Exemplifying through illustration: Miguel Tacón Rosiques (1834-1838), a key to understanding 19th century Cuban history

Miguel Tacón Rosique has been qualified as the most capable Spanish governor of Cuba. Based on Pérez de la Riva, the author raises some hypotheses about the permanent and cyclical factors that shaped the Cuban society prior to the independence wars. Against Tacón, fought Cubans like José Antonio Saco and the sugar slave elite, builder of the first Spanish railway, headed by the Count of Villanueva. The article shows how Tacón successfully handled the English pressures against trafficking and the rise of the governor of Santiago. However, the removal of this builder, regulator of Havana’s security, its time and its space, is understandable when it is taken into account that he was supported only by Spain.