70282 sacks of sugar weighing 325 pounds and in 1934 it only produced 12453 sacks, the lowest figure in its history. During the period 1940-1952, sugar production in the territory showed frequent ups and downs, with the 1951-1952 harvest being the one that produced the most sugar, with the two plants breaking the production record: the Limones plant produced 163327 sacks of 325 pounds and Julia 158142 sacks. Together with the sugar production, the henequen production emerged vigorously from 1927, when the Henequenera de Limonar was founded, in the El Triángulo estate, in an extension of 33 caballerias of lands rich in calcium carbonate, very appropriate for that crop; its owner was Enrique Larrauri Ruiz, a well-known industrialist of the Cuban financial centers and heir of the Cárdenas lime kiln. In 1933 the industry is technified by the purchase of new machines and MACK type trucks for the transportation of sisal. At the beginning of the 1950's, the sugar industry contributed to the economy of the municipality an amount of 1447397 pesos, that is, 70% of the values produced by the 544 farms, which amounted to a total of 20 205 10 pesos. They also contributed to the budget, but on a lesser scale, livestock production, henequen, food, grains, fruit trees, etc. From 1953 onwards, there was a considerable drop in sugar production due to the restrictions on harvesting decreed by the dictator Fulgencio Batista.

The public health in the neo-colonial republic was very deficient. In 1920 there was only one doctor in the town of Limonar, Dr. Pedro Buxó, and another in the neighborhood of Caobas, so the mortality rate was very high, since there were many infectious diseases such as malaria, tuberculosis, malaria and others.

Sport has always been deeply rooted in the municipality, especially baseball, which was introduced in 1908 when Sabino Neninger began to organize teams with young lovers of the sport. The first baseball field was located in the northeast of the village, which was

known as the Laguna field (today the Emiliano Ayllón stadium). There were other fields such as the Palmar de la Victoria and the San José field, of the Mercedes Junco estate.

During that period, Limonar had several representative teams, such as El Liceo, Gran Maceo, El Águila, El Pensamiento, La Estrella, En Cuba and El Cuño, one of the strongest teams of the 1920s, where many players became famous nationally and internationally for their great quality, such as Gabriel Aballí, Silvio García, Rogelio (Limonar) Martínez and Silvio Marcial Domenech (Japan), among others.

Special mention should be made of the great baseball player Martín Magdaleno Dihigo Llanos (El Inmortal) born in Jesús María; and the baseball player and coach Emiliano AyllónVéliz, a relevant figure in the development of sport in the municipality.

As for culture, in 1930, Limonar had the Iris cinema-theatre, where artistic figures of the period performed, there were also dance shows and other recreational activities, developed by the Limonar-Sport Club and Gran Maceo societies and there were musical groups such as Estrellas de Tatica, the municipal band, the traditional group La Vieja Guardia and the Folkloric group Niño Atoche.

While the Cubans were confronting the surrendering governments, one of Limonar's sons, Hilario Rafael Cartaya Villar, was fulfilling the sacred duty of internationalism on Spanish soil, in his fight against the fascist occupation, where he fell in combat in February 1937.

The workers' struggle in the municipality began in 1937 when a group of workers from the Limones plant, led by José Alfonso Mestre, Juan Alemán, Julio Cápiro and Bernardo Campos, fought for the unity of the workers and created a union that responded to the workers. José Alfonso Mestre was elected general secretary in that year. In 1944, a cell of the People's Socialist Party was created in this center, under the leadership of Bernardo Campos, Cristóbal Cancela, Juan Alemán and Ceferino Julio Cápiro.

In the Triunfo power station, in the same year 1944, the union was created, whose first directive was integrated by Orestes Hernández, Luis García, Abelardo García, Evelio García, Germiniano Hernández and Edilberto Villena.

In 1946, the union elections were held and the following board of directors was elected: Orestes Hernández, general secretary, Edilberto Villena as delegate to the official and employers' organizations and Horacio Rodríguez Hernández, with only 16 years of age, as finance secretary. This new directive was accused of being communist since its main leaders are members of the People's Socialist Party (PSP).

On two occasions the sugar mill leader Jesús Menéndez visited the plant, so that the workers could demand payment of the sugar mill differential from the owner. In 1950 the henequen union was created, under the leadership of Antonio Berdayes Núñez, who began a struggle for workers' demands, such as a salary increase and not allowing unfair dismissal of workers. Faced with Berdayes' attitude, the politicians try to recruit him for the

position of councillor, but the incorruptible leader rejects the offer.

From that stage on, strikes and demonstrations by the henequen workers, led by their undisputed leader, have become daily occurrences. In view of the dismissal of 29 workers, he went to the CTC Nacional to protest the event and demand the incorporation of the workers into their jobs. There he was arrested by henchmen of the Limonar tyranny and after giving him a hard blow on the head, he was detained and taken to the 41st Squadron in Matanzas, where he was murdered. Because of his relevant revolutionary merits he was declared the Patriotic Insigne of the municipality of Limonar.

In August 1955, the 26th of July movement (M-26-7) was formed in the municipality, creating cells in the Triunfo and Limones power stations, in Dolores Junco and Canímar, the latter led by Andrés Santana Valle.

A young man from Limón, Nelson Fernández Oliva, fell in the assault on the Goicuría barracks in Matanzas on April 29, 1956. The territory of Guamacaro was the center of operations of the guerrilla '' Enrique Hart'', in 1958, which had the mission to support the passage of the invading column of Camilo Cienfuegos and make combat actions in the territory, so on the night of November 2, 1958 they took the central Triunfo, the batey of Castellanos and in the central road, near the batey of Lugo, they burned a national bus '' Arrow of Gold''. On December 24, 1958, the members of the M-26-7 of the municipality joined the guerrilla ''Enrique Hart'', in the San Andrés farm, in the Guamacaro valley, to support the guerrilla struggle, until the total defeat of Batista's tyranny. This guerrilla group was responsible for taking the military enclaves of the dictatorship located in the municipality.

V. Revolution in power On January 9, 1959, the first revolutionary municipal government was formed, composed of three commissioners who belonged to the July 26th Movement (M-26-7), Antonio Raudilio Martín, Andrés Santana Valle and Pastor Paredes Junco. In 1962 the Coordination, Execution and Inspection Board (JUCEI) was created, which was the first form of government adopted by the Revolution. President Miguel Almaguer Pelaez was elected and Jesús García as Secretary. In 1966, JUCEI was transferred to the local government and EvidelioFundora was appointed president. This institution worked with the president and a group of secretaries who formed the board of directors. In 1974, the national experience for the constitution of the Organs of the Popular Power is developed in the province of Matanzas. The process in Limonar began in April 1974, with elections held on June 30 and the second round on July 7 of that year.

As a result of this process, the Municipal Assembly of People's Power was established, and Osvaldo Almeida Cabrera was elected President. Along with the government structure, political and mass organizations were created in the 1960s. In 1962 the municipal committee of the Integrated Revolutionary Organizations (ORI) was formed, and Alejandro Aguirre was elected to the post of secretary general. This organization gave way to the United Party of the Socialist Revolution of Cuba (PURSC) and in 1964 the municipal committee was constituted, which was led by Lázaro Armenteros Ramos, as general secretary. On October 3, 1965, the political organization adopted the name of the Cuban Communist Party (PCC). In relation to the defense of the Revolution, the 231st battalion of the National Revolutionary Militias (MNR) stands out in the municipality. This unit left on February 14, 1961 to fight against bandits in El Escambray and on April 19 of that year, having just arrived in Limonar, they left for Playa Girón, under the name of Battalion 201, to fight the mercenary invasion of Playa Girón. In 1963, two actions took place to confront the counter-revolutionary gangs, which marked the end of banditry in the municipality. On March 22, the band of Juan José Coste Catalá (El Pichi), leader of the uprising bands in the province and who operated in the southern area of the municipality, was liquidated and on the 29th of the same month, the band of Jesús Infante Hidalgo ''Enrique'' was annihilated, in the vicinity of Ibarra, where seven uprisings were killed and four were captured. The brothers Pedro and Alberto Amador Castillo, from LCB Pinar del Rio and Ezequiel Roberto Quijano Alemán from the 2605 battalion of the PNR, fell in the action. On April 29, 1963, the young Limoneño Orestes Hernández Pérez, a member of the PNR, fell in front of the rebels in San José de los Ramos, in the municipality of Colón. With the revolutionary triumph of January 1, 1959, the economic and social panorama of the territory changed, when the National Institute of Agrarian Reform (INRA) was founded that same year, with its first president, Carlos Rivero. Three People's Farms are created:  Granja Patricio Lumumba, which included the estates of Zequeiras, Santana de los Caballeros, Las Nieves and La Josefa. It had 2969,321 cavalries and 329 workers.  Granja Horacio Rodríguez, comprised the Condesa, La Palma, San José de García, La Torre, Recurso, Petrona, Chacón, San Francisco and Santa María estates. It had an extension of 234,082 caballerias and had 288 workers.  Granja Abel Santamaría, which included the Guamacaro Valley, had an area of 286,226 caballerias and 208 workers. A decisive step in the territory's economy was taken when Commander in Chief Fidel Castro Ruz founded the Empresa Pecuaria Genética de Matanzas (EPGM) on August 20, 1970, appointing José LLanusaGobel as its first director. When the Genetics was created, the Condesa, Zequeiras, Recurso and Saratoga farms became part of the livestock plan, so they were separated from the agricultural farms.

The first peasant who integrated his land to the Genetic Plan was José Valido Del Sol(Cheo), president of the Triumvirate peasant base, with whom the Commander in Chief had several meetings and among whom a close friendship developed.

The development of the Genetic Cattle Company was in ascending growth, producing in 1977, 34 million liters of milk, and in 1987 implanted a historical record of 58 million, 278 thousand liters. The 1970s and 1980s were marked by the economic splendour of the municipality, as sugar production was consolidated. New investments in the two plants led to the development of sisal farms, the construction of the VietNam workshop in 1975 and the Libertad stone crushing plant in 1978. The cooperative and peasant movement had a notable growth, with the creation on April 27, 1977, of the first agricultural cooperative of Limonar, located in lands of the Guamacaro Valley. On September 27 of the same year, the Agricultural Production Cooperative (CPA) Crucero Aurora was created, on the 28th of the same month the Ramon Martell CPA and on the 29th the Ramon Lopez Fleitas, all located in the Guamacaro Valley. The attacks of the special period, in the 1990s, had a negative impact on the territorial economy, as well as the restructuring of sugar production, with the closure of the Fructuoso Rodríguez and Horacio Rodríguez plants, in 1996 and 2001, respectively.

As the Revolution triumphed, education became a priority in the municipality with the opening of new schools and the incorporation of young teachers, who studied and taught.

In February 1961, the literacy campaign began. The municipal commission was presided over by Reynolds Gutiérrez, under the direction of Andrés Santana Valle, who was the first municipal director of Education, appointed after the revolutionary triumph of January 1, 1959. In Santa Ana and Guamacaro, 194 literacy teachers and 44 brigadistas ''Conrado Benítez'' joined this important task, as well as 283 literacy teachers and 133 brigadistas. The campaign culminated in the municipality on December 14, 1961, where it was ranked ninth in the province. In the 1968-69 school year, the "Inti Peredo" primary school began operating in the "La Encarnación" building. In the Triumvirate village, the modern school ''De Octubre'' was established in 1974, with a capacity of 450 students. The basic secondary school ''Rebelión de Triunvirato'' was also inaugurated. In Limonar, the basic secondary school ''Juan A, Morales Bayona'' operated and in 1975 a Peasant Workers' School was inaugurated. Currently, there are 11 primary schools, three secondary schools, a special school, a polytechnic, a pre-university and a municipal university. In public health, when the Revolution triumphed, the Casa de Socorros was taken over by Doctor Fernando Arteaga Meneses, and the population began to receive free medical attention, although there were still six private doctors in the town, until years later when this practice was abolished. In 1962, a care unit was opened in the premises where the Gran Maceo Society was located (where the Post Office is now), which had medical, nursing and dental services and a laboratory. In 1967 the new polyclinic was inaugurated, which replaced the care unit and the dental clinic and health posts began to operate in the Fructuoso Rodríguez and Horacio Rodríguez plants in Santa Ana, Triunvirato and San Francisco. There was a pilot pharmacy in Limonar and one in each plant.

In 1960, the municipal council was created and Margarita Reyes de la Fé was appointed as head of this institution. In that same year the movement of amateur artists was founded, with musical groups, children's theatre group, municipal choir and joined the folkloric group ''Niño Atoche'', which had been created before the Revolution, under the direction of Benito Aldama Herrera. In 1978 the musical group Neptune was created, under the direction of Mario Carmenate and the municipal literature workshop. In the 1980s, the basic cultural institutions were created: the house of municipal culture, the municipal museum, the art gallery and the municipal library were made official. On October 19, 1989, Casa Naborí was inaugurated in the premises that used to be the center of rural traditions, under the direction of Pablo Luis Álvarez Denis (Wicho). In 1992, Limonar was declared a village of the Cuban tenth.

In the 1980s, this discipline was strengthened by the incorporation of figures of the stature of Javier Sotomayor Sanabria, Roberto Hernández, Marino Dreke, Alexander Reyes, Marcos Jiménez and Michel Calvo. In handball, José Orbeín Neninger stood out. Baseball achieved outstanding results, where the work done by coaches and directors such as Emiliano Ayllon, Bernardino Reyes and Gerardo Junco Massipe, who also held the responsibility of municipal sports director for several decades, stands out. In this discipline, the athletes Lázaro Junco Nenínger, Eduardo Terry, Carlos Valido, Virgilio Molina, Rogelio Amores and other brilliant figures in the sport stood out.

Conclusions

In a brief summary, a historical review of the municipality of Limonar is presented, where heroes, battles, personalities and patriotic and cultural traditions parade. Everything is presented in tune with the strength, heroism and combativeness of a municipality in whose scenario such transcendental actions took place as the greatest slave uprising in the country, which occurred on November 5, 1843, at the Triumvirate mill, and the cry for redemption on February 24, 1895 in La Ignacia, Ibarra.

To highlight the characteristics of our terroir, I take the eloquent words of the journalist Arnaldo Mirabal on the occasion of the 210th anniversary of the founding of Limonar: "The uniqueness of Limonar, sprouts from the gentle strokes of Felipe Chartrand - Dubois; in this portion of Matanzas the beauty of the valley of Guamacaro persists in time, adorn the landscape the silent towers of ancient power plants that emulate the splendor of the lofty palms. From the heights of Zequeiras the soul is agitated by the splendor of so much green. Limonar becomes tenth from the voice of its poets, touches the sky after the Olympic takeoff of Sotomayor, remains its history from the call of the libertarian slave Carlota. 210 years after its foundation, it continues to make its inhabitants fall in love".

Sources:

 Local history of the municipality of Limonar.  Documents of the history commission of the Municipal Committee of the PCC