The Manecos, Afro-Argentine culture in Villaguay, Entre Ríos

“Our ancestors' cemetery was overrun by a garbage dump,” says Marina Crespo, founder of the Entre Afros civil association. It wasn't until 2020 that the Los Manecos cemetery —also known as the Los Negros cemetery—was recognized as a heritage site. “The process began thanks to our local Afro-descendant community, which clamored for its recognition, and it was made possible thanks to the efforts of provincial officials sensitive to the situation,” she emphasizes. The remains of generations of Afro-descendant and Creole communities rest there.

The Manecos refers to Manuel Gregorio Evangelista , a slave who escaped from southern Brazil in the years prior to 1872 and arrived in Entre Ríos after crossing the Uruguay River. The hypotheses of his whereabouts were investigated by archaeologist Alejandro Richard, a researcher at Conicet and the Afro-Latin American Studies Group (GEALA) : "First he arrived in the mountains, then he settled in San Jorge, and at the beginning of the 20th century he moved to La Capilla," he explains.

The Manecos were more than the story of a man. In 1872, (Manuel Gregorio) Evangelista, already settled in Argentina, married Lorenza Pintos, an Afro-Uruguayan woman, at the age of 35. On the marriage certificate, he is listed as a "foreigner" and she as a "native of Uruguay." They had 13 children registered on their baptismal certificates under the "Black" category, a discriminatory category at the time but now defended even with the capitalization of English demonyms.

At the dawn of the 20th century, the Manecos were already a family. They grew and formed a community. They coexisted with other Afro-descendants and nearby Creoles, as well as with family branches with both French and Italian surnames. But the Manecos acquired a way of naming themselves and being named, transforming themselves from an ethnic group into a local culture. There are oral records from their descendants about musicality as a central core: the presence of drums and tambourines was notable and a defining characteristic of the community, as were the dances, well into the early 1900s.

This identity-building of the Manecos occurred in parallel with a profoundly transformative national political context. By 1861, slavery in Argentina had already been abolished, with the incorporation of Buenos Aires into the Confederation and the ratification of the 1853 Constitution, and European immigration was actively promoted. This included the province of Entre Ríos. The famous “to govern is to populate” of jurist and politician Juan B. Alberdi made it clear that this meant whitening. “The generation of '80 promoted whitening with European immigration, and if it had to be done, it was because the Argentine population wasn't white. What was it? Indigenous and Black,” reflects Pablo Cirio, director of the Chair of Afro-Argentine and Afro-American Studies at the National University of La Plata. In this sense, Judith Freidenberg, author of Memories of Villa Clara , states that “Since the formation of political identity as a nation, migration has been sought in Argentina, but exclusively white migration, European migration.”

While Manuel Gregorio Evangelista worked as a day laborer and joined other Afro-Argentine and Afro-Uruguayan communities, this process touched them very closely. In the rural areas near what was then La Capilla, where he and his family lived, European communities and, towards the end of the 19th century, Jewish immigrants arrived. Thus, Villa Domínguez, San Gregorio, and Villa Clara grew. Research shows evidence of coexistence between migrant settlers and Afro-descendant communities. Some photos from the Evangelista family archive suggest that there were encounters: in the research "Afrodescendants in Entre Ríos" (2017), Uncle "Sanso"—a descendant of Manuel Gregorio—poses with a bandoneon alongside two white men, at a time when chamamé and polka marked the local rhythm.

Over time, the Manecos and other communities were increasingly rendered invisible. “Indigenous, Afro-descendant, and Creole communities became not only a numerical minority but also a symbolic one. The Afro-descendant and Afro-mestizo component present in the provincial campaign was rendered invisible,” reads an excerpt from the research “Oralidades y materialidades afrodescendientes de Ingeniero Miguel Sajaroff, una enfoque anthropológica” (2022) by Pablo Cirio, Cristina Lallami, and Alejandro Richard.

As the community grew and the towns became settled, so did their cemeteries, which began to reflect the identities, beliefs, and differences of those who inhabited the region. It was then that a separation in funerary practices began to emerge. In the Los Manecos cemetery, in addition to burying the first settlers, non-Jews, including Afro-descendants and Creoles, were also buried. Located on a 1/8 hectare plot of land and neglected for years, the cemetery preserves crosses with erased plaques, silent traces of an invisible history. According to researchers and informants, "the remains of 'the grandparents' are located on the southeastern side of the plot," and it could be deduced that those graves included those of Manuel Evangelista and Lorenza Pintos.

The Los Negros Cemetery, as a sacred space, occupied a central place in the spiritual and historical life of the community. “In 1953, a major polio epidemic occurred, and to ward it off, a procession was held from La Capilla to Villa Clara (approximately 13 km away). The central cross was removed from the cemetery and carried at the front of the procession, led by María (Manuel Evangelista's youngest daughter),” describes a passage from the article “Afrodescendants in Entre Ríos. Orality and Historical Archaeology Around the Case of Ingeniero Sajaroff,” by Alejandro Richard and Cristian Lallami (2017).

Although there is no evidence of a direct link, the gesture of the raised cross evokes processions with Black saints and religious syncretism in Brazil, for example, where they have deep popular roots with elements of African-derived religions. Saint Benedict is one of the most venerated saints, and festivals in his name are accompanied by processions, music, and dance. Maria, the youngest daughter of Manuel Gregorio and Lorenza, had a Black saint.

According to the census forms collected by researchers, the rural area where Manuel Evangelista's family lived had a dispersed but predominantly South American population. Of the 1,234 people registered in the Bergara district, almost 80% were from Entre Ríos. They were also from Corrientes, Uruguay, Brazil, and a small group of Europeans, who barely made up 10% of the total.

The truth is that the commune where Los Manecos settled was never called Los Manecos. To this day, there is a historic network of Jewish colonies in Entre Ríos, which includes settlement centers for the migration of Eastern European populations, including Engineer Miguel Sajaroff himself, where a synagogue and the Manecos cemetery are located.

Over time, their voices began to be heard. “Communities in the region began to open up to dialogue and cooperation with representatives of our Afro-Entre Ríos communities. Today, we work with the Union of Communities of Entre Ríos. We began to connect,” says Crespo, president of Entre Afros. They participate in activities and training for community leaders, where they have had to intervene to correct historical errors related to the abolition of slavery. The case of the Manecos is a case in point. “It's the end of a thread that opens the doors to regional Afro-diasporic history,” asserts researcher Richard.

Today, the cemetery is fenced, with signs, and more carefully maintained. “But if someone wants to visit the place, everything is improvised. That's why we're working with some of the Amaneca aunts to train people when tourists visit . It's a garden of peace, and when you enter, you step on the bones of our ancestors,” Crespo emphasizes.