These events caused the government of Switzerland in June 1876 to recall an expedition destined for Culebra to establish a warm-weather sanatorium there. The affair caused an international incident, and, to satisfy demands from the British ambassador in Madrid, the Tortolans were finally freed by the Spanish Governor of Puerto Rico in July 1874. Eventually 21 of them were sentenced to forced labor on sugar plantations in Vieques as punishment. Spanish police from Vieques tracked down Tortolan foragers on Culebra who were suspected of the vicious murder. His heart and entrails had been placed in clay pots, in an apparent religious ritual to curse his soul. In October 1871, however, Stevens was found dead outside his hut, his body viciously hacked apart. Appropriating the unearned title of "Captain", he began a decades-long isolated sojourn on Culebra as enforcer of Spanish interests. Some sources mention a black overseer from British-ruled Tortola named John Stevens, who was put in charge of Culebra in the 1850s by the Governor of Vieques under the Spanish crown to protect the island from foreigners who, without proper permissions or payments of fees for despoiling Culebra, took fish, cut trees for lumber and prepared drift wood as charcoal for future sale elsewhere. During the era of Spanish commerce through the Americas, it was used as a refuge for pirates, as well as local fishermen and sailors. Īfter that, the island was left abandoned for centuries. After Agüeybaná and Agüeybaná II led the Taíno rebellion of 1511, Taíno Indians from the main island sought refuge on Culebra and allied with Caribs to launch random attacks at the island estates. It is believed that the island was populated by Carib Indians during the colonization. Some sources claim that Christopher Columbus was the first European to arrive at the island during his second voyage on November 19, 1493.
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