Search Continues for Traces of Indigenous Mexicans in Cuba

HAVANA TIMES — Cuban researchers will resume their explorations in February to find traces on the island of ethnic Chichimecos, who were originally from Mexico. Members of that group are known to have rebelled against Spanish colonial rule in the La Palma municipality in Pinar del Rio Province.

According to the Prensa Latina news agency, surveys will be made of the Sierra de la Macaw area, which was supposedly the site of one of settlements or campsites constructed by these groups in the late eighteenth century.

Investigation is being guided by background research conducted last year with the participation of Mexican university professors from Coahuila, where there appeared pictographs that may be associated with these indigenous groups.

Further analysis is needed to confirm whether these manifestations of rock art are directly linked to the presence of the rebels, who commanded bands of runaway slaves in settlements in this western region, said organizer Jorge Freddy Ramirez.

The investigation, said Ramirez, aims to clarify details of the presence and mode of action of these groups in Cuba, which the official media at the time branded as fierce and cruel.