Guantánamo
Encyclopedia
Guantánamo is a municipality and city in southeast Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
and capital of Guantánamo Province
Guantánamo Province
Guantánamo is the easternmost province of Cuba. Its capital is also called Guantánamo. Other towns include Baracoa. The province surrounds the U.S. Navy base at Guantánamo Bay.-History:...
.
Guantánamo is served by the Caimanera
Caimanera
Caimanera is a municipality and city 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 Guantanamo Bay, just North of the US naval base and South of the provincial capital, Guantánamo...
port
Port
A port is a location on a coast or shore containing one or more harbors where ships can dock and transfer people or cargo to or from land....
and the site of a famous U.S. Naval base. The area produces sugarcane
Sugarcane
Sugarcane refers to any of six to 37 species of tall perennial grasses of the genus Saccharum . Native to the warm temperate to tropical regions of South Asia, they have stout, jointed, fibrous stalks that are rich in sugar, and measure two to six metres tall...
and cotton
Cotton
Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective capsule, around the seeds of cotton plants of the genus Gossypium. The fiber is almost pure cellulose. The botanical purpose of cotton fiber is to aid in seed dispersal....
wool. These are traditional parts of the economy.
Geography
The municipality is mountainous in the north, where it overlays the Sierra MaestraSierra Maestra
Sierra Maestra is a mountain range that runs westward across the south of the old Oriente Province from what is now Guantánamo Province to Niquero in southeast Cuba, rising abruptly from the coast. Some view it as a series of connecting ranges , which joins with others extending to the west...
(mountains), and borders the Windward Passage
Windward Passage
The Windward Passage is a strait in the Caribbean Sea, between the islands of Cuba and Hispaniola. The strait specifically lies between the easternmost region of Cuba and the northwest of Haiti.80km wide, the Windward Passage has a threshold depth of 1,700m...
of the Caribbean Sea
Caribbean Sea
The Caribbean Sea is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean located in the tropics of the Western hemisphere. It is bounded by Mexico and Central America to the west and southwest, to the north by the Greater Antilles, and to the east by the Lesser Antilles....
in the south. It is crossed by the Guantánamo, Yateras, Guaso, San Andrés and Sabanalamar rivers. The Guantánamo Bay is a natural harbour south of the city.
The municipality is divided into the barrio
Barrio
Barrio is a Spanish word meaning district or neighborhood.-Usage:In its formal usage in English, barrios are generally considered cohesive places, sharing, for example, a church and traditions such as feast days...
s of Arroyo Hondo
Arroyo Hondo, Cuba
Arroyo Hondo is a settlement in Cuba near Guantánamo Bay....
, Baitiquirí, Bano, Bayate, Caimanera, Camarones, Caridad, Corralillo, Cuatro Caminos, Filipinas, Glorieta, Gobierno, Guaso, Hospital, Indios, Isleta, Jaibo Abajo, Las Lajas
Las Lajas, Cuba
For the municipality and town near Cienfuegos, see Lajas, Cuba.Las Lajas is a settlement in Cuba near Guantánamo Bay. It located in the southern part of the municipality of Guantánamo, immediately west of the Los Canos Aerodrome....
, Macurijes, Mercado, Ocujal, Parroquia, Palma de San Juan, Rastro, Tiguabos and Vínculo.
United States naval base
About 15 km away from the city lies the Guantánamo Bay, a superior natural harbor which has been controlled by the United StatesUnited States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
as the Guantánamo Bay Naval Base
Guantanamo Bay Naval Base
Guantanamo Bay Naval Base is located on of land and water at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba which the United States leased for use as a coaling station following the Cuban-American Treaty of 1903. The base is located on the shore of Guantánamo Bay at the southeastern end of Cuba. It is the oldest overseas...
since 1902, following the Platt Amendment
Platt Amendment
The Platt Amendment of 1901 was a rider appended to the Army Appropriations Act presented to the U.S. Senate by Connecticut Republican Senator Orville H. Platt replacing the earlier Teller Amendment. Approved on May 22, 1903, it stipulated the conditions for the withdrawal of United States troops...
decree. It is the site of the Guantanamo Bay detention camp.
Demographics
In 2004, the municipality of Guantánamo had a population of 244,603. With a total area of 741 km² (286.1 sq mi), it has a population density of 330.1 /km2."Guantanamera
Guantanamera
"Guantanamera" is perhaps the best known Cuban song and that country's most noted patriotic song.-Music:The music for the song is sometimes attributed to José Fernández Diaz, known as Joseíto Fernández, who claimed to have written it at various dates , and who used it regularly in one of his radio...
" ("The girl from Guantánamo") is perhaps the best known Cuban song and that country's most noted patriotic song.
Famous Guantanameros
Notable natives of Guantánamo include athletes Joel CasamayorJoel Casamayor
Joel "El Cepillo" Casamayor Johnson is a Cuban boxer, who turned pro after defecting to the United States on the eve of the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta. The nickname "El Cepillo", literally translated to "the brush", comes from his uppercut, which rakes his opponents across the face...
, Yuriorkis Gamboa Gamboa is the first Cuban boxer to hold the IBF world title since the organization's inception. Yumileidi Cumbá
Yumileidi Cumbá
Yumileidi Cumbá Jay is a Cuban shot putter.Her greatest season was 2004, when she won an Olympic gold medal and achieved a new personal best throw....
, Jaime Jefferson
Jaime Jefferson
Jaime Jefferson is a retired long jumper who represented Cuba. Best known for his World Indoor Championships medals, he has also won the Pan American Games twice as well as other regional games....
, Yargelis Savigne
Yargelis Savigne
Yargelis Savigne Herrera is a Cuban athlete competing in the triple jump and long jump.Her international breakthrough came in 2005, when she, competing in both the triple and long jump events at the 2005 World Championships, won a silver medal and finished fourth, respectively...
, Dayron Robles
Dayron Robles
Dayron Robles is a track and field athlete who specialises in the 110 metre hurdles.He won his first major medal in the 60 metres hurdles at the 2006 World Indoor Championships. He finished the 2006 season having improved his outdoor best to 13 seconds and become the Central American and...
, Luis Delís
Luis Delís
Luis Mariano Delís Fournier is a retired Cuban athlete who competed in discus throw and shot put. Specializing in discus throw on the international scene, he won an Olympic bronze medal in 1980 as well as medals at the two first World Championships.In 1990 he tested positive for banned substances...
, and Cuban-American gymnast
Gymnast
Gymnasts are people who participate in the sports of either artistic gymnastics, trampolining, or rhythmic gymnastics.See gymnasium for the origin of the word gymnast from gymnastikos.-Female artistic:Australia...
Annia Hatch
Annia Hatch
Annia Portuondo Hatch is a Cuban-American gymnast who competed for the United States at the 2004 Olympics.Hatch began gymnastics in her native Cuba at the age of five...
; and cosmonaut Arnaldo Tamayo Méndez
Arnaldo Tamayo Méndez
Arnaldo Tamayo Méndez was the first Cuban citizen and the first person from a country in the Western Hemisphere other than the United States to travel into earth orbit...
, the first Cuban cosmonaut and the first person from a country in the Western Hemisphere other than the United States to travel into earth orbit. He was also the first Hispanophone and first person of African ancestry in space.