{"id":328819,"date":"2025-09-24T09:00:05","date_gmt":"2025-09-24T13:00:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/?p=328819"},"modified":"2025-09-30T11:46:08","modified_gmt":"2025-09-30T15:46:08","slug":"ruins-of-a-havana-park-and-an-old-cannon-harassing-in-the-scrublands","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/cuba\/ruins-of-a-havana-park-and-an-old-cannon-harassing-in-the-scrublands\/","title":{"rendered":"Ruins of a Havana park, and an old cannon harassing in the scrublands"},"content":{"rendered":"

Looking at the photos of Villal\u00f3n Park in Vedado, I was reminded of the many times I passed by there during my university years. On one corner, the Amadeo Rold\u00e1n Theater; on the other, M\u00e1ximo G\u00f3mez\u2019s house.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Every time I\u2019ve returned to Havana, I go back to that place in search of my own ghosts. I wander around the park, drawn by the figure of Jos\u00e9 Ram\u00f3n Villal\u00f3n, longing to see him. I explore its columns, scraping for fragments of his memory to transform him into a literary character. One day I even rang the doorbell of the house where I found out he had lived, across from the park.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

What could Eusebio Leal say about those ruins? I once asked him about Villal\u00f3n and, to my surprise, learned they were relatives. Now only souls wander among the rubble: ladies and gentlemen of yesterday who watch, entranced, the destruction.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

A child crosses what must once have been grass; a woman returning from her bread run has already forgotten that the park is named Gonzalo de Quesada y Ar\u00f3stegui, the patriot friend of Villal\u00f3n, as a descendant wrote in documents easily found on the internet, among them the one titled <\/span>El libro de los Wilson<\/span><\/i>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

There\u2019s no forgiveness for memory, and it clings to melancholy. I imagine that for those who grew up around Villal\u00f3n Park, for those who hold memories linked to every bench or every plant, the destruction, the dumpster, the oblivion must be painful.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Neglect gives way to forgetfulness, and this eats away at the material like saltpeter. The ruin could one day turn to dust, and you can be sure that this dust will end up buried by a modern building, perhaps designed for tourists who may never arrive, or for millionaires already being forged in the shadow of bureaucracy, ideology and the ghosts of history.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But what about Jos\u00e9 Ram\u00f3n Villal\u00f3n? It was a surprise to learn that he was the creator of an artillery piece used during the War of Independence. Perhaps Juan Padr\u00f3n modeled his character Oliverio, the inventor in the comic strip <\/span>Elpidio Vald\u00e9s<\/span><\/i>, on him.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Oliverio surely embodies the many inventors who participated in our independence struggles, among them the engineer Jos\u00e9 Ram\u00f3n Villal\u00f3n. As I immersed myself in his story, connecting the dots and evoking personalities and moments, the real events began to blend, liquefying in my imagination. Thus, I also share with you fragments of what I composed about the life of this man: patriot, founder, lifeblood of our national blood.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

An episode: Villal\u00f3n\u2019s pneumatic cannon<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

Villal\u00f3n\u2019s pneumatic cannon was of the Sims-Dudley type. He had made some adaptations, adding three tubes: two allowing the evacuation of compressed gases and one for the expulsion of the projectile. In addition to dynamite, he used nitroglycerin. His creation kept him busy for months in an apartment overlooking a gloomy but cool street entrance, and for testing, he went to Long Island Sound with his assistants, because he was in New York. They activated the cannon along the Hudson River and fired the first shot, but the cannon would prove its effectiveness the next day in the island\u2019s plains, so Villal\u00f3n had to head to Florida to embark for that test, bound for the Cuban coast.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In addition to the cannon, the steamer <\/span>Three Friends<\/span><\/i> had a thousand weapons on board: modern rifles, shotguns, Mauser and Winchester rifles, 500,000 rounds and 2,000 pounds of dynamite. The expedition had two commanders: one at sea, General Castillo Duany, and the other on land, Puerto Rican General Juan Rius Rivera, a veteran of the Great War, where he had fought under Calixto Garc\u00eda, to whom, incidentally, Jos\u00e9 Ram\u00f3n had sent one of his aides with a good team of artillerymen. That man was named Frederick Funston, but that\u2019s another story.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

We\u2019re on the high seas, and the expedition members had been divided into four groups. Jos\u00e9 Ram\u00f3n, with the rank of captain, commanded eight men: the four assistants who had accompanied him from New York and four soldiers who would be in charge of the mules on which he was to transport the cargo. He wore a straw hat and a cotton shirt. He remained silent and thoughtful most of the time, but at dawn, the Cuban essence of his character escaped through the intricacies of his formality.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Sometimes he met on deck with a young man named Francisco, whose conversations made him appear older than his age. He was the fourth son of M\u00e1ximo G\u00f3mez and had accompanied Jos\u00e9 Mart\u00ed on his voyages to Key West, Tampa, New Orleans, Costa Rica, Panama, Jamaica and the Dominican Republic. Jos\u00e9 Ram\u00f3n took a great liking to him.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Five days after setting sail from the left bank of the Saint Johns River in Jacksonville, the expedition members discovered the beam of a streetlight in the distance. It was coming from a camp at Cape Corrientes, and they headed in that direction, so the boats carried the group of patriots to a cove on a beach called Mar\u00eda la Gorda, where the landing took place.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Their stay on that coast lasted more than a week. The objective was to reach Antonio Maceo\u2019s troops. The path was tortuous; the dog tooth rocks tore through boots and tried to open the belly of one of the mules; then there was the swamp: the sea grape and guano concentrated the glare of the sun. The legendary general was eager to see the effectiveness of the reinforcements and welcomed them with joy.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

One day, not too far from that day, the explorers discovered a fort occupied by a Spanish column and organized the action. Maceo was eager to test Jos\u00e9 Ram\u00f3n\u2019s cannon. Jose Ram\u00f3n urged the gunners on. The maneuver made excellent impressions, but the weapon\u2019s true power, augmented by the nitroglycerin bags, had yet to be tested. The roar of the weapon terrified the opposing ranks. A great battle was approaching: Ceja del Negro.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The troops received a cruel onslaught in the rain. Not only did they lose their standard-bearer, but the fire became fierce and men began to fall on the battlefield. Jos\u00e9 Ram\u00f3n himself ended up missing half his men. The enemy squadrons managed to ambush the Cubans, who were accompanied by a large number of civilians who, confused by the maneuver, abandoned the river where the enemy was hiding, and children, women and the elderly fell victim to crossfire.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Standing, left: Jos\u00e9 Ram\u00f3n Villal\u00f3n, in the United States, 1898. Also, Calixto Garc\u00eda, Jos\u00e9 Miguel G\u00f3mez, Jos\u00e9 A. Gonz\u00e1lez Lanuza and Manuel Sanguily. Photo: Author\u2019s archive.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

General Pedro Vargas urgently called Jos\u00e9 Ram\u00f3n. \u201cWe must do something with that artillery,\u201d he shouted. He pointed to a rise where the enemy seemed impregnable, but the artillerymen had to arrive, and they did. The shots from the pneumatic cannon made the ground shake; it wasn\u2019t enough to force Weyler\u2019s troops to retreat. The power of the attack provoked confusion. Terror. Maceo ordered a machete charge. The rain had stopped. Blood was running through the stream. The smoke from the gunpowder mixed with the mist, diluting the bloody scene.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Jos\u00e9 Ram\u00f3n received orders to increase his artillery firepower; he must take advantage of the time and produce ammunition. Maceo sensed a new offensive, and time was running out. The days are turning dizzying for him, who has been promoted to commander and must leave with the Lieutenant and his artillery team. The famous pneumatic cannon has the town of Artemisa, his other major action, in check. Once again the dynamite; the fire causes panic; once again, the Mamb\u00ed fighters surprise with their bombardment.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Maceo receives orders and crosses the Mariel to Majana path in a boat with a small group of collaborators. It was December 1896 when a bullet hit his body that had so often been riddled with shrapnel. The Mamb\u00ed leader fell in San Pedro before the eyes of a detachment, and when Francisco, the young man with whom Jos\u00e9 Ram\u00f3n had spoken so often, found out, he ran to the body. The opposing troops are lurking and that\u2019s when the boy takes a piece of paper out of his pocket on which he writes: \u201cGoodbye, my loved ones, I will love you as much in another life as in this one, your Panchito G\u00f3mez Toro, friend or enemy, please send this note from a dead person.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Jos\u00e9 Ram\u00f3n feels something collapsing in his soul. He is consumed by grief and the feeling that the war is brutal and unjust prevails. The Republic itself seems broken, strained by intrigues that alienate generals and entangle hearts like a thorny creeper advancing through the darkness, only to one day reveal the flash of an explosion: the <\/span>Maine<\/span><\/i> bursts like a firecracker in Havana Bay.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

And since Jos\u00e9 Ram\u00f3n had been elected to the Assembly, he was appointed as one of the five members of the commission that would negotiate the disbandment of the Liberation Army in Washington, its recognition. He was thirty-four years old when he returned to New York, and was engaged in efforts that seemed to be bearing fruit with his four companions, when fate struck again: Calixto Garc\u00eda, the most veteran of the independence leaders, the central figure of the group to which he belonged, died, leaving the commission devastated and causing Jos\u00e9 Ram\u00f3n to reproach himself, once again, for the fate of his compatriots and his own.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s the point of a revolution?\u201d he sometimes asked himself. \u201cWhat was the point of the war?\u201d As secretary of the group, he had too many responsibilities and couldn\u2019t get lost in disquisitions. Life waits for nothing, and those still fortunate enough to have it must hurry up to live up to it.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

***<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Jos\u00e9 Ram\u00f3n Villal\u00f3n S\u00e1nchez was born on September 8, 1864, in Santiago de Cuba. He lived in Barcelona and Colombia, where he worked on the railroads. He studied at Lehigh University in the United States and trained as a civil engineer. He was a professor of calculus at the University of Havana and Secretary of Public Works during the first U.S. interventionist government, a position he held again during Mario Garc\u00eda Menocal\u2019s first administration. He died in 1938.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The ghost of Jos\u00e9 Ram\u00f3n Villal\u00f3n, engineer, patriot and architect of a cannon that marked the fate of the War of Independence, still haunts Villal\u00f3n Park. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":467,"featured_media":328822,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13902,13912],"tags":[22988],"ppma_author":[33583],"class_list":["post-328819","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cuba","category-cuban-history","tag-cuban-history"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nRuins of a Havana park, and an old cannon harassing in the scrublands | OnCubaNews English<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The ghost of Jos\u00e9 Ram\u00f3n Villal\u00f3n, engineer, patriot and architect of a cannon that marked the fate of the War of Independence, still haunts Villal\u00f3n Park\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" 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