History of the municipality

The town of Perico was founded between 1845 and 1850 as a result of the development of sugar production in the second half of the 19th century. The name of Perico was due to the existence in this place of an old Spanish owner of the first commerce, who supplied the necessary products to the recent settlers.

In 1885 the name of Perico was changed to Cervantes in honor of the prominent Spanish writer, author of Don Quixote; in 1899 as a result of the intervention government's policy, the original name is retaken again.

In 1916, Perico is a municipal term in the province of Matanzas and its main source of economic activity was the centrals: "Republican Spain" "and" Tinguaro. "In this year, Leovigildo Hernández and Rigoberto Leyva created in the Camajuaní-Remedios area. the famous liberal combat song "La Chanbelona", the province of Matanzas was a hotbed in that electoral campaign that preceded Menocal's reelection and precipitated a liberal uprising in 1917.

The conservatives were trying to prevail with the terror that at that time was running throughout the province "Pepe the hot" shooting down any liberal rally. In that atmosphere conducive to panic, a liberal rally was held in the La Libertad de Perico park, the rostrum was placed next to a palm and someone went up to speak to the co-religionists ... "Liberals of the Parakeet" ... he exclaimed and at that moment a palm fell from the palm. In that atmosphere of excitement when feeling the roar, a cry was heard: "Run!" ... and the phrase: "Liberals of the Parakeet to Run" was recorded, from that moment on that phrase has become popular by the residents of the town and has become part of the identification of the Periqueño

Coat of arms of the Municipality

 Perico anthem.

Our struggles face periqueños,

we will honor good patriots,

your ideas do not change for others

let us forever defend your dreams.

Our ideas for saber in the hands,

your roots that are very here,

defending the brother with blood,

We will forever honor Martí.

Your ideas do not change for others

let us forever defend your dreams.

Our ideas for saber in the hands,

your roots that are very here,

defending the brother with blood,

We will forever honor Martí.

Throughout the 18th century, Guamutas continued to be the only population center in the area. Center of all economic and religious life, site of games and cockfights, and forced transit of people who were heading to Havana, came to obtain the status of Judicial Party in the next century. Its catholic wooden temple and tile roof, frequently visited by important personalities such as the Bishop of Triscaly, in 1778 registered a population of 600 inhabitants. Of these, small parts were slaves, but their rebellion was already manifested through the maroon. The first reference in this regard dates from 1777 when the Town hall of Havana, in response to the request of the rural owners, authorized commissions to prosecute the Maroons beaten in the nearby Heights of Bibanasí. 

The sugar industry reached the lands of Guamutas in the second half of this century. The Census of 1778 recorded the existence of a sugar factory on its premises. Six years later, three mills were grinding there, one of them in lagoon big (Pijuán). The development of sugar production in the area slowed down in its early years, as there were legal obstacles in the ownership of land and its commercialization. But when royal decrees were enforced in the 1810s, which allowed the sale and division to census of the haciendas of the territory in order to promote the production of sugar, new factories and cane fields emerged in our geography. In the harvest of 1834-1835 the Judicial Party of Guamutas counted 11 mills, and in later years the number continued to rise when the Regalado was founded in 1836 (after Álava and present-day Mexico), San Isidro (1837), Flor de Cuba (1838), Tinguaro in 1839 (later Sergio González) and others. 

In the first four decades of the nineteenth century, the sugar industry failed to supplant the role of livestock as a fundamental economic activity in the region. Livestock production benefited from the arrival of sugar, as its cattle were used as a means of transport, in agricultural work, and as a source of food for the provision of slaves and workers free of the mills. This explains that in 1831 the Judicial Party of Guamutas will have 216 cattle ranches. 

With the promotion of sugar mills and plantations, the population of the territory increased, mainly the slave. In the Guamutas Party itself lived in 1831, 2,275 slaves. Years ago, slaves from the area, in a gesture of rebellion and love of freedom, supported the abolitionist conspiracy of José Antonio Aponte, which extended from Havana to Guamutas, acquiring a certain development. 

The independence ideals of the suns and rays the Bolívar conspiracy movement also reached Guamutas. In this place one of his chief leaders, priest Domingo Hernández, deported to Spain in 1824. 

In the final years of this period there was a fact of great socio-economic significance for the town: the foundation of a population center that after having adopted the name New Bermeja, became the current city of Columbus. Columbus owes its origin to the sugar development, and other factors such as the excellent geographical position of the site where it was built, junction of the roads that crossed the region from North to South and from East to West, and certain social needs of the people there they settled, such as having a nearby place to buy food and clothes, pay taxes, fulfill religious duties, etc. 

LEGENDS

The legend of a number of slaves in the territory left only those elements that explain their deities in the legendary Perico tradition.

Among the possible traditions is the mother of water that they said lived in the rocker of the old central of Spain. The dismantling of the industry, I dismantle this legend.

Mothers of waters: It is present in fairy tales and Amerindian legends. For older Cuban mythology, she is a powerful and magical magical snake or majá that lives in rivers, lagoons, dams and wells, and is responsible for the fact that the waters are always present in these hydrographic accidents. From Pinar del Río to Guantánamo there are numerous stories about the Mothers of Waters. As coinciding characteristics are: majá of great size, often of exaggerated proportions; live in the water and have the maximum responsibility for ensuring that the place where it lives does not dry out. There are also contradictory criteria in its behavior, since for some it is a peaceful animal and for others aggressive; in his physique, sometimes he has jars on his head and sometimes he doesn't. In addition, the criterion that human beings cannot kill or threaten them is expanded, because they could suddenly die, become ill or suffer from fevers.

TRADITIONS

Within the main traditions we have:

Celebrations of Santa Catalina de Siena: the town of Roque takes place. On April 30 of each year, it comes from a patron saint festival that has its origins in the 19th century.

Danceable from December 25 in the town of Republican Spain.

Popular Celebrations of the month of November.

My Villa Cucalambeana on June 14 and 15.

Máximo Gómez Culture Day, in the month of December.

Culture Week in November.