| Reconcentration policy | |
|---|---|
| Concentration camps | |
 Victims of the reconcentration policy | |
| Location | Cuba |
| Built by | Valeriano Weyler |
| Operated by | Kingdom of Spain |
| Original use | Population relocation |
| Inmates | Rural Cubans |
| Number of inmates | 400,000 - 500,000 |
| Killed | 170,000 - 400,000[1][2] |
The Spanish Reconcentration policy was a plan implemented by general Valeriano Weyler to relocate Cuba's rural population into concentration camps. The policy was originally developed by the Captaincy General of Cuba Arsenio Martínez Campos as a way to separate rebels from the rural populace who occasionally fed and sheltered them. Under the policy, rural Cubans had eight days to relocate to designated camps in fortified towns, all who failed to obey were to be shot. Housing in camps was often decaying, food was scarce, and disease quickly spread through the camps. By 1898, a third of Cuba's population had been moved into camps and at least 170,000 civil Cubans died due to their subjected conditions, which was 10% of the population at the time. [3] The policy is remembered as the first time in history modern concentration camps were constructed.
- ^ Stucki, Andreas (2017). Las guerras de Cuba. Violencia y campos de concentración (1868-1898). La Esfera de los libros
- ^ Katherine Hirschfeld (2017). Health, Politics, and Revolution in Cuba Since 1898. p. 133.
- ^ "Spain's Reconcentrado policy in Cuba 1896-97 (The Cuban Holocaust)".