Credit: Nuestro Stories
El Pirata Roberto Cofresí Ramirez de Arellano was the greatest outlaw of the Caribbean and is considered the last great pirate that graced those waters.
Cofresí and his crew of 15 men sailed on board his schooner Ana and terrified foreign ships in the Caribbean and Atlantic. Incredibly, this is a name that people whisper centuries later as the ultimate Puerto Rican pirate.
Cofresí beyond myths and legends
So many myths and legends surround Cofresí. Was he the terror of the seas or the benefactor of the poor? Yet what we do know is that he was legendary as the Robin Hood of the Caribbean – stealing from the rich to give to the poor. He was also a supporter of Bolívar’s “Gran Colombia.”
Born in Cabo Rojo, Puerto Rico, in 1791, he was the son of Franz von Kupferschein, a millionaire aristocrat from Austria, and María Germana Ramírez de Arellano, a native of Cabo Rojo. He was the youngest of four children; he had one sister Juana and two brothers, Juan Francisco and Juan Ignacio.
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Even though Cofresí was born into a noble family, his household was poor. The political and economic difficulties faced by the island as a colony of the Spanish Empire during the Latin American wars of independence proved challenging to his family. Remember, Puerto Rico was still a Spanish colony and an important military strategic area – especially for those navigating the New World to the Old World.
Ships laden with gold and jewels sailed the Caribbean; piracy on the high seas was the order of the day.
The life of a pirate
In 1818, Cofresí began his life of pirating along with his crew – a collection of friends and family. He pilfered and plundered the rich and shared his booty with the poor. He only attacked American, French, and English ships and was heralded as a hero. Keep in mind that local people would hide him from the American and Spanish authorities.
Cofresí is said to have been haughty and arrogant. After all, he had aristocratic blood. But, he was more a man shaped by his times when political changes in Spain affected Puerto Rico’s stability. Europeans and Americans – refugees from the colonies – began arriving and altered the archipelago’s economic and political environments.
Despite being loved by the locals, there are other more nefarious claims about him. For example, there are some who say that he sold his soul to the Devil to acquire superpowers, such as invisibility and strength for himself and his crew. Poppycock, I am sure.
He always remained true to himself
In 1825, he was captured and executed by a firing squad. True to his reputation, he refused a blindfold before his execution. Supposedly, his last words were, “I have killed hundreds with my own hands, and I know how to die. Fire!”
So, the legend and all its stories live on. What is clear is that Puerto Rico could use a Cofresí right about now.
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