SANTA CLARA, CUBA

'Santa Clara' is the capital city of the Cuban province of Villa Clara. It is located in the most central region of the province and almost in the most central region of the country.

Contents

History

Marta Abreu de Estevez

Battle of Santa Clara

Monuments and parks

Education

Monuments and parks

Personalities

Sister cities

References

History

Santa Clara was founded by 175 people on July 15th, 1689. 138 of them were represented by two large families already living in the area and, therefore, owners of the land next to the new city. The other 37 came from 7 other families, a priest and a governor, all of them originating in the coastal city of “San Juan de los Remedios”. The population of Remedios was torn between the option of leaving their city, constantly besieged by pirate attacks, or staying in place. While most of them finally decided to stay, these 37 persons traveled south and, on June 1st, 1689 they arrive to the hill where they rejoined the other two existing families. A mass was given under a Tamarind tree and the city was born. Since then, the place under the tree is known as “Loma Del Carmen” (Carmen’s Hill). A second generation church exists in a beautiful park along the place with a monument commemorating the event surrounded by a fourth generation Tamarind tree.
Construction of the city began not far from Carmen’s Hill. Following the Spanish standards, a perfect squared layout with a central plaza (Plaza Mayor today Parque Vidal) was developed. The first buildings erected were the Cabildo (City Council) and a modest palm tree church. This building was enhanced in 1725 to a brick one, and stayed the center of the Parque Vidal until August 22, 1923 when it was torn down in order to expand the plaza and build a new church close by. Back then, and still nowadays, this decision, taken by the mayor, was highly criticized. The building, while not a gem of architecture, was not entirely unpleasant to the eye and certainly an example of the older colonial structure in the city. Resulting from this expropriation by the City Council, a complaint was raised by religious figures and a total of 77 850.00 pesos were paid in fines to the Church, a considerable sum that would represent millions of pesos today.
Soon after the foundation, a theater, a chamber of commerce, meeting clubs, public libraries and dance halls were erected as well. The position of the city, almost in the very center of the country, made it as a perfect halt and a great communication link, east-west and north-south, creating a slow but unstoppable growth. By the 19th century, Santa Clara was bigger and more populated than the rest of the towns around, including what was once Remedios. As a necessary stop between Havana and the east of the country, the city gained the title of Las Villas province capital.

Marta Abreu de Estevez

Presently, there are two well- known figures associated with Santa Clara: Marta Abreu de Estevez, a beloved native daughter known as "the Benefactress of the City" and Ernesto "Che" Guevara, associated with the city, where he is buried, for having waged there the final battle of the revolution that toppled the Fulgencio Batista government in 1958.
Marta Abreu's acclaim is due to the numerous projects she and her family promoted through their monetary donations intended to enhance the life of all citizens of Santa Clara. Marta Abreu and her husband Luis Estevez, who became the first Vice President of the young republic in 1902, were well-known sympathizers and contributors to the Cuban rebels cause during the War of Cuban Independence against Spain (known in the United States as the Spanish-American War).
Marta's legacy can be seen all over the city: an electric plant building, several schools, an asylum, public laundry stations by the Belico river (two of them still exist, unfortunately in poor conditions), the fire station that can be seen just a block off the Parque Vidal, the train station near Carmen's Hill, but first and foremost the "La Caridad" (Charity) Theater. The theater can be admired in one of the corners of the Parque Vidal in the center of the city. Marta was the project's sole financial sponsor. She personally supervised its design and construction. Although the building is not as grandiose as Terrier Theater in Cienfuegos City, the concept behind its founding makes it most worthy: the proceeds of the theater were destined for the support of the two schools Marta founded for poor children of the city. The schools, one for girls and one for boys, were located just behind the theater. La Caridad Theater is one of the seven Big Theaters from the colonial era still standing. It offers an exquisite architecture and amazing interior. Marta finally donated her own palace to the city; it was used as a Provincial Government Palace and transformed into a Public Library afterwards. Today, it houses the "Biblioteca Marti" (Marti Library), also located on the Parque Vidal, and represents a beautiful example of Neo Classical architecture with finely decorated interiors. Santa Clara's University is named after her. Marta is buried in the Colón cemetery of Havana.

Battle of Santa Clara

Santa Clara was the site of the last battle in the Cuban Revolution in late 1958. There were two guerrilla columns that attacked the city, one led by Ernesto Che Guevara and the other led by Camilo Cienfuegos. Guevara's column first captured the garrison at Fomento. Then, using a bulldozer, Guevara's soldiers destroyed railroad tracks and derailed a train full of troops and supplies sent by Batista. At the same time, Cienfuegos's column defeated an army garrison at the Battle of Yaguajay not far from town. On December 31, 1958, the combined forces of Guevara and Cienfuegos (along with other revolutionaries under William Alexander Morgan) attacked Santa Clara. The battle was chaotic, the defenders were demoralized, some fought, others surrendered without a shot. By the afternoon, the city was captured. This victory for Castro's troops is seen as the decisive moment in the Cuban Revolution as Batista fled Cuba less than 12 hours later.

Monuments and parks

Santa Clara is home to a mausoleum which houses the remains of Che Guevara and sixteen of his fellow combatants killed in 1967 during the Bolivia campaign. He was laid to rest with full military honors on 17 October 1997 after his exhumed remains were returned to Cuba from Bolivia. At the site, there is a museum dedicated to Guevara's life. There is also a reconstruction of Guevara derailing the train during the Battle of Santa Clara. In 2004, 205,832 persons visited the mausoleum, including 127,597 foreigners, from countries such as Argentina, Canada, Great Britain, Germany, Italy, Japan, South Africa, the United States, and Venezuela.

In Santa Clara's center is a park (Parque Vidal) and it is laid on an entire square block. In the park there is a statue of Marta Abreu, a person much loved by the people of Santa Clara. Bordering the park is the Santa Clara Libre (formerly the Gran Hotel), Teatro de La Caridad, the Plaza del Mercado Central, the former City Hall and the Colonia Española de Santa Clara center of dance, offers the most attractive and unique traditional customs of hinterland Cuba.
Parque Vidal, Santa Clara is probably one of the most traditional places in Cuba. During the afternoons, people (specially singles) visit the park to meet others. Although not widely practiced in recent times, the custom was to walk the park around and around. The women walk the inner part of the park, while the men walk the outer side. Another lost custom was for the locals to set up a platform and offer improvisations with their guitars on late Sunday afternoons. For that day they dressed with their Guayaberas and highly polished shoes.
Prior to 1 January 1977, Santa Clara was located in Las Villas Province. On that date, as part of a general administrating reordering of Cuba's provinces, Las Villas province was reordered into the provinces of Villa Clara, Cienfuegos, and Sancti Spíritus. Santa Clara is in the province now known as Villa Clara.

Education

Santa Clara is home to the Universidad Central de las Villas (Central University of Las Villas), composed of a conglomerate of faculties:

★ Electrical Engineering

★ Agricultural Sciences

★ Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Sciences

★ Humanities

★ Law

★ Psychology

★ Social Sciences

★ Construction

★ Managerial Sciences

★ Mechanical Engineering

★ Chemistry and Pharmacy

★ Distance Education
Offering Bachelor's, Master's, and Doctoral degrees and boasting the graduation of 35000 engineers, licensees, architects, medics, and veterinarians, of which 1000 have been foreigners from 47 countries. Additionally, it has formed more than 310 doctors and more than 1600 magisters. In addition it collaborates with institutions from Germany, Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, France, Spain, Peru, Mexico and Venezuela.

Monuments and parks

★ Parque Vidal (Vidal Park)– National Historic Monument.

★ Parque del Carmen (Carmen's Park)– City's Foundation Site.

★ Parque de los Martires (Martyrs Park).

★ Parque de la Pastora (Our Lady Shepherdess Park).

★ Parque de la Justicia (Justice’s Park).

★ Parque del Tren blindado (The Armored Train Park-Museum).

★ Mausoleo Che Guevara (Monument and Mausoleum of Ernesto "Che" Guevara).

★ Catedral de Santa Clara de Asis (Saint Claire of Asis Cathedral).

★ Boulevard 1889.

★ Centro Cultural El Mejunje (Cultural Centre "El Mejunje").

Personalities

★ Rubén González - pianist

Sister cities

★ Santiago de Cali, Colombia - 1994.

★ Oviedo, Spain - 1995.

★ Bloomington, USA - 1999.

★ Cheboksary, Russia - 2004

References