Guanabo
Palm-shaded Atlantic beach town where an eighteen-twelve slave uprising first flared before being crushed.
Location
About this audio guide
Behind the beach town of Guanabo outside Havana lies the site of the Peñas Altas plantation, where an uprising of enslaved and free Black workers broke out before dawn on March 15, 1812. The guide follows the free Black carpenter José Antonio Aponte, who spent years building a network of allies across the island aiming to end slavery in Cuba entirely, and the men who led the revolt on the ground, Juan Barbier and Francisco Javier Pacheco. You'll hear how the plot was meant to spread from Havana to Baracoa. Stand at the shoreline where cane fields once stood, and picture the fire that started here before dawn.
This audio guide was created using AI.
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