Years of revolution

After several years of fighting against the Batista tyranny where the generous blood of our people was spilled, victory is finally reached in the early hours of January 1, 1959, when the flight of the tyrant was known, a group of fellow members of the M- 26-7 heads in a van to the La Palma River where the Rebel Army guerilla had the camp, commanded by Captain Lázaro Blanco, the soldiers, upon learning the news, intend to leave immediately for the town, the captain prevents him, alleging that he had They have to receive orders from the superior command so that it guides the members of the movement to return to the town and take over the police headquarters, as well as the Itabo headquarters.

When the guerilla from Lázaro Blanco arrived in the town, in the afternoon, everything was under control without any confrontation, in Martí, 4 comrades who were being held by prisoners accused of revolutionaries had been released, in Itabo given some personnel from service because Batista's forces had already left for Cárdenas. There, the only minion that existed in the territory was captured, Sergeant Nemesio Garro, known as "Macario", who had been in charge of the Itabo and Máximo Gómez barracks. He was tried and sentenced to 30 years for the death of the young Cardenas teacher Esteban Hernández.

At the triumph of the revolution, there was a cell in the M-26-7 in Martí, its members, led from Cárdenas, are in charge of supporting all the measures dictated by the Rebel Army, for example, when the revolutionary strike was decreed, this organization aimed to close all shops, industries and also paralyze transport.

Later they agreed to open all the shops two hours a day so that the population would not be affected, a situation that lasts around six or seven days.

To avoid a counter attack by the enemies, the defense and support of those who in one way or another had identified with the revolution is organized, some weapons are handed over to them, guards were established in the military precincts and at the exit of the towns.

Transformations have also occurred in the economic, political and social areas where, after the triumph of the revolution, the life of the municipality has changed. Schools were built in all rural communities and the capacities of existing ones were expanded; Thousands of new jobs were created; a community polyclinic and several medical posts were built; a livestock company and a plan for various crops were created; a torula factory was built; the work of the salt mine, called Juan Gualberto Gómez, was humanized; Agriculture was mechanized and the latest advances in science and technology were applied in each branch of production and services.

Composition of the municipal government in some periods.

On December 31, 1901 the city council was made up of the following officials: Mayor, Avelino Hernández; accountant secretary, Fernando Iradier; treasurer, Camilo Jiménez and intervening councilor, Rafael Triana.

Composition of the town hall in 1910: municipal mayor Alfredo Domínguez, president of the town hall Pedro Sardinas, secretary of the town hall Amado García González, councilors Nemesio Berrío, Ricardo Valdés, Pastor Guerra, Antonio González, Fermín Castanedo, Diego Triana, Nicasio Ulacia, Manuel Álvarez, Francisco Moreu, Daniel Pérez, Salomó Pérez and José Sánchez.

The electoral board has always been chaired by a municipal judge and municipal judges of Martí since 1903 have been non-literate citizens Francisco Morales Morales, Ricardo Valdés Morales (district attorney), José Inés Pérez Rivero, Mateo García González, Francisco Caraballo (prosecutor municipal), Francisco Arturo Mestre y Martell, Tomás Castillo Rodas, Antonio Valladares, Jorge Ataulfo ​​del Portillo y Castillo, Seferino Cuervo Estrada, Juan Padrón and Arturo Mestre, who alternated in office with Armando González Soler who on various occasions presided over the municipal board .

At the end of 1919, Francisco Arturo Mestre, the last lay judge in Martí, ceased to act as judge and Dr. Luis Antonio Fortún assumed responsibility for the administration of justice in the municipality, and the aforementioned Mestre became the secretary of the court. when he was retired due to his age in 1923 he was replaced by Antonio Gudás González

Labor movement

At this stage there is a boom in the labor movement and in the struggles for economic and social demands, among which the strike of March 1935 and the foundation of the CTC, among others of a national nature, can be highlighted. Thus, on May 2, 1931, the Sociedad Obreros de Martí was established here and it was agreed to manifest to the civil governor the composition of the board of directors consisting of José Yanes García as president, Domingo Yanes and Emilio Saavedra and the alternates José A. Olivera, Pedro Díaz , Florencio Figueroa, Francisco Morales, Domingo Lezcano and Luis Pulido.

In 1933 the first labor union of the central Guipúzcoa today CAI Esteban Hernández was founded by Lázaro Sotolongo, Leopoldo Mergares (Papito), Miguel Castro and Juan Pedroso Menéndez, and at the beginning of the 1934 harvest it was made up of Donato Ripell (Secretary General) and also by Leopoldo Mergares, Miguel Castro, Lázaro Sotolongo, Emilio Beltrán, Ramón Yanes and Miguel Morales. This year the eight-hour working day is introduced in the twelve place as it has been established up to now. In this same year Donato Ripoll was assassinated by another worker for a difference in work and he occupies the position of general secretary Leopoldo Mergares who was a member of the executive of said workers' organization.

After the Confederation of Cuban Workers (CTC) was established, Valentin Pedroso was elected as general secretary and was also made up of Leoncio Torres, Prudencio and Juan Tortoló, Ramón Yanes, Miguel Castro and others.

There is also a worker organization in the municipality called the Association of Workers of the Agricultural Colonies of Martí, whose president and permanent delegate was Bonifacio Romero Pérez, who according to the record of the elections verified by this association on November 18, 1934, was re-elected. President for the following term that began on the first Sunday of December, but already on the 10th of the same month, Bonifacio denounced that a group of approximately 50 people led by Ramón Gonzáles Sierra and Agapito Gonzáles invaded the portals of the premises where the Association operated (in front of the railway station) threatening to break the closed doors and demanding his resignation.

Romero maintains that these elements who wanted to enter the association's premises by force shouted "Viva Tabío!" and die black Romero! Without any agent of the authority trying to prevent that uncivil act. As can be seen in the foregoing by Romero, the elements of the incident were organized by officials of the municipal administration, especially by Dr. Lucas Alvarez Tabío who did not agree with the activities he had been carrying out in defense of the workers, the aforementioned Association of Workers of the Agricultural Colonies of Martí.

In a telegram sent to the provincial office of work in Matanzas by this association on April 24, 1934, it says verbatim: “Provincial office of labor in Matanzas, Desperate Agricultural Workers Situation. Wicked exploitation push us to strike. Urged intervention requested from that center, Bonifacio Romero Pérez, Permanent Delegate ”.

On May 9 of the same year, through the Resolution of the Provincial Secretariat of Labor, the Martí Social Cooperation Commission was created to try to resolve the demands presented by the Association of Agricultural Workers of Martí to the Association of Settlers.

The workers' struggles continue in this turbulent period of the 30s and on August 18, 1934, the worker of Spanish origin Saturnino Breñas Alonso, from Banaguises and activist of the Matanzas district committee of the communist party, arrived in the Pintó neighborhood of this municipality and the next day he began his first and only day of work in said colony, in the afternoon he summoned the workers in a guardrail to an improvised assembly where he called for a strike if their demands were not met. The workers harangued by Braña initiate the strike and present the demand for $ 1.00 as wages for cutting and planting cane. The owner of the farm, José Alcebo Hernández, did not accept the demand and denounced Brañas at the Itabo rural guard headquarters.

In the extraordinary session of the Martí agricultural workers association, dated November 26, 1934, the delegates from the different colonies protested the 50-cent wage they were paid under threat from the employers to report to the rural guard. if they refused to work for non-conformity with the mentioned salary.

In this same session, the representation of the Alameda neighborhood stated that they had a voucher in payment of a wage of 50 cents as proof of the violation of the pact signed with the Employers where they promised to pay 80 cents per day and they also requested that in the colonies no He had to deny the residents the piece of land that had been granted to them to plant some meats in order not to starve when they carried out the work due to their extinction or for the convenience of the employers, such was the precarious economic situation in which the workers of the agricultural colonies of this territory lived.

Neocolonial stage

Already from the first months of the 19th century, specifically on April 18, 1901, the governor of Matanzas, replacing Manuel Sobrado, reports that the next elections on June 1 of the same year are recognized by the Secretary of State and Interior as the next elections. following parties: National, Republican, Democratic and Popular Union and through a circular from the own secretariat and through the Provincial Governor, the municipal Mayor was directed to publish the following articles of Military Law 91 of 1900: XII, on the requirements to appear in the municipal elections and the XIII that established the term of admission of certificates, as well as the first paragraph of article XV that says: Any certificate may be examined by any person after 24 hours in the possession of the Mayor. The positions to be chosen were: Mayor, councilors and municipal treasurers.

In these elections, according to a telegram sent to the civil governor by Mayor Juan Cadwell, there had been established 6 voter registration boards that numbered 585 distributed by neighborhoods as follows: Motembo 218, Martí 141, Lacret 92, Guamutas 71, Río La Palma 22 and La Teja 31. In Martí during this period the following municipal mayors succeeded each other: on May 4, 1898, Councilor Enrique González Gutiérrez was appointed Mayor to replace Commander Don Matías Ramos Martín and on January 1 he was appointed to that Colonel of the Liberation Army Juan Cadwell, known by “el inglesito”, who under the regime of the first North American intervention, in elections held for that purpose, was elected Mayor by the military jurisdiction and functioned as such from July 1 to the same date in 1901 when he was replaced by Avelino Hernández, with great interest in agricultural issues (he was appointed administrator of the Santa Gertrudis central He did a lot of good in the material order), but as Mayor he did very little in Martí, since although his main duty was here, his greatest interest in the mayor's office was not always in the hands of his lieutenants.

Thus he was replaced in 1908 by Alfredo Domínguez elected in this year's elections. When Domínguez died in the performance of his duties, Pedro Sardinas y Hurtado, then president of the town hall, held the post and was the first to start the arrangement of some streets and the construction of the Itabo slaughterhouse. In 1912, Mateo García González was elected, who was re-elected in 1916. He acquired the house that he currently occupies for purchase from its owner Dolores Rosado del Ruiz for the city council.

In 1920, Dr. José Elías Clivella took office, elected for a 2-year period in which repairs were made to some neighboring roads, paving of streets and concrete culverts were built, and the municipal house was also repaired. Every time I applied for a license, he was replaced by the president of the city council Juan Morales, known by Juan Martínez, and in the elections of November 1, 1922, Marcos Tulio Regojo Margarit was elected, who ruled until 1927. During his government, Ricardo Valdés Morales replaced him by regulation. councilor since 1898 and president of the town hall.