CIMARRON: THE ACCOMPANIED HAND
Casa del Caribe was celebrating its 15th anniversary when, in the hill formerly named del Cardenillo, located in El Cobre, a village severely affected by mining, a special monument full of symbolism, not only on account of the place selected, but because it was strongly charged with spiritual emotion that emanated from its almost 10 meters of physical realization, was inaugurated.
A work of sculptor Alberto Lescay Merencio, if we evaluate it as an homage to the feeling of rebelliousness of black runaways, and as a reminder that there are other forms of slavery in the modern world, other than chains and traps, it seems to us that this sculpture, made out of bronze and other materials, rises higher in an infinite line guided by that hand that defines it in its aspiration to reach the skies, that is, freedom.
El Cimarron is never alone - has expressed Alberto Lescay, in an expression that indicates several meanings. In that of the company's, people such as Joel James, the founding father of Casa del Caribe and its emanations; the spiritualist Juan Gonzalez, known by everyone as Madelaine and the biggest protector of Cimarron, along with nearby villagers, usually come by this powerful figure of a dual face in an accompanying rite that leaves, at the end, traces in the caldron, its base: flowers, garments, always something personal.
Every July, the number of people coming by this sculpture grow: the Festival del Caribe event, specially on the 7th when the homage takes place, a big party of the resounding drum that speaks of liberating chants, as those yearnings that free Negro Jose Antonio Aponte announced in his dreams of future.
It is twenty years now since that magnetic figure of Cimarron started to rule the hill: ten years now since the site was completed with Galeria A Cielo Abierto, where so many voices and hands, and spiritualities have invoked the power of the wishes for peace in our home planet. Because Cimarron, certainly, with a vision that very much resembles the legend, touches the sky lifted by all every July 7th.