Rancho Veloz

Rancho Veloz is a Cuban village and consejo popular ("people's council", i.e. hamlet) of the municipality of Corralillo, in Villa Clara Province. It is a small town whose population numbers between 4,549 and (official) and 6,320.

History

During the 19th century, Spaniard settlers arrived in Cuba to work on the islands' agriculture. Those looking for wood went to the area now known as Rancho Veloz, which at the time (around 1835) was named "realengo Las Cañas". According to the Cuban government's official Cuban history, this "realengo" was divided into three areas, one of which became known as "Santa Fe de las Pozas", and there, a person by the last name of Veloz built a ranch (rancho). Santa Fe de Las Pozas was the area's political and economical center by 1843.

Sugar became the town's main economic source and as many as 12 sugar refineries were active during the 1840s and 1850s. Slavery was also an economic source and by 1862, according to official figures, there were 3,721 slaves, compared to 1,297 white slave owners and 221 free Black or Mestizo persons, which meant that about 66% percent of the town's population was made up by slaves. It is not known when slavery was eradicated from the town, but official records show that the last people to be claimed as slaves were in the area around 1879.