When a loved one is lost, a deep pain comes to all that can only be deciphered by the heart, a feeling of helplessness before the harsh reality of death, knowing that the person we love, already physically absent, will be alone And inert in a cold and dark place, in a place hated by many: the cemetery.
However, in the city of Santiago de Cuba, this place, baptized with the name of Santa Ifigenia, is not exempt from the burden of history that characterizes this land, which shows its declaration as a National Monument on 19 May 1979, because of its majesty and singular values, those that made someone manifest once in a lyrical tone: Because only seeing you know death is not always death.
There, the first public burial took place on April 22, 1868 and corresponded to a brown girl named Encarnación Ramos, which was followed by innumerable burials that convert the canteen of Santiago in a referent of the funerary patrimony in Cuba.
But, beyond its social function, is this necropolis only the place where we go after our passage through life, or a space where legend and history are combined in pieces of granite and marble.
With more than 10 thousand tombs distributed in 9.4 hectares, the enclosure carries in its bowels figures that have left traces in the political sphere, cultural, scientific, intellectual and in other branches.
The history wanted that the date of its foundation coincided with the beginning of the struggles for the independence of Cuba, reason for which rest and venerate the remains of figures of our libertarian acts.
Each structure saw light men, including Carlos Manuel de Céspedes, who was transferred there after his tragic death in San Lorenzo, on February 27, 1874.
As an imposing fortress stands the Retablo de los Héroes, a monument of grandees that treasure to the generals of the stature of Guillermón Moncada and Flor Crombet, and other officers and soldiers of the contests of 1868 and 1895.
The Cuban woman, a worthy bulwark of our liberating deeds, also found her place in the necropolis, in sepulchers that, although simple, carry in themselves the grandeur of illustrious women like Mariana Grajales, Dominga Moncada and Maria Cabrales, the first two, exceptional mothers And the other, faithful companion who felt the ideals of his beloved Antonio Maceo as his own.
And what about the Mausoleum erected to the memory of José Martí !, which opened on June 30, 1951, has innumerable aesthetic values with a marked symbolism and inspired by the life of the Master and National Hero dedicated to the Homeland.
To the patrimonial wealth of the cemetery are added other constructions of the nineteenth and early twentieth century, where they have their personalities representative of various aspects of society, among them Emilio Bacardí and Elvira Cape, drivers of a good part of the cultural development of the city Of Santiago de Cuba.
The tombstones make the names of many martyrs of the revolutionary cause enduring in the memory.
Thus, the memory of the family of García, with his sons Frank and Josué leading the glossary of young people fallen by the same ideal, are added to memory and to the soul. Pepito Tey, Tony Aloma, Otto Parellada, 30 of November of 1956, and those that faced the hosts of the dictator Fulgencio Baptist 26 of July of 1953.
If men of honor are to be remembered, the Pantheon of the Revolutionary Armed Forces and the Monument to those fallen on internationalist missions are not left behind.
Also, the value of that sacred place is complemented by the rest of Francis Antonmarchi Mettei, who was the last physician of Napoleon Bonaparte.
The legends that accompany the cemetery give him a unique stamp, in addition to the work that man has built with his own hands, perhaps trying to alleviate with his creative power the pain at the sudden course to the dark.
Countless crosses, angels and virgins are imposed, with faces in a sign of sadness, compassion and even conformity to the temporality of our stay on earth.
All these elements and the mysterious stories enriched by orality and transmitted from generation to generation, unite indissolubly to establish a common language in this place that could well be called "city of the dead", where the living go to perpetuate its memory.
These visits, starting next December 4, will not only express the yearning for being lost and honor the notable figures who have rested there for so many years, but also to pay tribute to the man, who once accused, was acquitted By history, he who once said had in his heart the doctrines of the Master.
From this coming Sunday, the cemetery of Santiago will be a place of pilgrimage to remember Commander in Chief Fidel Castro, whose ashes will be planted there, a place worthy of heroes, for almost all the space where to draw the crying and the nostalgia towards the people who We saw live or die or, simply, the soil where we deposited or received, the flowers of life.
Fidel is coming to Santiago to rest forever!, Again in Santa Ifigenia history will be made.