Lajas

Esteban settled in Santa Isabel de las Lajas after the war. Here he began to criticize the injustices he found in the newly independent Cuba. The discrimination, the fear and exclusion of black participation in politics and civil society, all made him question the reasons that he and many of his brothers in slavery had sacrificed their lives to help give birth to the new republic. He lived in Lajas at the same time as Coronel Simeon Armenteros and other members of the Partido Independiente de Color, the national party leading the revolts and took part in the 1912 revolt protesting the exclusion of blacks from national political culture. A more well known native son of Lajas is Benny Moré, El Barbaro del Ritmo (the Madman of Rhythm). He started locally, made a name for himself in Central America and by the 1950s was internationally known as the most popular male singer in Cuba.