In 1511 the Spanish conqueror Diego Velasquez reached the island of Cuba, after having conquered the ear island of Hispaniola, the modern Haiti and S.to Domingo. Hatuey, a Cacique of the Tainòs tribe in Hispaniola, testified this massacre and fled, with a group of men, to Cuba, to escape the Spanish prosecutions.

Here he warned the local tribes and convinced them to get rid of the gold

 
 

they had, considered to be the real God of the Spanish; he also organized a first form of resistance to the invaders, based on quick attacks and quick escapes. With the help of a betrayer, Velasquez caught him and burned him alive.

  
     
 

Legend says that Hatuey was already tied to a wooden pole when a Spanish priest, Bartlomè de las Casas, tried to convert him to Christianity, offering him Baptism and the road to Paradise. Hatuay replied that if also baptized Spanish went to Paradise, then he would have preferred to go to Hell.

This legend is very popular especially in the Oriente provinces; it is still believed nowadays that in Yara, the place wher Hatuey was burned on the 2nd of February 1512, he shows in the form of a light, the Luz de Yara. For his rebellion against the Spanish and for his fighting techniques, very similar to the Guerrilla ones, Hatuey is considered to be el primero, the first Cuban hero.

  
     
 

A curiosity, even if the Cacique wouldn't have liked it: a brewery in Santiago produces a beer brand in memory of Hatuey: the Cerveza Hatuey, also cited by Hemingway in his Old man and the sea. Maybe you'll have the chance to taste it during your next vacation in Cuba.