The Caribbean Colombian village that proudly calls itself \u201cthe first free Black territory in the Americas\u201d is on the verge of freeing itself once again \u2013 not from the Spanish crown, as it did in the early 18th century, but from local government control.<\/p>\n
Just over 300 years after Spain recognised San Basilio de Palenque as a slavery-free territory, residents of the community, just 30 miles away from the touristic hub of Cartagena, are set to vote on finally becoming an independent town.<\/p>\n
Ronny Farley, 13, a member of the group Son Caliente, practices for his performance at the Drum festival<\/p>\n
The town is the most famous Colombian palenque \u2013 the name given to communities formed by formerly enslaved people who escaped bondage \u2013 and is home to about 4,000 residents.<\/p>\n
Despite its historical significance \u2013 recognised by Unesco as an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2005 \u2013 Palenque is at the moment no more than a division of another municipality, Mahates.<\/p>\n
The town even has its own language, Palenquero, a mix of Spanish, Portuguese and African Bantu languages such as Kikongo and Kimbundu.<\/p>\n
\u201cThose who speak only Portuguese, Spanish or central African languages can\u2019t understand Palenquero because it\u2019s a unique language that mixes all of them,\u201d said Manuel P\u00e9rez Salinas, 50, director of San Basilio de Palenque\u2019s Drum and Cultural Expressions festival, which held its 40th edition last weekend.<\/p>\n
But even as the village edges closer to its second \u201cindependence\u201d, there is a sharp contrast between its cultural and historic significance and the profound lack of basic public services such as running water and sanitation.<\/p>\n
Through the heart of the district, only a handful of streets are paved, and empty lots serve as improvised rubbish dumps. The dirt roads, often occupied by chickens \u2013 sometimes perched on a rooftop \u2013 and piglets, contrast with the vibrant colours of the house facades, many of which are adorned with astonishing murals depicting local historical figures<\/a>.<\/p>\n On 30 November a referendum asking whether residents agree to becoming a town is expected to win broad approval from its inhabitants, who largely see administrative and budgetary autonomy as a way to improve the community.<\/p>\n But there is also some apprehension, as the change would lead the centuries-old community to face unprecedented challenges, such as holding its first-ever mayoral election.<\/p>\n \u201cBecoming a city is something positive because it will bring more autonomy to the people, but it could also divide the community,\u201d said Bernardino P\u00e9rez, 25, a community narrator who produces videos<\/a> about Palenquero culture. Like all his siblings, he was also given an \u201cAfrican name\u201d by his father: Ashanty.<\/p>\n Bernardino P\u00e9rez, also known as Ashanty, is 25 years old and is a community communicator and narrator from San Basilio de Palenque<\/p>\n \u201cAs a community, we\u2019re trying to talk things through to avoid divisions, but it\u2019s almost impossible not to have differing opinions because we still don\u2019t have a clear idea of how the new municipality will work,\u201d said P\u00e9rez.<\/p>\n It remains unclear what form its new political organisation will take in the village, which is now headed by a council-led community board.<\/p>\n Next month\u2019s referendum is one of the final steps in that process, but there is still no indication of when the city will hold its first local elections.<\/p>\n \u201cWe also still don\u2019t know, for instance, what will happen to our ancestral justice system,\u201d said P\u00e9rez, referring to the Guardia Cimarrona<\/a>, an unarmed guard made up of community members responsible for social order, conflict mediation and security, as there is no police station or battalion in the village.<\/p>\n Cimarr\u00f3n was the term used by Spanish colonisers to refer to enslaved and formerly enslaved people who rebelled and fled to form palenques.<\/p>\n With its strategic location on the Caribbean, Cartagena was one of the main ports for goods and enslaved Africans under the Spanish crown in the Americas.<\/p>\n In the early 17th century, a group of enslaved people led by Benkos Bioh\u00f3, believed to have been born in Guinea-Bissau, escaped inland and founded one of the first versions of San Basilio de Palenque, which would not be officially recognised by the Spanish crown until more than a century later, through an agreement in 1713.<\/p>\n The name, in reference to Basil of Caesarea, came soon after. To this day, Palenqueros refer to the village either as San Basilio de Palenque, Palenque de San Basilio or simply Palenque, although there is a growing movement to call it Palenque de Benkos: not after a white saint, but a Black leader.<\/p>\n \u201cBenkos was our liberator and one of the greatest figures in Black history \u2013 not only in Colombia, but in the world,\u201d said Salinas, who last weekend delivered his opening speech at the drum festival just metres from a statue of Benkos in the central square.<\/p>\n Just below the statue lies a clear symbol of Mahates city hall\u2019s neglect of its soon-to-be former district: the story of Benkos inscribed on the stone is barely legible because roughly one-sixth of the plaque has broken off.<\/p>\n For historian and writer Javier Ortiz Cassiani, author of a book on Afro-Colombian history<\/a>, although there is little historical documentation about Benkos, he \u201cbecame a mythical figure and a symbol that evokes not only Palenque\u2019s memory of resistance, but that of Black resistance across the Colombian Caribbean and throughout what is today the Republic of Colombia\u201d.<\/p>\n The historian also notes that the title \u201cthe first free Black territory in the Americas\u201d is still disputed and is likewise claimed by Yanga, in Mexico<\/a>, also founded by formerly enslaved people and which, chronologically, was recognised by the Spanish crown earlier than Palenque, in the 17th century.<\/p>\n Javier Ortiz Cassiani, 54 years old, is a historian, university professor, writer and columnist<\/p>\n \u201cThe construction of Palenque as the \u2018first free territory\u2019 is political and stems much more from a memory of resistance than from empirical evidence,\u201d said Cassiani. \u201cIn the end, the struggle to recover and affirm that history is one of reclaiming humanity. The logic of enslavement was dehumanisation, so the fight has always been to regain that humanity,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n That effort has also involved the recovery of Palenque\u2019s own language.<\/p>\n It is said that the Palenquero language emerged as a kind of secret code through which the cimarrones discussed escape plans and devised military strategies to resist attacks from colonial forces.<\/p>\n Most recently, however, the language came under a different threat.<\/p>\n Due to a lack of opportunities, many residents had to leave the village in search of work in other cities, where they faced discrimination for speaking their native tongue. \u201cPeople said we spoke a broken form of Spanish,\u201d said philologist and Palenquero teacher Regina Miranda Reyes, 59. \u201cWe were discriminated against for having a language of African ancestry, but we never gave up speaking it,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n At the end of the 1990s, Palenquero was included in the village school curriculum, and today it is estimated that more than half the population speaks it. On a walk through the village streets, one hears both Palenquero and Spanish. Part of that revival, especially among young people, is also attributed to the local rap group Kombilesa Mi<\/a>, which performs in Palenquero.<\/p>\n \u201cOur culture, which goes beyond the language itself, had been fading, but there\u2019s been a great effort to reclaim it through tradition and oral history, and we\u2019ve been seeking it from our grandparents,\u201d said Lauriana Hern\u00e1ndez P\u00e9rez, 50, who was born and raised in San Basilio de Palenque but now lives in Cartagena, where she runs a shop selling African clothing.<\/p>\n Products for sale are related to African elements, figures, symbols or representations that speak of ancestors<\/p>\n