San Antonio de los Banos

San Antonio de los Banos is a town south of Havana and is a city of the same name that was founded by Canarian immigrants.  It was also known as the Capital of Humor, this honor is because it has hosted the International Biennial of Humor since 1979.  This city is the first Museum of Humor in Cuba, the only one of its kind in Latin America.

The enclosure treasures the first cartoons that were published on the island in 1848 and thousands of works of authors from different countries.  On the outskirts of the city live about 40,000 residents as well as the headquarters of the International Film School, “International School of Film and Television”, founded in 1986 under the auspices of the Foundation of New Latin American Cinema.  The center enjoys great prestige in the continent.

The fertile plains of Hato Ariguanabo, where the city is located, was given to Juan de Rojas between 1515 and 1519 and his transfer was confirmed on 18^th March 1519.  The site was a forest where hardwoods abound. Since the persecution of the growers who rebelled in 1723, they began to encourage the creation of small farms on the riverside royal lands of Ariguanabo.  They grew snuff and nuts on the plots.  For 1745 this scattered hamlet begins to be mentioned in some documents.

Eighteenth century
From 1760 with the war with England imminent, Spain increased shipbuilding at the shipyards of Havana, and the wood was extracted from the estates of Rancho (Boyer), Alquizar, Guira de Melena and Herd of Ariguanabo, where cedar and mahogany was abundant.  In 1765 when it awarded the title of Marquis of Monte Hermoso Don Agustin de Cardena, lord of the region, there was already a settlement, although very sparse, named San Antonio Abad and San Antonio del Ariguanabo.
Cutting timber in the forest enabled the increase of crossing the highway, and for the construction of warships.  The established a tavern as a place to cross the river Havana Ariguanabo.  They built the foundation for creating a more compact hamlet, as the former residents of the area were established in small plots of land along the river, some distance from each other. The existence of the tavern cemented the permanence that was already established.
Eighteenth century
In the second decade of the seventeenth century, they established a town by the name of San Antonio Abad. It was given the name until the beginning of the founding of the town, when swimming in the river Ariguanabo became famous among the wealthy classes in Havana, who had them as medicinal and even miraculous. The name of San Antonio Abad was growing by the fame of the bathroom and shortly after became Abad San Antonio de los Banos.  In the Royal Decree of 1794 they established in San Antonio a manor court.  This identity card stated that the prominence given to the Marquis de Monte Hermoso outside of his family life, but the decree confirming the Villa (1832) said it was limited to only day of the present Marquis and no more.
The Haitian Revolution in the period 1791-1803, destroyed the sugarcane fields and coffee plantations on the neighboring island, who was then the leading supplier of these products to international markets. This greatly influenced the historical process of Cuba and the region. From 1800 they started planting coffee in the area, with the arrival of the French coming out of Haiti in the revolutionary process and its cultivation increased, so that in a short time nearly all the good lands were converted into coffee.
The second Marquis of Monte Hermoso, Gabriel Maria de Cardenas, was a rich and remarkable Cuban Reformism prominent figure, helped by Francisco de Arango, who in 1792 had presented a paper to the Spanish crown entitled “Discourse on agriculture in Havana and means to promote it” and enjoyed great prestige and authority among the Creole landowners and by the captain general of Cuba, Luis de las Casas, succeeded in getting the settlement of large numbers of French emigrants in the jurisdiction of San Antonio, where they founded their village head, who led agricultural development in the area with the building of a large number of beautiful coffee plantations and the construction of magnificent homes, beautiful gardens.

Independence
Napoleon’s invasion of Spain in 1808, created chaos, culminating in the imprisonment of Ferdinand VII.  The French occupation of the peninsula was seized by the Hispanic colonies of America to launch the struggle for independence.  The Spanish colonies of America were left to drift, under the command of the Supreme Board, based in Seville, which began a fierce persecution against the French living in those areas. In the circular of 28^th July 1808, the captain general of Cuba orders all existing French people in the town of San Antonio who were not naturalized, having taken the oath of fidelity and allegiance to the King of Spain should be leave as soon as possible.

The expulsion of the French in the region caused serious economic disruptions in Ariguanabo.  Production slowed and some farms were abandoned for lack of attention. During the Revolutionary War and especially during one sad episode saw a parade of thousands of people from the fields and other terms, which would leave their crops and homes burned to the colonial army to avoid Cuban independence.  In 1896 he began the invasion of the province of Havana by the invading forces and the vicinity of San Antonio was the scene of several clashes between Spaniards and Mambi.

On 4^th January of that year the Major General Antonio Maceo fell in Guira de Melena taking prisoners to the colonialists.  On the 5th they penetrated part of the invading forces in Alquizar and Water Seiba, unopposed. On January 6^th , surrender occured. That same night, the forces of Gomez and Maceo camped in Baracoa and Perfecto Lacoste.  On the 7th they formed two columns: the Maceo, which aims to invade Pinar del Rio and Gomez, who remained active in Havana and Matanzas. On January 9^th Generalissimo Light reached the mill.  On the 11th Mi Rosa, is involved in heavy fighting with the colonial forces.  On the 12^th they were housed in the mill Fajardo.  On the 13th in Health and Bejucal they found resistance, and on the 14^th they struck again . Gomez Halfway changed direction towards the south, and was wounded in the leg. On February 16^th they camped at the Crossroads, on the road to San Antonio Alquizar, and finally on the 17^th they passed San Antonio de los Banos.