Propuesta para el establecimiento de una escuelaveterinaria en Cuba (1890)

Abstract

Although it was not until 1907, through the initiative of Francisco Etchegoyen y Montané, that the first Veterinary School was formally created in Cuba, there were several previous attempts to set up a training center for the Veterinary profession on the Island.Thus, in 1857 the Economic Society of Havana presented a project for the creation of a Veterinary School that was ultimately not carried out. It was, years later, through a Royal Order issued by Pedro Becerra, Minister of Overseas in 1890, when what would be a more formal proposal to create a Veterinary School in Puerto Principe, currentprovince of Camagüey, was made. The order established that a veterinary medicine hospital, library and museum of normal and pathological anatomy, as well as a zoo and a botanical garden, be attached to the school. The purpose of this communication is to review and value the documents that regarding the proposal for the establishment of the Veterinary School of Cuba in 1890 are found in the Ultramar section of the National Historical Archive of Spain. In thesame way, it is reviewed what were the conditioning factors to carry out said proposal, the impact of this decision on the professional press of the time, as well as the reasons why it did not materialize.