Editing Machete (section)

== Uses ==

=== Agriculture===
In various tropical and subtropical countries, the machete is frequently used to cut through [[rainforest]] undergrowth and for agricultural purposes (e.g. cutting [[sugar cane]]).<ref name="FranzRogers2012">{{Cite book |last1=Franz |first1=Carl |last2=Havens |first2=Lorena |editor1-last=Rogers |editor1-first=Steve |editor2-last=Rogers |editor2-first=Felisa Churpa Rosa |date=2012 |title=The People's Guide to Mexico |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=I2YZgJJXj1YC&pg=PA278 |edition=14th |location=Berkeley, Calif. |publisher=Avalon Travel |pages=277–278 |isbn=978-1-61238-049-0}}</ref> Besides this, in [[Latin America]] a common use is for such household tasks as cutting large foodstuffs into pieces—much as a [[cleaver (knife)|cleaver]] is used—or to perform crude cutting tasks, such as making simple wooden handles for other tools.<ref name="FranzRogers2012"/> It is common to see people using machetes for other jobs, such as splitting open [[coconut]]s, yard work, removing small branches and plants, chopping animals' food, and clearing bushes.<ref name="FranzRogers2012"/>

Machetes are often considered tools and used by adults. However, many [[hunter–gatherer]] societies and cultures surviving through [[subsistence agriculture]] begin teaching babies to use sharp tools, including machetes, before their first birthdays.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.slate.com/blogs/how_babies_work/2013/04/09/bad_parenting_ideas_that_are_actually_good_for_some_babies.html|title=Give Your Baby a Machete|last=Day|first=Nicholas|date=9 April 2013|work=[[Slate (magazine)|Slate]]|access-date=19 April 2013}}</ref>

=== Warfare ===
People in uprisings sometimes use these weapons. For example, the [[Boricua Popular Army]] are unofficially called ''[[Los Macheteros|macheteros]]'' because of the machete-wielding laborers of sugar cane fields of past [[Puerto Rico]].<ref name="Martin2011">{{cite book|last=Martin|first=Gus|title=The SAGE Encyclopedia of Terrorism, Second Edition|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=I_jh4VBi_HYC&pg=PA490|date=15 June 2011|publisher=SAGE Publications|isbn=978-1-4129-8016-6|page=490}}</ref>

Many of the killings in the 1994 [[Rwandan genocide]] were performed with machetes,<ref>{{Cite journal | last1 = Verwimp | first1 = P. | title = Machetes and Firearms: the Organization of Massacres in Rwanda | journal = Journal of Peace Research | volume = 43| issue = 1 | pages = 5–22| year = 2006 | doi = 10.1177/0022343306059576| doi-access =  }}</ref> and they were the primary weapon used by the [[Interahamwe]] militias there.<ref>{{cite news |first=Mary |last=Braid |title=The Jungle Massacre: African rebels who revel in their machete genocide |work=[[The Independent]] |date=3 March 1999 |access-date=6 February 2009 |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/the-jungle-massacre-african-rebels-who-revel-in-their-machete-genocide-1077954.html |archive-date=12 January 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180112170811/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/the-jungle-massacre-african-rebels-who-revel-in-their-machete-genocide-1077954.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> Machetes were also a distinctive tool and weapon of the [[Haiti]]an ''[[Tonton Macoute]]''.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.haitianmedia.com/index.php/46 |title=Tonton Macoute |work=Haiti History |publisher=Haitian Media |access-date=6 February 2009 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130103074957/http://www.haitianmedia.com/index.php/46 |archive-date=3 January 2013 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

In 1762, the [[Kingdom of Great Britain|British]] captured [[Havana]] in a [[Siege of Havana|lengthy siege]] during the [[Seven Years' War]]. Volunteer [[militia]]men led by Pepe Antonio, a [[Guanabacoa]] councilman, were issued with machetes during the unsuccessful defense of the city.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.cubanow.net/articles/why-did-english-take-over-havana |title=Why Did The English Take Over Havana? |first=Mildrey |last=Ponce |year=2007 |publisher=Cuba Now |access-date=6 February 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140714143344/http://www.cubanow.net/articles/why-did-english-take-over-havana |archive-date=14 July 2014  }}</ref> The machete was also the most iconic weapon during the [[History of Cuba#Antislavery and independence movements|independence wars]] in Cuba, although it saw limited battlefield use.<ref>{{cite book |first=John Lawrence |last=Tone |title=War and Genocide in Cuba, 1895–1898 |publisher=[[University of North Carolina Press]] |year=2006 |isbn=978-0-8078-3006-2 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OxRVaAPpeCsC |chapter=Chapter 10: Mal Tiempo and the Romance of the Machete |pages=126–127}}</ref> [[Carlos Manuel de Céspedes]], owner of the [[sugar refinery]] ''La Demajagua'' near [[Manzanillo, Cuba|Manzanillo]], freed his slaves on 10 October 1868. He proceeded to lead them, armed with machetes, in revolt against the Spanish government.<ref>{{cite book |title=Cuba |first=A G |last=Gravette |edition=5the |publisher=New Holland Publishers |isbn=978-1-84537-860-8 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=y7B51dAgT8MC |chapter=Chapter 7: The Southern Peninsula |page=106 |date=28 September 2007}}</ref> 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 Liberation Army|Cuban Army]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.cubagob.cu/otras_info/minfar/defensa_ingles/imaximo.htm |title=Major General Máximo Gómez Báez |access-date=6 February 2009 |work=Revolutionary Armed Forces |publisher=Gobierno de la Republica de Cuba |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304000649/http://www.cubagob.cu/otras_info/minfar/defensa_ingles/imaximo.htm |archive-date=4 March 2016 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

The machete is a common [[Sidearm (weapon)|side arm]] and tool for many ethnic groups in [[West Africa]]. Machetes in this role are referenced in [[Chinua Achebe]]'s ''[[Things Fall Apart]]''.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/things/summary.html |title=Plot Overview |work=Things Fall Apart |publisher=[[SparkNotes]] |access-date=6 February 2009}}</ref>

Some countries have a name for the blow of a machete; the [[Spanish language|Spanish]] ''machetazo'' is sometimes used in English.<ref name="Sturges2010">{{cite book|last=Sturges|first=James Walter|title=Machetes in the Trunk: Three Weeks in Panama|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=plSb1MoA0hQC&pg=PA31|date=August 2010|publisher=James Sturges|isbn=978-1-4404-8664-7|page=31}}</ref> 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.<ref name="Allsopp">{{cite book |title=Dictionary of Caribbean English Usage |first=Richard |last=Allsopp |publisher=[[University of the West Indies Press]] |year=2003 |isbn=978-976-640-145-0 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PmvSk13sIc0C |pages= 184, 442–443}}</ref> To strike with the sharpened edge is to "chop". Throughout the English-speaking islands of the [[Caribbean]], the term 'cutlass' refers to a laborers' cutting tool.<ref name="Allsopp"/>

The [[Brazilian Army]]'s Instruction Center on Jungle Warfare developed a machete-style knife with a blade {{convert|10|in|cm|0|order=flip|abbr=on}} in length and a very pronounced [[Blade#Knife patterns|clip point]]. This machete is issued with a {{convert|5|in|cm|order=flip|abbr=on|0}} [[Bowie knife]] and a [[sharpening stone]] in the scabbard; collectively called a "jungle kit" (''Conjunto de Selva'' in [[Portuguese language|Portuguese]]); it is manufactured by Indústria de Material Bélico do Brasil ([[IMBEL]]).<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.snstecnologia.com.br/imbel3/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=68&Itemid=117 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210429033710/http://www.snstecnologia.com.br/imbel3/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=68&Itemid=117 |url-status=dead |archive-date=29 April 2021 |title=Conjunto de Selva |work=Produtos |publisher=[[IMBEL|Indústria de Material Bélico do Brasil]] |access-date=20 February 2012 }}</ref>

The machete was used as a weapon during the [[Mau Mau rebellion]], in the Rwandan Genocide, and in [[South Africa]], particularly in the 1980s and early 1990s when the former province of [[Natal Province|Natal]] was wracked by conflict between the [[African National Congress]] and the [[Zulu people|Zulu]]-nationalist [[Inkatha Freedom Party]].<ref name="Cavaleri2005">{{cite book|last=Cavaleri|first=David P.|title=The Law of War: Can 20th Century Standards Apply to the Global War on Terrorism?|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Gq820_ESKXgC&pg=PA66|year=2005|publisher=DIANE Publishing|isbn=978-1-4379-2301-8|page=66}}</ref>