REMAINS OF THE TRAIL (TROCHA) FROM JÚCARO TO MORÓN
A brief history of the Trail (Trocha) from Júcaro to Morón. In the wars of 1868 and 1895, the Trocha was an insurmountable barrier, as the Spanish thought, and after it was finished, it became the most perfect and sophisticated military construction that the Spanish Colonialism had in America. Of course it was never a deterrent for the glorious Mambi Army (Ejército Mambí), who in both wars kept crossing it ,showing the ingenious strategies deployed by their military chiefs, among them Máximo Gómez and Antonio Maceo, with the help of other insurrectional chiefs of the area, such as Brigadier José Gómez Cardoso and Colonel Simón Reyes Hernández, known as the Eagle of the Trocha (El Águila de la Trocha). The aim of this military line was to isolate the mambi forces in the eastern area, in order to deter help and break contact between the insurrectional forces in the central and eastern regions, and to stop the invaders, led by Máximo Gómez and Antonio Maceo from extending the war to the western region of the country, an event that would wear down the strength of Spanish colonialism, leading up to its final fall. By the end of March of 1871, three years from the Cry of Yara (Grito de Yara), General Blas Villate de la Hera, Count of Valmaseda, proposed to the Overseas Minister of the Spanish Crown; the construction of a trocha or fortified line, from the port of Júcaro, on the southern coast; running across the island, to the settlement of Morón, on the northern coast. Valmaseda’s proposal was approved, and construction on the trocha was started. It started out with 17 fortresses and in 1874, 16 bunkers had been added on, more than five thousand men were employed to guard it, these soldiers had modern infantry weapons as well as ten pieces of artillery, which were moved along the Trocha by a narrow railway, which also allowed them to quickly move the troops from one end to the other.

For more information:  www.cuba-heroes.com , www.cuba-history.com , www.cuba-matanzas.com , www.cuba-cienfuegos.com , www.cuba-villaclara.com , www.cuba-sanctispiritus.com