In the wars carried out by the Cuban people to conquer their independence, many feminine personalities stood out who fought alongside men, with the noble purpose of eliminating the colonial rule existing at that time on the Caribbean island.
Both in the Ten Years War and in the one led by Our Apostle José Martí, which began in 1895, women stood out who were able to face the enemy with courage and revolutionary honor and cooperated both outside and in almost all regions of the country to free their homeland from the colonial yoke to which it was subjected.
Among these patriots who constituted and constitute examples for the succeeding generations, the figure of the distinguished patriot Gabriela de la Caridad Azcuy Labrador (Adela Azcuy Labrador) stands out, who was a pioneer in Cuba of the feminist movement.
Adela Azcuy was born in a place known as Ojo de Agua, in San Cayetano, belonging to the municipality of Viñales in the province of Pinar del Río, the westernmost region of the country, on April 18, 1861.
From the place where she was born she later moved to the hacienda that was owned by her mother, Baños de San Vicente, so it can be seen that she came from a family with a certain economic solvency, she learned alone and trained in handling weapons of fire, this knowledge was very useful for her to use them later during the war with true skill and ability, and since childhood she practiced horse riding and hunting, all this was very useful for her in favor of the freedom of Cuba.
He contracted his first nuptials with the Bachelor of Pharmacy, Jorge Monzón, a young man from Camagüey, coming from a "distinguished and stale Abolengo Creole family".
They opened a pharmacy in the town of Viñales where they settled and that was run by themselves, she was the very example of what she defended: that women should dedicate themselves to these activities.
The marriage lived a stage of uninterrupted happiness until Monzón passed away. Both loved the freedom of the Homeland, were fully identified with the national ideals, so they collaborated in the conspiracy tasks undertaken by Isabel Rubio and other patriots, tireless fighters for the independence of the Homeland, however, despite this Adela, she felt much more than her husband the yearning for independence, in addition furiously hostility to the Spanish government and to all the retrograde and intransigent elements that joined in defense of him.
Almost a month after the Vuelta Abajo campaign began on January 8, 1896, the most active in the War of Independence, Adela joined the Miguel Lores guerrillas to fight in defense of their country, thus breaking with customs and traditions of the time and with the myth or belief that women should remain at home, to carry out the tasks assigned to them, as the "weaker sex", this was logically given by the existing patriarchal culture at the time and by education differentiated by sexes with rigid limits, which in our view this constitutes a true violation of the personality of the individual. Girls were prepared from childhood to assume their role as mother and housewife, so with this attitude of Adela,The first problem that he had to solve for the simple reason of being a woman arose here.
Colonel Antonio Varona, Chief of the jurisdiction summoned her to inform her that, according to the laws of the Revolution, it was not possible to admit her as a combatant, that is, with weapons in hand as she wanted, for the simple and simple reason that she did not Up to now, no case of female enlistment had been registered, logically this was given by the culture that prevailed at the time, which could be classified in our view as something that goes against morality and established principles.
But nevertheless, Adela did not remain passive and defended her rights to participate, along with men handling weapons to defend her country from the oppression to which she was subjected, because the difference in sexes does not make us different, and defending himself with all possible arguments and thanks to his fighting spirit and his separatist conviction he managed to convince him, to such an extent that the colonel allowed himself to be influenced, accepting that he remain in the troop, although with the purpose of using it in the Military Health Service.
In this way Adela Azcuy became an integral part of the glorious Liberation Army, as an active insurgent, something that was not common for those times.
On March 7 of that same year, she was incorporated into the troops of Commander Pablo Oliva, attached to the Military Health Service, holding the rank of second lieutenant. We think that this could have been considered in the middle of the century by many, as a true scandal, because it had never been known before that any woman received that honor, this was only exclusive to men.
On June 12, General Pedro Díaz was awarded the rank of captain of the Liberation Army, which was well earned with all the honors.
On October 4 of the same year, he participated under the orders of General Antonio Maceo in the combat of Loma Blanca, fighting and healing at the same time, this combat lasted 13 hours, where the Pinar del Rio patriot remained with courage and courage without leaving the field of battle.
When Adela graduated on December 1, 1898, the Liberation Army Liquidation Commission denied her the payment, alleging that: “The promoter has not been able, due to her sex, to serve in the army. Therefore, the application submission is rejected ”. This once again demonstrates the machismo of the time.
General Máximo Gómez maintained the same criteria as the Commission when the captain came to visit him, when she saw her dressed as a mambí in the middle of the war, standing in front of him, asked:
- Who is that woman with so many stars?
And General Antonio Varona responds by explaining and defending the heroine, praising and recounting his services and courage shown during the war. General Gómez did not admit the legality of the effective degree.
However, despite this, the Act of the Cerro Assembly of June 30, 1899 shows the recognition of his rank as lieutenant captain.
Adela, who was initially refused to enter the forces of Captain Lores, due to her condition as a woman, ended the contest with the participation in 49 combats, merit that not a man possessed.
These are facts that demonstrate the androcentrism and the situation of discrimination that women were subjected to in this sense, for which reason they were excluded from their participation in the war because they were conceived as the main person responsible for household chores, as well as in the care and care of children and the elderly, were considered as objects and not as active subjects in society.
In 1902 he moved to San Cristóbal to exploit some coffee plantations, where he remained until 1906.
Considering that feminism must be understood as the struggle of women for their emancipation, we can say that Adela, due to her concerns as a woman, caused by the experiences she accumulated during the war, can be classified as a pioneer of feminism in Cuba, which has its background in 1860.
We can describe this patriot as a feminist because she was a faithful defender of her rights, considering that women should obtain the right to vote and make politics something that she practiced herself because at the end of the war she dedicated herself to the politics of the country, occupying for some time. Over time, the position of Secretary of the Board of Education in the territory of Viñales, a position that she carried out with efficiency and quality, demonstrating that she had talent and the ability to lead like any man, with this showed that women are as capable as men to We work in management positions and that we are not inferior, he also defended the idea and fought for women to dedicate themselves to public jobs, inciting them to enter the world of business and activities because we have talent to do it,We can also see that feminism in the fact that she cared for food establishments, clothes that belonged to her, and also participated in the exploitation of mines and developed caving research.
Until then, all these rights advocated by the patriot that General Antonio Maceo admired so much, were exclusive to men, and therefore women were discriminated against.
Through bravery, courage, example and self-denial, this woman from Pinar del Rio was able to overcome the prejudices of the men of the time in those difficult conditions of war.
Banegas wrote: "I could not imagine such a brave woman." In these words we find the underestimation, the discrimination that women suffered in those times and that we still find today in many men who ignore the value of women and what she is capable of doing.
In 1913, she was taken ill to Havana, dying on March 15, 1914, the victim of serious heart and liver ailments at the age of 53.
With her, one of the most faithful examples of a Cuban revolutionary of past centuries disappeared, who was dissatisfied with the limited application of duties and rights regarding sex, for which she was a faithful fighter, as well as fought for the freedom of the Homeland.
Bibliography
Caballero, Armando O: The woman in 95. Havana: Editorial Gente Nueva, 1982.
Background: Female Personalities. Exp. Adela Azcuy Labrador. CDIM file. FMC
