Old Barracks of Santa Elena - Cadiz - Andalusia

This building used to be the Santa Elena Barracks.

The sea used to be where cars are parked today. Up until the 1940s there were two infantry barracks on the Puertas de Tierra, called Santa Elena and Sant Roc in memory of some ancient chapels that existed there. In the first was the Álava Infantry Regiment .

In 1895, on the occasion of the war against the Cuban rebellion, regiments from both barracks were sent to fight on the island of Cuba, and with them numerous citizens of Cadiz who served in the ranks. At the beginning of the same year, 1895, the Cuban independents had taken up arms against Spain, the so-called "grito de Baire" (the cry of Baire) , and the government of Madrid responded by sending almost 20,000 soldiers . The port of Cadiz was one of the ports chosen by the authorities to embark troops destined for the Cuban War. Almost weekly, the inhabitants of Cadiz came to the pier to say goodbye to the soldiers of the regiments that came from different parts of the peninsula. It was a joyful farewell and everyone was hoping for a quick victory and a speedy return home.

Victory over the Cuban insurgents seemed certain, but no one reckoned with the terrible tropical diseases that would decimate the troops in the peninsula. The regiments sent from the peninsula suffered far more casualties from disease than from acts of war.

In the summer of 1898, after the armistice and the start of peace negotiations with the United States, which were to culminate in the Treaty of Paris, the painful repatriation of troops began. Cadiz was again chosen as the prime destination for ships leaving Cuba and Puerto Rico, filled with soldiers, officers, and families eager to return to the peninsula. Reading the copies of the Diario de Cádiz from the second half of 1898 and the first half of 1899 requires a detailed account of this repatriation . For another year thousands of Gaditarians went to the pier almost daily, this time to greet and comfort those returning from the West Indies. Between October 1898 and February 1899 nearly 45,000 soldiers arrived at the Cadiz docks.

Willem Vandenameele