The predecessor to Central Machete in Guayama (operating between 1903-1968) was Hacienda Verdaguer, started around 1800 by Felix Massó Soler and his wife Obdulia Verdaguer. In the book titled Sugar, Slavery, and Freedom in 19th Century Puerto Rico (2005), historian Luis Figueroa writes of an incident of violence between slaves engaging in illicit gambling that may explain the theme of this song, which conveys caution about dangerous happenings at this location referred to as “la Verdegué”:

Slaves seem to have enjoyed bailes de bomba on Saturday evenings, with the participation of slaves from different haciendas, and with little direct supervision by their masters or overseers, as is evidenced by the details of the 1871 criminal case against Sebastián, a slave from Guayama’s Hacienda Bardeguez, for the murder of Juan Domingo, a slave from Hacienda Palmira. The two men fought on Sunday, 5 November, and Juan Domingo emerged so seriously injured that he died two days later. Their dispute had originated in a disagreement the previous night, when they were gambling with other slaves from different plantations at the cuarteles of Hacienda Bardeguez during a baile de bomba. In attendance were slaves from various Guayama plantations, although it is not known exactly how many. Witness testimonies before the court indicated that bailes de bomba were customarily held on Saturday evenings and that the gamblers included slaves from Haciendas Pica, Barrancas, Aurora, and Palmira. Given the fact that the island’s slave code expressly restricted the slaves’ recreational activities, it is not surprising that the Guayama district judge would question the administrator of Hacienda Bardeguez about such a permissive happening. Don Gerardo Garriga denied that slaves had been permitted to engage in ‘‘illicit games’’ (gambling) and stated that his policy was to deny entry to his plantation to slaves from other estates unless they were authorized to come by their masters, as the government regulations ordered. Garriga admitted, however, that he permitted the slaves of his plantation ‘‘to dance the bomba on certain Saturdays, and this recreation moves the slaves themselves to invite their friends from other haciendas, but as can be expected this is not authorized by [me] or by my subordinates. Yet when it does happen, we order all strangers to leave between eight and nine in the evening, leaving the rest to enjoy themselves until the time when the mayordomo orders them to return to their quarters.” ¹