The epic is built on the lives of many men and knowing that makes society more mature.” The writer Bibiana Candia is right. In Azucre (Pepitas de Calabaza, 2021) we are told the tragedy of the enslaved Galician migrants of the 19th century, but that story would have been that of the Basques fleeing hunger or war. The local press of that time. The Vitorian Advertiser stated in 1880 that in Cadiz, Seville, Santander... there were people “rotting for money” willing to exploit the migrants, as was done with the black slaves. In El Gorbea we read the letter (February 1889): “I sleep on a table and my heart gets sadder than night. Food can't be swallowed, we spend two hours at night and we go to work, and all day just an hour's rest. We are here as if we were dogs.”
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García says, there will always be “unscrupulous people” who take advantage of these situations. For example, the Gordexola, Domingo Aldama, wanted to import the Basques to Cuba at that time, so that they would work almost in their own sugar pots under the conditions of the slaves: my Biscayan.
Julián Zulueta, for his part, travelled comfortably from Anuntzeta to Havana thanks to his uncle's fortune with the sugar plots of Matanzas in Cuba. If we approach this Alavese people, we will see with elegance the palace that was their home.
Zulueta became one of the largest traffickers in the 19th century: Africans, Chinese, Mayans... What didn't he sell and buy? It transported nearly 100,000 slaves, according to Hugh Thomas, and it accumulated millions of reais. A good way to know what this slave has done can be to travel through the virtual exhibition created by Irati Antica Azukrebeltza.eus. And if not, it is enough to take a tour of Vitoria-Gasteiz to discover the corners seized by the sweet sugar.
After Zulueta's death in 1878, his children repatriated part of his capital and filled the city with elegant palaces. The Zulueta Palace (1) was built by Alfredo Zulueta and the Museum of Fine Arts of Álava (2) by Elvira Zulueta. The latter has a street (3) near there, because he donated money – among other things to do the Bishopric of Vitoria (4) – and donated money from slaves’ blood. The bones of Julian Zulueta are located in the cemetery of Santa Isabel (5), a giant mausoleum that stands out from the rest.
The collective ContrApunto Decolonial has made guided tours in Vitoria-Gasteiz, not only following the trail of Zulueta, but also the sculpture of Manuel Iradier (6) to show the colonial interests that were in the shadow of the romantic African explorations of the 19th century. By the way, one of the world’s largest explorers, Henry Morton Stanley (7) has a street in his name in the Zabalgana neighborhood, which paved the way for him to enslave millions of people in the Congo, in Leopold II.ari, Belgium. Truly epic.
[This article has been published in the special journal of page 2024 108 of the ARGIA Keys. People will receive LIGHT on paper or in PDF, depending on their choice. If you haven’t taken the step yet, do ARGIA and we’ll send it to you with great pleasure! The rest you can buy at the Azoka]
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