In the municipality, as in the rest of the province and the country, the geographical environment has been changing since the first important settlements were produced at the beginning of this century. Towards the areas of the Guanales neighborhood first and San Nicolás later due to the foundation of the sugar mills, this brought with it the planting of large extensions of sugar cane and other crops for self-consumption.
In general, before the triumph of the Revolution, the transformations of the environment were quite limited. It is from 1959 that the environment is transformed with the aim of satisfying the demands of society, becoming more notable with the development of agriculture, from the creation of new agricultural and livestock plans, as well as the emergence of new populations and the increase of the existing ones.
As the sugar industry and population growth developed, sports also advanced, predominantly cricket and baseball, these games were played on rural land since the 1920s.
Currently, one of the important transformations is taking place in the northeast of the municipality with the construction of the Sabanas Nuevas dam, the promotion of agriculture in the area and the creation of the center for the rearing of fingerlings attached to the hydraulic work.
Ecuador Sugar Factory
In the town of Baraguá is located the Ecuador Sugar Factory, the main industry of the current municipality, which since its construction gave way to a process of Anglo-Caribbean population settlement, which generates, together with the existing culture, a rich range of stories and traditions linked to the work economic, political and social.
The arrival of the American Sugar SA Company in Ciego de Ávila in its expansion to the East reached Baraguá in (1914-1915) and the construction of the Central began, together with a socioeconomic and commercial structure of the locality. The Baraguá Sugar Company bought 1,181 caballerias for cane development, plus 26 slabs of land. They formed a single farm called (Baraguá Mill) with a total value of $8.76 million dollars by deed 142 of March 27, 1916.
In 1915, the clearing of land began in an area of 80 caballerias, forming crews of 2 to 11 workers, who were paid 120 pesos per caballerias of cane planted and ready for cutting.
At the end of 1915, the construction of the mill began. The islander Donet ceded three caballerias of land for the plant to be installed. It was located in the southern part of the province, 30 km from Ciego de Ávila and 484 from the capital, the place initially chosen was Colorado due to its proximity to the company line, this idea was discarded with the new intention of shipping sugar through Boca Grande, the pier to the south of the territory.
In 1916 the works on the railway line were completed, the cargo and passenger trains that went from Colorado to Baraguá and vice versa did so every three hours. In 1917, the engineer from Santoya delivered ready to grind to his first administrator Godschueu, the harvest lasted 131 days, consuming an average of 783 tons of bagasse for every 100t of sugar, using only this fuel in his first three harvests.
Social development
Sociocultural effect of imperialist penetration and sugar expansion
The entry of the Antillean emigrants to Baraguá changed the social life in mill vicinities and its surroundings as they introduced religious beliefs, new dances and musical rhythms that enriched the folklore that until then was limited to existing ones.
The most important festivities of the Antilleans were celebrated on August 1, the day of the emancipation of slavery, the only major cultural activity celebrated in the community with a non-religious character; this began at 12:00 noon and ended at 6:00 in the afternoon, the dance of the ribbon and the ring were danced collectively by men and women who formed six couples, the first consisted of a tall pole with 12 colored ribbons tied to the upper end, the same governed around it with great skill and mastery and without losing the dance rhythm.
Education before the revolutionary triumph
Until 1925, there were schools only in Pilar, Colorado, Baraguá and Gaspar. The children of the workers and owners went to them, they responded to the interests of the exploiting classes, the children of the workers were taught what was necessary, fundamentally the management of the technique, the level reached did not exceed the degree. In the rest of the territory, there were no schools, so the majority were victims of illiteracy and ignorance.
Health
In 1902 to 1925 the health status of the population was dismal, there was no preventive medicine so diseases proliferated causing the premature death of dozens of people. Although there were doctors, clinics and pharmacies, the vast majority died, the patient's condition became critical because they did not have the monetary resources to pay the doctor and the medicines.
This situation was attenuated by the humanitarian attitude of some doctors who in most cases did not charge the poor for consultations and often paid for their medicines with their own money. At this time the women gave birth at home, they were cared by Úrsula Oliva Acosta who attended the births of the territory from 1913-1950. This woman was of great humanitarian character, who did not charge a penny and they came to look for her at any time of the night, from distant places on horseback and along difficult paths, sacrificing her rest time and using it without inconvenience to this human task.
In this area, there were no dental services, and those who needed this service went to a man with the surname Camejo, who made cold-blooded extractions.
Sport
The first manifestations of a recreational and sports nature take place in the Jamaican neighborhood, beginning to practice its activities 2 km from the power plant, next to the Itabo River, on 405 hectares that were granted to the company.
As the sugar industry and population growth advanced, sports also developed, predominantly cricket and baseball, these games were played on rural land in the 1920s.
Culture and traditions
Approximately between 1915 and 1920, Antillean immigrants from Jamaica, Barbados, Saint Vincent, Granada and other English-speaking Antillean islands, as well as from Panama, where they arrived to work on the construction of the canal, settled definitively in Baraguá, settling in the fertile lands with the defined purpose of improving their economic status and returning to their respective places of origin.
It is impossible to define Baraguá culture without taking into account the Anglo-Caribbean contribution. Since 1917, the festival on August 1 has been celebrated in the Jamaican neighborhood to greet each new anniversary of the liberation of slaves in the English Antilles.
That day, a procession of rhythms and voices floods the streets of Baraguá and the visitor may believe that he has taken the wrong direction, letting himself be carried away by the music. After a tour led by the Donkey, an animal that invites everyone to dance, you arrive at the neighborhood track, there, with a bilingual speech, the participants are welcomed, explaining the reason for the celebrations, then the games that demonstrate dexterity and joy, the war of the rope, the grease, pole, the mock mas or doll, after offering all those present bown and sugar water (lemonade), on the scene A dance group appears and expresses itself in pelvic movements, the faces exude joy in dances that perform the skill of each dancer.
The choreographic relationships that are based on enriching neighborhood elements of the ensemble such as the sack dances, the stilts, in addition to the jocular tone and double meaning of the songs have made this show a genuine and typical expression of popular culture.
For the people of Baragüá it is a source of healthy pride to offer their sweets and characteristic dishes that have ceased to be the exclusive preserve of immigrants to belong to all, many of the foods are prepared with fruit from plants brought from their place of origin in the English-speaking Caribbean, cukoo soup, jaqui, black, kaque or Jamaican black kaque, and coconut rice are among the most popular. Saril is the favorite drink for family parties.
In general, cultural integration has become a reality in Baraguá, music, dance, architecture, religious beliefs and sports practices converge in a dialectical transculturation that has transcended the narrow framework of the neighborhood to become the most relevant and defining cultural fact of the municipality.
Other traditions have been kept alive in the musical sphere, the son montuno, the punto guajiro and the calypso are still rooted. Likewise, oral transmission literature maintains its validity, mainly through the tenth.
Traditional folk crafts survive in the work of women and men who already transcend the provincial sphere with their production.
Communities of the municipality
- Carrillo
- Chacha Quesada
- Clementina
- Colorado
- Corojo
- Crucero de Colorado
- El Clavo
- El Frutero
- El Genético
- El Pilar
- El Progreso
- El Way
- Gutiérrez
- Hato Potrero
- Jiquimal
- La Angelita
- La Carrera
- La Cuba Vieja
- La Cubanita
- La Gloriosa
- La Güira
- La Palma
- La Yaya
- María Luisa
- Pachi Tres
- Poveda
- Pueblo Nuevo
- Purificación
- Revolución de Octubre
- Sabino Pupo
- San Francisco
- San Isidro
- San Pedro
- San Rafael
- Santa Teresa
- Santiago Roja Salina
- Purificación