English

Abstract

In this work we analyse the work of Ramiro Guerra entitled Mudos testigos. Crónica del ex-cafetal Jesús Nazareno (1947) with the intention of framing the debates on nation and land in Cuba combining the analysis of the agrarian structure of the island in the second half of the 19th century and the constraints that prevent—or slow—the strengthening of small and medium-sized rural owners who contrary to Europe and United States, failed to settle as a model of peasantry—colonos—or overcome the stage of mere exploitation based on family labour, which corresponded to the traditional peasant.