Uses
In various tropical and subtropical countries, the machete is frequently used to cut through rain forest undergrowth and for agricultural purposes (e.g. cutting sugar cane). Besides this, in Latin America a common use is for such household tasks as cutting large foodstuffs into pieces—much as a cleaver is used—or to perform crude cutting tasks such as making simple wooden handles for other tools. It is also common to see people using machetes for other jobs such as splitting open coconuts, yard work, and clearing brush. Because the machete is common in many tropical countries, it is often the weapon of choice for uprisings. For example the Boricua Popular Army are unofficially called Macheteros because of the machete-wielding laborers of sugar cane fields of past Puerto Rico.
A machete may also be classified as a sword, because it can be used like one. Many of the killings in the Rwandan Genocide were performed with machetes, and they were the primary weapon used by the Interahamwe militias there. Machetes were also the distinctive tool/weapon of the Haitian Tonton Macoute.
In 1762, the Kingdom of Great Britain invaded Cuba in the Battle of Havana, and peasant guerrillas led by Pepe Antonio, a Guanabacoa councilman, used machetes in the defense of the city. The machete was also the most iconic weapon during the independence wars in that country (1868–1898), although it saw limited battlefield use. Carlos Manuel de Céspedes, owner of the sugar refinery La Demajagua near Manzanillo, freed his slaves on 10 October 1868. Armed with machetes, he proceeded to lead them in revolt against the Spanish government. The first cavalry charge using machetes as the primary weapon was carried out on 4 November 1868 by Máximo Gómez, a sergeant born in the Dominican Republic, who later became the General in Chief of the Cuban army.
The machete was (and still is) a common side arm and tool for many ethnic groups in West Africa. Machetes in this role are referenced in Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart.
Some tropical countries have a name for the blow of a machete; the Spanish machetazo is sometimes used in English.
In the British Virgin Islands, Grenada, Jamaica, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Barbados,Saint Lucia, and Trinidad and Tobago, the word planass means to hit someone with the flat of the blade of a machete or cutlass. To strike with the sharpened edge is to "chop". Throughout the Caribbean, the term 'cutlass' refers to a laborers' cutting tool.
The Brazilian Army's Instruction Center on Jungle Warfare developed a machete with a blade 10 inches (25 cm) in length and a very pronounced clip point. This machete is issued with a 5-inch Bowie knife and a sharpening stone in the scabbard; collectively called a "jungle kit" (Conjunto de Selva in Portuguese); it is manufactured by Indústria de Material Bélico do Brasil (IMBEL).
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