The Spanish historian Cesáreo Jarabo has a clear answer to one of the most common questions about the history of America: the indigenous peoples did not disappear due to extermination, but through mestizaje and integration into Hispanic society. He explained this in an interview with Tania Costa that was broadcast live on CiberCuba, in which he addressed this and other topics related to Hispanic identity and Spain's legacy in America.
The question was posed by the interviewer herself: “At what point and how do the Indians disappear in Cuba? I know there are descendants, but it is a fact that they are no longer here.” Jarabo's response was straightforward: “There is something called mestizaje. We were whitening ourselves.”
To illustrate his thesis, the researcher referred to a precedent that predates the conquest of America itself: the Canary Islands. According to Jarabo, the model of integration was applied there before crossing the Atlantic, and the outcome was the same. "I first questioned this in the Canaries, which was the first place. Before reaching America, they arrived in the Canaries. And of course, I began to study. And I thought: where are the Canarians? What happened, did they all get wiped out? Well, no. They mixed with them."
The legal mechanism that made this integration possible was, according to Jarabo, baptism. "At the moment someone was baptized, they became Spanish. And they were recorded as Spanish. Whether white or black." With that act, any person—regardless of their origin—was registered as a subject of the Crown.
The conversation turned to current events when the interviewer mentioned the grandchildren's law, the Spanish regulation that allows descendants of Spaniards abroad to apply for nationality. Jarabo expressed his belief that Spanish nationality should extend to all Hispanic communities, but he cautioned about practical limits. “If the social security system can support 40 million people, but suddenly 400 million come in, then it collapses. And we all end up with nothing.”
The historian also placed the year 1700 as the beginning of the "divorce" between Spain and Hispanoamerica, coinciding with the dynastic change that brought the Bourbons to the throne after the War of Succession. "From 1700 onwards, actions began to favor our separation. Up until 1700, the laws allowed indigenous people to attend universities. Be careful, as there were not just one, two, three, or four universities."
That reference to indigenous education has historical backing. The Hispanic monarchy established the Colegio de Santa Cruz de Tlatelolco in 1536 for the children of the Nahua nobility, and the universities of Santo Domingo, Lima, and Mexico opened their doors between 1538 and 1551. Academic historiography, however, points out that access for indigenous people to these institutions was primarily restricted to native elites, and that baptism, while legally integrating individuals, did not eliminate the caste hierarchies that structured colonial society.
Jarabo develops these ideas in his books The Construction of Hispanic America and The End of the Spanish Empire in America, works in which he argues that the American territories were not colonies but provinces integrated with the same rights as those from the mainland, a thesis he also supports on his YouTube channel, Hispanic Thought.
Within the broader context of the interview, Jarabo discusses the war of 1898 and the loss of Cuba, arguing that Spain was not defeated due to military inferiority but rather because of the disloyalty of its leaders and the influence of foreign interests.
Regarding Cuban identity, the historian asserts that "Cuba was authentically Spanish, it was radically Spanish," a perspective that contrasts with the prevailing view in Cuban historiography and has sparked debate among researchers on both sides of the Atlantic.
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