Reconcentration policy
Reconcentration policy | |
---|---|
Concentration camps | |
Location | Cuba |
Built by | Valeriano Weyler |
Operated by | Kingdom of Spain |
Original use | Population relocation |
Inmates | Rural Cubans |
Number of inmates | 400,000 - 500,000 |
Killed | 170,000 - 400,000[1][2] |
The Spanish Reconcentration policy was a plan implemented by general
Background
The plan implemented by Valeriano Weyler to relocate Cuba's rural population into concentration camps, originally developed by Arsenio Martínez Campos 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.[4][5]
Cuban War of Independence
Rebel army leaders
Spanish administration
Governor of Cuba Arsenio Martínez Campos 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.[5]
In 1896, Valeriano Weyler was appointed head of Spanish forces and governor of Cuba.[6] 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.[7]
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.[7]
Within the camps, disease and starvation began to kill off many of the internees. Despite these horrors, Weyler continued their application.[7]
References
- ^ Stucki, Andreas (2017). Las guerras de Cuba. Violencia y campos de concentración (1868-1898). La Esfera de los libros
- ^ Katherine Hirschfeld (2017). Health, Politics, and Revolution in Cuba Since 1898. p. 133.
- ^ "Spain's Reconcentrado policy in Cuba 1896-97 (The Cuban Holocaust)".
- ^ "February, 1896: Reconcentration Policy". pbs.org. 1999. Retrieved April 23, 2022.
- ^ a b Pitzer, Andrea; Public Square, Zocalo (November 2, 2017). "Concentration Camps Existed Long Before Auschwitz". smithsonianmag.com. Smithsonian. Retrieved April 23, 2022.
- ^ ISBN 9781851099511.
- ^ ISBN 0822971976.