The Cathedral was just the beginning of a murderous rampage.
My picture. Edited on photofunny.net.
This is my entry to @galenkp’s Weekend Engagement #118. I picked the third topic:
Weekend history lesson
Find a historical monument in your area, take a photo of it and write a minimum of 250 words about it, the history and meaning behind it. The photo you use must be your own photo.
The Bloody Cathedral
On Octuber 16th 1814, during the Venezuelan Independence War, this Cathedral was scenario of one of the most gruesome events.
The First Republic had been lost. The Second Republic was also on the brink of collapse. The patriots fighting to gain independence from Spain were actually fighting a civil war against other subjects born in Venezuelan but loyal to the Spanish Crown.
One of those loyalists was a young fierce warrior named José Tomás Boves. Even though he had been born in Spain, he was a humble pulpero (grocer) in the llanos (planes) who identified with the patriot's cause. He was very popular among the poor. When the war started, Boves tried to fight on the patriots’ side (he even supported them financially), but allegedly he was rejected because of his low social status. That rejection won the royalist the best warrior they could get and he became the nightmare of the patriot armies.
Boves was driven my sheer resentment against the snobbish criollos and echoed that of blacks, mulattoes, and Indians who followed him and considered him a father. One of his nick names was Taita (pa).
The background of this horrible massacre goes back to the defeats the main armies of Simón Bolívar and Santiago Mariño had suffered. These leaders had to leave the country, leaving José Felix Rivas and Manuel Piar (among other generals) in charge of the remaining troops. Thousands of people were fleeing Caracas in what was called the “migration to the east.” Boves chased them all the way to Cumaná. El Salado Battle (el salado was the name of an area around the coast of Cumaná. It means the salty one; ironically it is also slang for unlucky) was a brief obstacle that this ruthless rider had to sort out and once the patriots’ army was on the run, Boves entered Cumaná.
After the military confrontation, came the looting of Cumaná. More than 2,000 civilians were slaughtered by Boves’ men. Less conservative estimates put the number around 5,000.
The Cathedral was just the beginning of the bloody rampage. More than 200 people, including women, children and elders were killed only there.
The next day, they organized a lavish party and invited all the members of the high society who had not fled the city and were hoping to be spared based on their impartiality or sworn fealty to the royalists.
They paid their naïveté dearly. By midnight Boves ordered the execution of all men, then all women. Among the executed (although this fact is argued by some historians) were some musicians, the most famous of them was Juan José Landaeta, the composer who arranged the music of a revolutionary song that ended up becoming our National Anthem (Gloria al Bravo Pueblo). It is said that the pages of the song were tied to his head before he was shot by a fire squad.
Today, this place looks as peaceful as it gets. It was recently painted by the local government after years of neglect. Most people here ignore this part of their own (not-too-far-away) history. Hopefully, we will not witness a bloody mass or bloody parties like those of 1814.
Thanks for stopping by
D*ng. That's pretty brutal.. And inside the cathedral? Too disrespectful...
Yes, that's war, I guess. The acts of brutality had come from both camps. After the loss of what was called the First Republic in 1812, the nationalist figured out that maybe the Haitians were right when they declared total war to the French. In 1813, Simon Bolivar issued the infamous "War to the death decree", a warning to all Spaniards or Canarians (from the Canary Islands) that they would be killed even if they were neutral.
It was total war from then on, so the carnage of every battle only fed the resentment and anticipation for the next. An eye for an eye and the whole country went blind.
War, the greatest crime and civil war multiplied to infinity.
Conflicting brothers, children murdering fathers and mothers, the sum of injustices such as the death sentences of innocents, just for being innocent.
That's right. If the atrocities of war were taught at school and at home just like they are, I don't think we'd have a generation so eager to go to war for reasons they don't fully understand and in the name of people who could not care less about their country, let alone about the fallen victims of war crimes.
War turns any side, any country into brute ruthless creatures and it only paves the way for future justifications for more destruction.
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Thanks for bringing us a bit of history, it was good.
What a joy to see the cathedral so beautiful, freshly painted. I wish the government would take care of recovering all the works of art, monuments, historic centers.
You're welcome. Thanks for stopping by.
They would do it if they wanted to. If they truly cared.
Once in a while they'll do something like this just to keep appearances but most of the historic district is compromised (see callejón Juncal or the Alarcón house, for instance). The due restorations have not been done or have not been done by experts and much of the touristic potential will continue going to waste amid so much mediocrity and corruption.
You are right and it is unfortunate 😌