Serafin Sanchez

Serafín Sánchez Valdivia ( Sancti Spíritus , July 2 , 1846 – Paso de Las Damas , November 18 , 1896 ). He fought in the three wars for the independence of Cuba where he managed to reach the rank of major general of the Cuban Liberation Army .

He participated in the Ten Years’ War (1868-1878) , the Little War (1879-1880) and the Gómez-Maceo Plan (the attempts to restart the armed struggle between 1884 and 1886), and the Necessary War (1895-1898). ) . During his life he achieved the highest military honors, he was a close friend and collaborator of José Martí and Máximo Gómez . He was a surveyor and teacher. ^[1]

Summary

[ disguise ]

• 1 Biographical summary
  • 1 Participation in the Ten Years’ War (1868-1878)
  • 2 Little War
  • 3 Letter to his father
  • 4 Emigration
  • 5 War of ’95
• 2 Death
  • 1 Funeral procession of Serafín Sánchez
• 3 Reference
• 4 Sources

Biographical summary

Serafín was the son of the couple formed by Mr. José Joaquín Sánchez Marín and Mrs. Isabel María de Valdivia y de Salas . Both were descendants of two old families rooted in the town for more than two centuries, in addition, they were owners of urban farms located in the capital and haciendas in Arroyo Blanco , Iguará , San Marcos , Jobosí , Jatibonico and San Felipe . These haciendas were dedicated, fundamentally, to raising livestock, although they were also dedicated to agriculture and had a large number of slaves for their service and care.

José Joaquín, born in Sancti Spíritus in 1821 , had married Isabel María de Valdivia on April 9, 1844 in the Church of Our Lady of Charity of Sancti Spíritus .

On July 28, 1845, the first daughter, Ana del Carmen, was born (who would die a few days after birth). A year later, on July 2 , 1846 , her first male child was born, whom they named Serafín Gualberto. Later other children were born, among them Domitila (who would marry Sabás Raimundo Zabalías, the school teacher of all the brothers).

José Joaquín, according to his son, “was always an adult child,” always worried about his children achieving elementary education. Little Serafín, despite being studious, was slow in learning, he preferred the peasant life, horseback riding and long periods on the hacienda lassoing bulls from his saddle. Serafín’s father encouraged, in part, his son’s peasant interests. He maintained the criterion that the farm owner was better off with experience in peasant work than with the precarious education of the time.

The father took the teacher Sabás Raimundo Zabalías to Arroyo Blanco , where they lived and the birthplace of the Sánchez Valdivia family (only Serafín was born in Sancti Spíritus ), so that he could practice his profession teaching his children and other children in the region. At that time the family had properties dedicated to livestock, mainly on the San Marcos, San Felipe, and Iguará haciendas, among other farms, and it was a rule for the head of the family that the fundamental thing for an owner was to know how to add, subtract, and multiply. , as well as being at the foot of the hunters and the cattle, because the eye of the master… Hence, young Seraphim and his brothers, with the exception of Raimundo ^[2], did not study until they became professionals, so it was common to see the first-born dressed in the style of the hunters on a horse herding and moving cattle, something that later made it easier for him to adapt to the hard life in the countryside.

In 1862 the Jesuit Fathers founded a school in the old Corazón de María, where Serafín, who was already 16 years old, continued his studies. This forced him to stay almost the entire course in Sancti Spíritus, but he always spent long vacation periods on the San Marcos estate.

Then Serafín received classes from the Sancti Spiritus teacher and poet Calixto Echemendía Moles. He studied Surveying with Mariano Uribe. Later we found him as an intern at the school of his brother-in-law Sabás Raimundo Zabalías in the town of Morón , from where he moved to Sancti Spíritus and, after commendable work alongside Honorato del Castillo , took up arms against the Spanish colonial government on February 6 , 1869 , supporting the independence uprisings in Oriente and Camagüey .

Like all boys his age, Serafín went with other friends and fellow students to bathe in the Yayabo River , or in the Güije puddle, and some days in the Guanábana stream. The young man enjoyed these pastimes, but he always preferred his seasons in San Marcos. There he had good friends in Las Delicias, a neighboring farm where the Legón family lived, young people like him who loved the free life of the countryside. In San Marcos he had two friends: José, a slave, but from his parents’ endowment, and José Antonio, another slave, but from the Legón family’s endowment. The latter would later be his companion in the war.

During these seasons at the San Marcos farm, Serafín would learn to ride a horse like the best rider. He enjoyed this countryside atmosphere, together with the field workers, the slaves, the hunters. He liked to dress like them, tough clothes, a guano hat and a machete on his belt. He liked field work, planting and collecting the fruits of the soil. Serafin had been trained for country life.

His love for the land inclined him to study Surveying , which he began when he left the classrooms of the Jesuit Fathers. Serafín had become a very good-looking young man, tall, handsome, with a generous and kind manner. With Mariano Uribe he began his studies in Surveying. He then moved to Matanzas for a brief season. He quickly prepared to start alone along the paths of his profession, with which he aspired to build his future.

When this event occurred, the Spanish authorities relentlessly attacked the Sánchez Valdivia family and in 1869 José Joaquín Sánchez was arrested, accused of infidence and other political crimes, and subjected to a very summary court-martial. Sentenced to death, he saves his life through the intervention of his compadre, the parish priest Benito Viladeval y Vila, a few hours before the sentence was carried out. Again in 1870 he was arrested and held incommunicado for more than three months and again subjected to a Court Martial, this time he was saved and released by the intervention of the Spanish colonel Alejandro Rodríguez Arias .

The years passed and Serafín began to seriously worry about his future. He did not want to continue his parasitic existence under the economic protection of his father. He had little hope of continuing his training as a surveyor, although he possessed a prodigious memory and liked to study; He began to be interested in the proposal that his brother-in-law Sabás Raimundo Zabalía made to him, to serve as a teacher in a small school he owned in Morón . Finally, he decided, he moved to Morón, where his sister Domitila, wife of Sabás, lived. There, in one of the largest houses in the town, his brother-in-law had established a school. Serafín traveled on horseback the distance that separated him from Morón, starting from his parents’ farm in San Marcos.

This phase of Serafín’s life, as a teacher at a small country school, would be one of the stages that most contributed to shaping the personality of the future general. Transmitting the first letters to someone who knew nothing required deep dedication and the young man’s kind spirit overflowed in this task. He also taught children civics lessons. His own conditions as a just and thorough man were reflected day by day in his students, forming convictions in the children.

Participation in the Ten Years’ War (1868-1878)

Photograph of Serafín Sánchez during the Great War .

In the Ten Years’ War (1868-1878) he rose on February 6, 1869, in Los Hondones (province of Sancti Spíritus), at the head of 45 men. He had his baptism of fire in the Attack on Mayajigua , on February 10, 1869, where he received minor injuries. He then participated in the attack on Chambas and in the middle of February 1869 he was subordinated to Brigadier General Honorato del Castillo , head of the newly created Sancti Spíritus Division, whom he accompanied to the Assembly of Guáimaro ( April 10 , 1869) . ) as his assistant, with the rank of lieutenant. Together with his leader he fought in Las Coloradas , Las Yanas , Judas Grandes , Santa Gertrudis , El Jobo and the San José farm .

When Honorato del Castillo died (July 20, 1869), Serafín Sánchez went under the orders of Brigadier General Ángel del Castillo , together with whom he fought in Júcaro (Pitajones), on August 13, 1869.

He accompanied his boss when he fell in the Attack on Lázaro López , on September 9, 1869. He was then subordinated to Brigadier General Cristóbal Acosta , until December 1869; to Brigadier General Marcos García , until mid-1870; to Colonel José Payán , until the beginning of 1871; and Brigadier General Francisco Villamil , who, successively, occupied the leadership of the Sancti Spíritus division.

At the beginning of 1870 he took part in the Battle of Atollaosa and shortly after in the Battle of El Jíbaro , and in February 1871 in the Battle of La Ceniza .

On July 25, 1871, he crossed the trail from Júcaro to Morón , heading to Camagüey , sick and accompanied by only four men. There he joined the Villamil forces that had made the crossing four months earlier, under the command of Villamil. He continued towards Holguín as part of a column under the command of Payán. After touring some areas of the Oriente province, he returned to Camagüey to place himself under the orders of Major General Ignacio Agramonte , who proposed his promotion to Captain, which was approved by the government on November 15, 1873. Under the direct command of the Brigadier General José González Guerra , participated in the battle of Jimaguayú (May 11, 1873), where Agramonte fell.

With the new head of the Camagüey and Villarreal forces, Major General Máximo Gómez , he fought in Las Yaguas , Santa Cruz del Sur , La Sacra and Palo Seco . On February 3, 1874 he was promoted to commander. During 1874 he fought in Naranjo-Mojacasabe and Las Guásimas . On January 6, 1875, he crossed the trail from Júcaro to Morón , together with Gómez, to begin the invasion of Las Villas . He was leading an infantry battalion. Already in Villarreal lands he increased his forces with new income. He took Fort Barricada, burned the Ingenio Constancia , and attacked Fort Rosa María .

On June 29, 1875 he received the promotion to lieutenant colonel. In the first half of 1876 he operated in the jurisdiction of Trinidad , where he fought, among others, the Battles of Portillo , Güinía de Miranda , San Luis and Polo Viejo .

After these events, the family’s economic situation was precarious. The unproductive fields, the cattle sacrificed by both contending sides, as well as the constant siege to which they were subjected by the Spanish military command, meant that in 1875, when Serafín returned from Camagüey in the invasion of Las Villas , the father, after knowing With his son alive, he moved to Sumidero (in the province of Matanzas ) and then to Melena del Sur with the position of administrator of the Mayabeque estate of the Marqués de Almendares. In this period of time it is assumed that father and sons exchanged letters, which have not reached the Provincial Archive.

In the middle of that year he returned to the jurisdiction of Sancti Spíritus, where he received command of the Honorato Regiment. When Gómez resigned from the command of the Department of Las Villas (October 1, 1876), he handed over all the financial funds to him, which demonstrated the great trust he always had in him. He was named head of the Sancti Spíritus Brigade, subordinate to the new boss, Major General Carlos Roloff . On November 18, 1876 he was slightly wounded in Sabanas Grandes de Jobosí , and the following year he held the Battles of Paso de la Cabaña , Pozo Azul ( Las Varas ), El Guayo , La Campana ; He defeated the guerrillas of Cabaiguán and El Gato , Corral Nuevo , Loma de la Papaya and Guayos , attacked Banao and Fortín de Paredes .

In 1877 father and son meet again on the La Salida farm, as José Joaquín Sánchez obtains safe conduct from the colonial command to visit his son, but he is accompanied by the chaplain Vaquero and Lieutenant Colonel Dositeo Cullen, head of the Arroyo Blanco post . , both Spanish. This meeting provoked the accusation by Ramón Roa , Enrique Collazo and Manuel Sanguily that the capitulation of Zanjón had been forged in Las Villas, which was clarified by Serafín Sánchez himself years later in letters sent to Manuel Sanguily collected in a pamphlet called Hojas Literary , written by Colonel Sanguily.

On October 1, 1877 he was promoted to colonel, and on December 18 of that year he fought his last major action in this war by attacking a Spanish convoy that was heading from Sancti Spíritus to the Taguasco fort. On February 28, 1878 he laid down his arms in Ojo de Agua , accepting the Pact of Zanjón .

Once the war was over, Serafín returned to Sancti Spíritus and for a few months worked as a rent collector, to again conspire and launch himself into the redemptive jungle on November 9 , 1879, supporting the movement known in history as the Little War , which failed. among other reasons for not having the support of the Cuban people, which is why three influential residents of Sancti Spíritus , Dr. Sebastián Cuervo, Miguel Mínguez and his brother-in-law Severo Pina, try to find a decent solution for Serafín’s departure from this contest, and thus avoid certain death for the young revolutionary. In those final moments of the failed movement, Serafín writes to his father… although Plácido and Tello will go to meet the family, prior to their presentation to the Spanish authorities, he refuses any attempt that involves capitulating to anyone, given the dishonor that this entails. It represents whether he is ready to go abroad.

He remained in Sancti Spíritus and sporadically in Havana . In December 1878 he began to negotiate with the Spanish high command a decent exit for the then Colonel Ramón Leocadio Bonachea , who was still fighting in the jurisdiction of Sancti Spíritus without any possibility of success. He simultaneously conspired to prepare a new uprising in Las Villas, for which he used the pseudonym Magón. On December 8 of that year, Major General Calixto García , president of the Revolutionary Committee of New York , sent him the diploma of brigadier general, and the appointment of head of the revolutionary movement in the jurisdiction of Sancti Spíritus.

Little War

He was a signatory of the manifesto proclaimed by Bonachea in Hornos de Cal (Jarao), on April 15, 1879.

On November 9, 1879, they rose up in the Sancti Spíritus region to start the Chiquita War in Las Villas, along with the Remedios and Sagua la Grande Uprisings . On December 12, 1879, Calixto, from New York, promoted him to major general. Given the difficult situation he was going through, on January 9, 1880 he launched a patriotic proclamation calling on the people of Villarreal to take up arms.

On July 31, 1880, he wrote a farewell letter to his mother in which he said:

I am leaving happy because I am finally fleeing this land in which I do not wish to live without dignity in the midst of so many traitorous slaves… I will always write from abroad, where I will wait for better times to come and see you, the only love I have left in this world. unfortunate land.

Serafín Sánchez ^[3]

After all attempts to revitalize the war failed, on August 1, 1880, Serafín embarked along the northern coast of Remedios on an American ship, accompanied by his companions Rafael Río Entero , José Medina and Plutarco Estrada . By this date his parents are on the Isla de Pinos and must return to Sancti Spíritus to take charge of their depleted properties, take care of them and save them from total loss. For this reason, his father feels upset with Serafín and even goes so far as to insinuate that his son’s rebellious attitude is the cause of this situation. He does not find logic in the rise of the failed conflict, since he understood that with the Zanjón Agreement Cuba had achieved his objective, without realizing that the long-awaited dream of independence of all those who, like his children, had gone to the jungle due to ten years of bloody war, had been stolen from them.

A few days after staying in New York, he decided to settle in the Dominican Republic , where he remained for more than eleven years. There he collaborated with the Gómez-Maceo Plan (1884-1886).

Letter to his father

From the period of exile and responding to a letter from the father that addressed the aforementioned topic is this letter from April 1881:

Capital of the Republic of Santo Domingo , April 4 , 1881.
Dear Dad:
I am without incident, I wish the same to you and the rest of the family. Today, one from you, dated February 3, arrived with other letters from Pepa, which has been very gratifying to me for being yours. He answered it with immense pleasure. You tell me about her and her family’s present situation, which is not at all flattering, and the truth is that this makes me suffer a lot; But in defense of my conscience I must tell you that if there is responsibility, it is not mine for any act of my past, and it is for those that for four centuries have caused the misfortune of Cuba, a country worthy of better luck. I am referring only to the rulers of Spain. Having not been able to get used to carrying the heavy yoke of the slave, twelve years ago I broke with everything, and went above everything, resigning myself to all the sacrifices, all the denials, all the martyrdoms with no other ideal than achieving well-being. for my country, for my brothers and for my family: no other interest has led me to this most noble and holy sacrifice: the sacrifice for others. I have achieved nothing pleasant and fortunate, but the satisfaction of my conscience is enough for me.
I am truly sorry that when I threw myself into the turbulent sea of ​​the deep evil of my country, I had to drag you (my family) along in my fall towards the justice of God and my cause. You nor I have been responsible for this: everything is due to men and the times in which we live. On the other hand, to reach the good it is essential to first walk over the thorns in the path. In order to be God among men, Jesus Christ had to climb Calvary. This is the law of the good and no other. Also, like you and how most of the inhabitants of Cuba have suffered, and perhaps others. This should be a consolation to us. You tell me in yours that you saw my departure to the field this last time as untimely: I believe that the fulfillment of duty is never untimely and that furthermore, those who never accomplished anything have done nothing in the last three years of the capitulation to the date nor do I promise myself much for the future. For this reason my protest had to be sooner or later and finally it is better that it happened. If the country abandoned me and the few of the last movement, the responsibility will be his and not ours: that is why, thank God, we have been saved and the country has not been saved.
He suffers the consequences of slavery and misery, and we live independently. I would tell you that if I could get you to be by my side, far from Cuba, I would be very happy in this corner of Santo Domingo.. I live poor here, it’s true, but I’m mine. I have a little shop set up with the money that the lawyer gave me. citizen Ignacio Belén Pérez and the Cuban Doctor Dellundé, and I am doing well in it: I do not aspire for more and I am satisfied. I have seen in the latest newspapers of this Republic that Lagasta and General Campos rose to power by overthrowing the disastrous Don Antonio Cánovas del Castillo : and I am happy about this because the truth is that Spain and Cuba can promise each other some good combined with honesty and other qualities. good ones that adorn the last of the two characters. You know that I appreciate General Campos because he is worthy, and because in addition to thanking him, he does not wish Cuba harm. We’ll see what he does from power. I will never forgive Don Antonio Cánovas del Castillo. You tell me yours that the Malta property is subject to seizure procedures as a result of the deposit given to me: do not be careful about this, because I am sure that there will be no bidder, and if there is a better one, they will return it to you. the difference in its value.
Work and don’t worry about being robbed because you have been robbed enough in your long life. Just look after your health and let sooner or later, the justice of God, which is infallible, will be fulfilled. You tell me in yours that Veloso gave you the Naranjo de China without charging you for his improvements, behaving very well in everything. This does not surprise me because of the very few good ones left in Cuba, Veloso is one. I have always told you and the entire family that one of the men I most appreciate from the heart is Veloso and this is true because he, like me, is an honest, fair and consistent man. I would be very, very happy if, as you say, he came to live in this country more fortunate than Cuba , where he would live next to me and would not lack the means to earn a living. Along with this letter I include one for him.

Serafin Sanchez. (The spelling of the time was respected) ^[3]

The correspondence sent by Major General Serafín Sánchez Valdivia to his father José Joaquín Sánchez Marín is little known, and even less is known about the relationship between the father and the first-born of the family.

In addition to the previous one, there are 13 other letters from Serafín to his father in the Provincial History Archive of Sancti Spíritus, of which 10 begin with “Dear dad”, 2 with “My dear dad”, 1 with “My dearest dad” and 1 with “My dear and unforgettable dad”, all of them with great respect and love for his father, in almost all of them he talks to him about the possibility of settling the entire family in Santo Domingo where, according to Serafín, it was his “second homeland.” ^[3] In those times the siege of the Spanish authorities on the father of the exiled patriot was still maintained wherever he was in the country, which caused father and son to unite in Santo Domingo in 1884, where the father rented a work site.

José Joaquín returned to Cuba in 1886 to join Doña Isabel at the Malta farm, property of the family. This was the last time that the leader from Sancti Spiritus personally hugged his father, since Serafín returned to Cuba on July 24, 1895 in a expedition that landed at Punta Caney , Tunas de Zaza (Sancti Spíritus) , Sancti Spíritus , and his father died of dysentery a week later, in the first days of August in Arroyo Blanco . His pain is reflected in his diary and he is also saddened by the situation of his poor mother who has been widowed and days later also suffers the loss of his son Benito from a liver condition.

Emigration

In 1892 he returned to the United States of America to collaborate with José Martí in the Cuban Revolutionary Party .

These years of political emigration were an important school for Serafín. He tirelessly read every book he could get his hands on, and he also began to manifest himself as a writer, collaborating with local newspapers and in El Yara de Cayo Hueso . Later he would write articles against annexationism and autonomism, political tendencies radically opposed to his ideals of absolute independence for Cuba.

The year 1883 was one of intense revolutionary work for him, who was one of the most impatient to renew the armed struggle. He organized a revolutionary club among Cuban emigrants in Santo Domingo, which he named Lares and Yara.

He was a close collaborator of José Martí during his emigration, where he stood out as a writer, journalist and poet. Of his person and his tireless work, Martí expressed:

General Serafín Sánchez is worthy of the love of Cubans for the courage he has used in his service, for the dignity with which he lives in exile from the work of his hands and for the republican passion that the heroic arm directs him. Here is a good citizen.

Jose Marti

War of ’95

He was one of the leaders of the frustrated La Fernandina Plan . On July 7 , 1895 he left Pine Key, south Florida , as second leader of the expedition of the steamship James Woodall , along with Roloff and Mayía Rodríguez . On the 24th they landed with 130 men on the beach of Tayabacoa , the border between the jurisdictions of Trinidad and Sancti Spíritus. He organized the First Division Fourth Corps, which included the jurisdictions of Sancti Spíritus, Trinidad and Remedios, and was in charge of it. Shortly afterward he took the fort of Taguasco and fought the battle of Los Pocitos , near Siguaney .

On September 18, 1895, the Government Council, elected two days earlier in Jimaguayú , ratified the rank of major general, but on February 24, 1895. Five days later he received bullet wounds in both legs during the Combat of Las Varas (Pozo Azul).

On November 3, 1895, he joined Gómez in La Reforma and together with him fought the actions of Fort Pelayo and Río Grande, and attended their meeting with the invading column under the command of Major General Antonio Maceo , on November 29, 1895. , in the pasture of Lázaro López . In November 1895 he took temporary command of the Fourth Corps of Las Villas, to which he was officially appointed on December 1, 1895. The next day he joined the invading column on its march west.

At that stage he stood out in the actions of Iguará, Casa de Tejas, Boca del Toro , El Quirro and Mal Tiempo . He continued with the actions of La Entrada, Coliseo and Calimete , in the province of Matanzas , where he had a brilliant participation.

On January 1 , 1896, Gómez ordered him to return to Las Villas to reorganize the Fourth Corps. On February 8, 1896, he held the successful Battle of Manajanabo (Biajacas Gordas) and on the 21st of that month he was appointed inspector general of the Liberation Army , which led to his knowledge through a statement from the lieutenant general of the Liberation Army, on February 18. March 1896.

On April 12, 1896, he took charge of the general inspection. Twelve days later he crossed the trail from Júcaro to Morón in the direction of the East , to take care of his new duties. On July 1, 1896, he addressed an important circular to all leaders, up to the brigade level, which regulated various aspects of the functioning and discipline of the Liberation Army.

He spent the months of August and September in Camagüey, near the Government Council. On October 10, 1896, in honor of that anniversary, he again crossed the trail from Júcaro to Morón in the direction of Las Villas . He held the meetings of Boca del Toro , Sitio de Condado and Calabazas .

Death

«They have killed me! It doesn’t matter: let the march continue.

On November 18 , 1896 , on the occasion of the Battle of Paso de Las Damas , while the retreat was being organized – given the evident numerical superiority and firepower of the Spanish troops – when on an elevation you again observed the battlefield , Serafín Sánchez received a rifle impact that pierced his lungs, having only the strength to exclaim:

They have killed me! It doesn’t matter: let the march continue.

Thus fell one of the great leaders of the wars for Cuban independence, in which he participated in more than 120 combats. The command of the insurgent troops is assumed by Francisco Carrillo who arranges a counteroffensive that pushes back the Spanish forces and the combat lasts until almost late into the night when the colonial troops finally withdraw. General Carrillo sets up a strong checkpoint in the vicinity of “Zaza”, commanded by very capable leaders.

Funeral procession of Serafín Sánchez

Late at night, he sets out on a new course at the head of his men, carrying as precious cargo the inert body of the illustrious fallen man, whom José Martí used to recommend as my friend, the brave and sensible Cuban . The funeral procession advanced slowly, in the words of Enrique Loynaz del Castillo “(…) the saddest that the moon has illuminated, in a cruel silence that only the crying of men interrupted.”

About six leagues away, in a large hut on the Pozo Azul farm, Serafín’s subordinates arrange the first wake. The escort watches over him all night while they give him a guard of honor from generals and officers to the most humble soldiers.

The next day, even before dawn, the second procession is organized, this time made up of Carrillo himself, José Miguel Gómez, Serafín’s brothers: Plácido, Tello and Raimundo; Lesito Salas, Dr. Roig and some more absolutely trustworthy. The sad procession, covered by the forest, passes through Las Varas , Ciego Potrero , Los Limpios de Taguasco and La Campana, until reaching the Las Olivas farm, near the Jatibonico del Sur River .

In the humble ranch of boards and guano, inhabited by the family of his brother Plácido, the beloved remains are placed. They watch over him again while they make him a cedar coffin that Loynaz covers with the national flag. There the abundant and uncontrollable tears of his mother gave him an eternal farewell and emotional funeral words were pronounced by General Avelino Rosas , who then placed a gold star on the sash bordered with the colors of the Republic that covered the chest of the corpse. Along with the gold insignia, Lieutenant Colonel Enrique Loynaz pinned a silver star to Serafin. Eventually, a few close friends leave with the coffin and bury it in the thicket next to a ravine, covering the tomb with a mound of stones, marked with a cross and a rustic fence. Those present look at each other in tacit silence. Crystalline tears have flowed from the reddened eyes. There the secret is established about the location of his tomb, protected strictly.

Serafín’s remains were at this site until March 26 , 1900 , when they were transferred and buried with honors in the Sancti Spíritus cemetery .