Misplaced Pages

#588411

18-550: Guantánamo is served by the Caimanera port near the site of a U.S. naval base . The area produces sugarcane and cotton wool. These are traditional parts of the economy. The city was founded in 1797 in the area of a farm named Santa Catalina . The toponym "Guantánamo" means, in Taíno language , "land between the rivers". The municipality is mountainous in the north, at Alejandro de Humboldt National Park , where it overlays

36-441: A lack of food. [1] [2] With train service to Guantanamo shut down for lack of fuel, and no fuel for trucks to deliver food, local stores were empty. Many residents lacked transportation to travel the 34 km to Guantanamo to buy food. Videos posted on social media showed hundreds of residents protesting in the streets, and then police and soldiers beating the protestors, including women and children. The Cuban government shut down

54-600: A lack of fuel. Mariana Grajales Airport Mariana Grajales Airport ( IATA : GAO , ICAO : MUGT ) is an airport serving Guantánamo , a city in Cuba . It is located near the villages of Paraguay and Las Lajas . The airport is named after Mariana Grajales Cuello . The runway was built during World War II by the US Navy as a reserve airfield for the US Guantanamo Bay Naval Base . Up to

72-491: A raging fire that destroyed three city blocks. The Cuban Revolution of 1959 marked strained relations between Cuba and America, in general, and specifically between the inhabitants of Caimanera and the nearby Guantanamo Bay Naval Base . Prior to the revolution, off-duty US personnel from the base were free to visit Caimanera, and the town was home to many bars and bordellos that catered to them. The base employed over three thousand Cuban workers. Cuban contractors, who employed

90-456: Is no longer part of the economy because the fish are in the lower part of the bay, in the territory of the naval base. Linked to Guantánamo by the "Carretera a Caimanera" road, the municipal territory of Caimanera is located close to the " Carretera Central ". The town counts also a terminal station on a minor railway line to Guantánamo. The train stopped running during the COVID pandemic due to

108-671: The Chicago White Sox . The city is served by the Carretera Central highway, and is the eastern terminus of the A1 motorway , that is mainly under construction and will link Guantánamo with Havana . In July 2019, Cuba received its first new train cars in over four decades from China for the route between Havana and Guantanamo. The journey takes 15 hours. A round trip ticket from Havana to Guantanamo trip starts at 200 Cuban pesos ($ 8, €7). Guantanamo's commercial airport,

126-521: The Mariana Grajales Airport , is served by one airline, Cubana . It is located near the villages of Las Lajas and Paraguay. " Guantanamera " ( Spanish : "from Guantánamo [feminine]", thus "woman from Guantánamo") is perhaps the best known Cuban song and that country's most noted patriotic song. In 1966, a version by American vocal group The Sandpipers , based on an arrangement by Pete Seeger , became an international hit. The song

144-828: The Sierra Maestra (mountains), and borders the Windward Passage of the Caribbean Sea in the south. It is crossed by the Bano, Guantánamo, Yateras, Guaso, San Andrés, and Sabanalamar rivers. The city is spread with a square plan and is crossed in the middle by the Carretera Central highway. Guantánamo Bay is a natural harbour south of it. The municipality borders with El Salvador , Niceto Pérez , Caimanera , Yateras , Manuel Tames , and Sagua de Tánamo ; this one in Holguín Province . It includes

162-462: The Internet nationwide for 24 hours and used a radio jammer to stop residents of Caimanera from using T-Mobile wireless Internet service. Caimanera borders with the municipalities of Niceto Pérez , Guantánamo , Manuel Tames and San Antonio del Sur . Its territory includes the villages of Boquerón (also known as "Mártires de la Frontera"), Cayamo and Mata Abajo . Residents of this town are

180-509: The closest Cuban neighbours to the US naval base . The North East Gate, located near Boquerón, is the only US -Cuban border crossing point. Due to its proximity to the US Base, Caimanera is a forbidden town ( zona militar ), needing a special permission from the government to visit it. Upper Guantanamo Bay is one of Cuba's bahias bolsas or pocket bays, with a narrow neck between the bay and

198-475: The island and people from nearby countries such as Jamaica . Caimanera was liberated on December 19, 1958. On this anniversary the town usually has a parade and a political action. The Havana Times reports that in 1959, not long after the Cuban Revolution drove out the pro-American Batista administration, two US Navy tugboats came to Caimanera to apply their powerful water-cannons to put out

SECTION 10

#1732776766589

216-604: The sea. Caimanera is located on the narrow neck between the upper and lower bays. Caimanera is within range of the T-Mobile towers at the naval base and so is the only town in Cuba with American cellphone and Internet service. Residents can get 4G service. In 2022, the municipality of Caimanera had a population of 11,273. With a total area of 366 km (141 sq mi), it has a population density of 28.9/km (75/sq mi). Ships chiefly export sugarcane and coffee. Fishing

234-731: The site of a US Navy base , as well as the Guantanamo Bay detention camp . In 2022, the municipality of Guantánamo had a population of 222,781. With a total area of 741 km (286 sq mi), it has a population density of 300/km (780/sq mi). Notable natives of Guantánamo include athletes Joel Casamayor , Erislandy Lara , Yuriorkis Gamboa , Yumileidi Cumbá , Jaime Jefferson , Yargelis Savigne , Dayron Robles , Luis Delís , gymnast Annia Hatch , Broadway and movie actress Olga Merediz , musician Diamela del Pozo , cosmonaut Arnaldo Tamayo Méndez , journalist Iliana Hernández and Major League Baseball player Luis Robert Jr. of

252-477: The villages of Argeo Martínez, Arroyo Hondo , Glorieta, Las Lajas , and Paraguay . Prior to 1976 it was divided into the barrios and villages Arroyo Hondo , Baitiquirí, Bano, Bayate, Caimanera , Camarones, Caridad, Corralillo, Cuatro Caminos, Filipinas, Glorieta, Gobierno, Guaso, Hospital, Indios, Isleta, Jaibo Abajo, Las Lajas , Macurijes, Mercado, Ocujal, Parroquia, Palma de San Juan, Rastro, Tiguabos, and Vínculo. After 1976 reform part of municipal territory

270-469: The workers, whisked them to their jobs on the base in speed-boats. After the revolution, both sides made policy changes. Cuba allowed workers to continue to work on the base, but they had to walk to the remote North-East Gate . The USA would continue to employ those Cubans who already had jobs, but would not hire any new Cuban workers. The number of Cuban workers dwindled, with the last two retiring in 2012. On May 7, 2023, residents of Caimanera protested

288-482: Was later also one of Cuban superstar singer Celia Cruz 's biggest hits. Caimanera Caimanera is a municipality and town in Guantánamo Province on the south eastern coast of Cuba . It is a fishing village and port built on the west shore of the sheltered Guantánamo Bay , just north of the US naval base and 34 kilometres (21 mi) south of the provincial capital, Guantánamo . The town

306-405: Was named for the caiman alligators which were once common in the river and in the mangrove labyrinths of the upper Bay, but which have since declined in numbers. The community of fishermen and salt mine workers flourished at the beginning of the 20th century precisely because of the base's construction. It was a magnet for Cuban workers and a popular spot for visitors, including Cubans from across

324-626: Was split in the municipalities of El Salvador, Niceto Pérez, Caimanera, and San Antonio del Sur . About 15 km away from the city lies the Guantánamo Bay , a superior natural harbor which has been utilized by the United States since 1898, when it was captured from Spain in the Battle of Guantánamo Bay . Cuba leased it to the U.S. in 1903 in fulfillment of a commitment made in the 1903 Cuban–American Treaty of Relations , and remains

#588411