Walking Cuba: El Camino del Cimarron — Day 2: Vueltas

Esteban remembered Vueltas as the home of a certain bandit name Menendez who led the Spanish volunteer militia during the war against the Mambis. The entire province of Las Villas teemed with bandits during the last decades of the 19th Century. Over sixteen sugar mills in the proximity to each other made the area attractive to marauders and rebels alike. Most bandits supported the rebels, and some were revolutionaries themselves. Some were Robin Hood types, stealing from the wealthy Spaniards and giving to the poor criollos.

Others were just hoods, stealing and pillaging the old-fashioned way. Esteban remembered some of them fondly. Aguero, who had the reputation of being the biggest thief of them all, was one of the good guys, in that world of ethical ambivalence. He relentlessly sacked most of the well-to-do families of northern Las Villas. Rumor had it that he turned some of the loot over to General Maximo Gomez and other Mambí leaders to support the independence effort.

Every inch of Cuba has stories that link its revolutionary past to its revolutionary present. I walked into Vuelta, where the good bandits fed the first revolution, down its dusty streets, and headed for the Casa de Cultura across from the church.

San Antonio de las Vueltas ferments with activity. Heavy pedestrian traffic kicks up…