The Spanish Reconcentration policy was a plan implemented by general
Valeriano Weyler
Valeriano Weyler y Nicolau, 1st Duke of Rubí, 1st Marquess of Tenerife (17 September 1838 – 20 October 1930) was a Spanish general and colonial administrator who served as the Governor-General of the Philippines and Cuba, and later as S ...
to relocate Cuba's rural population into concentration camps. The policy was originally developed by the Captaincy General of Cuba
Arsenio Martínez Campos
Arsenio Martínez-Campos y Antón, born Martínez y Campos (14 December 1831, in Segovia, Spain – 23 September 1900, in Zarauz, Spain), was a Spanish officer who rose against the First Spanish Republic in a military revolution in 1874 and res ...
as a way to separate rebels from the rural populace who occasionally fed and sheltered them. Under the policy, rural Cubans had eight days to relocate to designated camps in fortified towns, all who failed to obey were to be shot. Housing in camps was often decaying, food was scarce, and disease quickly spread through the camps. By 1898, a third of Cuba's population had been moved into camps and over 400,000 Cubans died due to their subjected conditions. The policy is remembered as the first time in history modern concentration camps were constructed.
Background
The plan implemented by
Valeriano Weyler
Valeriano Weyler y Nicolau, 1st Duke of Rubí, 1st Marquess of Tenerife (17 September 1838 – 20 October 1930) was a Spanish general and colonial administrator who served as the Governor-General of the Philippines and Cuba, and later as S ...
to relocate Cuba's rural population into concentration camps, originally developed by
Arsenio Martínez Campos
Arsenio Martínez-Campos y Antón, born Martínez y Campos (14 December 1831, in Segovia, Spain – 23 September 1900, in Zarauz, Spain), was a Spanish officer who rose against the First Spanish Republic in a military revolution in 1874 and res ...
as a way to separate rebels from the rural populace who occasionally fed and sheltered them. Affected people had eight days to relocate, and all who failed to obey were to be shot. Housing in camps was often decaying, food was scarce, and disease quickly spread through the camps. By 1898, a third of Cuba's population had been moved into camps and over 400,000 Cubans died due to their subjected conditions. The policy is remembered as the first time in history modern concentration camps were constructed.
Cuban War of Independence
Rebel army leaders
Máximo Gómez
Máximo Gómez y Báez (November 18, 1836 – June 17, 1905) was a Dominican Generalissimo in Cuban War of Independence, Cuba's War of Independence (1895–1898). He was known for his controversial Scorched earth, scorched-earth policy, whic ...
and
Antonio Maceo Grajales
Lt. General José Antonio de la Caridad Maceo y Grajales (June 14, 1845December 7, 1896) was second-in-command of the Cuban Army of Independence.
Fellow Cubans gave Maceo the nickname “The Bronze Titan" ( es, El Titán de Bronce, links=no), ...
instituted a strategy of guerrilla warfare in the countryside, often only engaging in hit-and-run attacks and destroying sugar plantations owned by the country's elite. The rebels received significant support from rural peasants and specifically black plantation workers. A Cuban exile group known as the Cuban Junta had effectively swayed American public opinion onto the side of the rebels. By 1896, the rebels had begun an offensive on the prosperous western end of the island destroying sugar plantations and causing severe damage to Spain's economy.
Spanish administration
Governor of Cuba
Arsenio Martínez Campos
Arsenio Martínez-Campos y Antón, born Martínez y Campos (14 December 1831, in Segovia, Spain – 23 September 1900, in Zarauz, Spain), was a Spanish officer who rose against the First Spanish Republic in a military revolution in 1874 and res ...
insisted to Spain that the only path to victory included harsher strategies against the rebels. He reckoned it would be necessary to remove the supportive rural population from rebels in order to streamline offensives. Campos personally could not bring himself to order the forced relocation and resigned.
In 1896,
Valeriano Weyler
Valeriano Weyler y Nicolau, 1st Duke of Rubí, 1st Marquess of Tenerife (17 September 1838 – 20 October 1930) was a Spanish general and colonial administrator who served as the Governor-General of the Philippines and Cuba, and later as S ...
was appointed head of Spanish forces and governor of Cuba.
Weyler had previously studied the conflict in Cuba and was a staunch supporter to the idea that the rural population must be relocated for Spain to be victorious.
History
In the autumn of 1896, Weyler decreed that rural Cubans without approved agricultural activities must be moved into camps in fortified towns. All resources and land in the countryside were destroyed so as to not be used by the rebels, livestock was driven into cities, and trade with rural areas was prohibited. By the end of the year, the Cuban countryside was devoid of all common life except for warfare.
Within the camps, disease and starvation began to kill off many of the internees. Despite these horrors, Weyler continued their application.
References
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Human rights abuses in Cuba
1890s in Cuba
Military history of Cuba
Military history of Spain
Internment camps