The Jibaro Perfect the Art
As with all contact between the Europeans and the indigenous people of
the Americas there was no happy ending. The Taino continued to struggle
and suffer at the hands of the Spanish until there were very little of
the Taino left; and the conflict became futile.
However, the Taino did
not become extinct as indicated by many European records. They were
simply reclassified as non-white; and some would eventually be known as
Jibaro, which means "People of the Forest" in Taino language.
The Jibaro were the poor mountain people of the island and the backbone
of the Puerto Rican culture. In their continuous struggle with the
Spanish, they employed Guazabara tactics and guerilla fighting earning
the name “macheteros” (machete fighters) from the Spanish. In the latter
part of the 19th Century, by means of the Spanish-American
War, the Spanish were finally forced
from Boriken.
Since the Spanish were
no longer a threat, the Jibaro machete fighters perfected the use of the
weapon into an art form. Guazabara was utilized in challenge matches to
settle disputes between local Jibaros. Many Jibaro would adhere to
the old Taino custom in binding their hands or legs to each other with a
cord up to 3-feet long to fight in a very close circle.
