ident caused De
Soto, who arrived at Havana a little later, to hasten work on the
defences of the place. For some time there had been talk of building a
fort, but no agreement had been reached as to where it should be;
whether at the Cabana, or the Morro, or on the hill in what is now
Central Park. But the Frenchman's raid brought the controversy to an
end, and De Soto was authorized to build wherever he thought best. The
result was the building of La Fuerza. It was hastily built, and
therefore badly, so that ten years later part of it had to be torn down
and the whole remodelled into its present form.

By this time it was considered certain that Havana would one day become
the capital and chief city of Cuba, wherefore it was decided to fortify
it rather than Santiago or any other port. Beside, it was the most
convenient port of call for treasure ships and others plying between
Mexico and Spain. A battery of cannon was therefore placed upon the
Morro headland, long before the building of the castle, and La Fuerza
was strongly armed. It became the custom for treasure ships to put into
Havana harbor, and if pursued to unload their treasure there, for safe
keeping on shore until the danger was past. But no further attack was
made upon Havana or any other Cuban port, and in 1544 the war was ended.

The prospect of Havana's becoming the capital seemed temporarily to be
realized in 1550, when Angulo established his permanent residence
there--the first governor so to do, though some of his predecessors had
spent some time there, and De Avila had actually established a residence
there. Angulo began building a large stone church at Havana, in place of
the wooden thatched hut which had served the purpose before him; he
built an addition to the hospital, two store houses and a slaughter
house, and rebuilt the jail. He also regulated the prices of food, so as
to put a stop to the artificial raising of prices whenever ships came in
for supplies. Yet when, in obedience to the orders of the crown, in
November, 1552, he issued an emancipation proclamation in favor of the
Indians, a storm of abuse broke upon him, in Havana as well as
elsewhere. Santiago, piqued because he had spent so much time away from
that place, took the initiative in demanding a judicial investigation of
his conduct, charging him with venality and peculations. But the city
council of Havana quickly followed suit, made more than fifty specific
charges against him,