It is the set of canonical books of Judaism and Christianity. The canonicity of each book varies depending on the tradition adopted. According to the Jewish and Christian religions, it transmits the word of God. Until 2008, it has been translated into 2454 languages.

The Bible is a compilation of texts that were originally separate documents called books, written first in Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek for a very long period and then assembled to form the Tanach (Old Testament for Christians) and then the New Testament. Both wills form the Christian Bible. In itself, the texts that make up the Bible were written over approximately 1000 years (between 900 BC and 100 AD).

Details

Category: Added value in English

Published: 16 February 2017

Hits: 1525

José Julián Martí Pérez was born in Calle Paula No. 41, Havana, on January 28, 1853. In 1866 he enrolled in the Institute of Secondary Education in Havana. He also entered the Elementary Drawing class at the Professional School of Painting and Sculpture in Havana, better known as San Alejandro.

On October 4, 1869, passing a squadron of the First Volunteer Battalion on Industrias Street No. 122, where the Valdés Domínguez family lived, laughter is heard from the house and the volunteers take this as a provocation. They return at night and submit the house to a meticulous record. Between the correspondences they find a letter addressed to Carlos de Castro and Castro, companion of the school that, by having enlisted as a volunteer in the Spanish army to fight the independentistas, they described as apostate.

For this reason, on October 21, 1869, Martí entered the National Prison accused of being unfaithful for writing that letter, along with his close friend Fermín Valdés Domínguez. On March 4, 1870, Martí was sentenced to six years in prison, a penalty later commuted for the exile to Isla de Pinos, where he arrived on October 13. On December 18, he left it for Havana, and on January 15, 1871, thanks to his parents' efforts, he managed to be deported to Spain. There he began to study at the universities of Madrid and Zaragoza, where he graduated from a degree in Civil Law and Philosophy and Letters.

From Spain he moved to Paris for a short time, he stayed some time in New York and arrived in Veracruz on February 8, 1875, where he met with his family. In Mexico he establishes relationships with Manuel Mercado and met Carmen Zayas Bazán, the Cuban who would be his wife.

From January 2 to February 24, 1877 he was in Havana as Julián Pérez. When he arrived in Guatemala, he worked at the Central Normal School as professor of Literature and History of Philosophy. He returned to Mexico to marry Carmen on December 20, 1877, returning in early 1878 to Guatemala.

After the War of 68, he returned to Cuba on August 31, 1878, to settle in Havana, and on November 22, was born his only son, José Francisco.

He began his conspiracy work as one of the founders of the Central Cuban Revolutionary Club, of which he was elected vice president on March 18, 1879. Subsequently, the Cuban Revolutionary Committee, based in New York under the chairmanship of Major General Calixto Garcia, appointed him sub- delegate in the Island.

In the law firm of his friend Don Nicolás Azcárate he met Juan Gualberto Gómez. Between August 24 and 26, 1879, a new uprising took place near Santiago de Cuba. On September 17 Martí is arrested and deported back to Spain, on September 25, 1879, for his links in the Guerra Chiquita. Upon arriving in New York, he settled in the guest house of Manuel Mantilla and his wife, Carmen Miyares.

Martí manages to bring his wife and son on March 3, 1880. They remain together until October 21, when Carmen and Jose Francisco returned to Cuba. A week later he was elected member of the Cuban Revolutionary Committee, from which he assumed the presidency by replacing Calixto Garcia, who had left for Cuba to join the Guerra Chiquita.

Between 1880 and 1890, Marti become renowned in America through articles and chronicles that he sent from New York to important newspapers: La Opinión Nacional, Caracas; La Nción, of Buenos Aires and the Liberal Party, of Mexico.

Later he decides to look for a better accommodation in Venezuela, where he arrives on January 20, 1881. He founded the Venezuelan Magazine, of which he could edit only two issues. After colliding with caudillismo, he had to return to New York.

In the middle of 1882 he restarted the work of reorganizing the revolutionaries, communicating it through letters to Máximo Gómez and Antonio Maceo. On October 2, 1884 he met for the first time with both leaders and began to collaborate in the Insurrectional Plan Gómez-Maceo; Subsequently he gave up his efforts as he disagreed with the management methods employed.

On November 30, 1887, he founded an Executive Commission, of which he was elected president, in charge of directing the organizational activities of the revolutionaries. In January 1892 he wrote the Bases and Statutes of the Cuban Revolutionary Party. On April 8, 1892, he was elected a delegate of that organization, whose constitution was proclaimed two days later, on April 10, 1892. On March 14, he founded the newspaper Patria, the official body of the Party.

During 1893 and 1894 he toured several American countries and cities of the United States, joining the chief leaders of the 68’s War and collecting resources for the new war. Since mid-1894 he accelerated the preparations for the Fernandina Plan, with which he intended to promote a short war, without great wear and tear and destruction for Cubans. On December 8, 1894 he wrote and signed, together with Colonels Mayía Rodríguez (representing Máximo Gómez) and Enrique Collazo (representing the Island's patriots), the plan of uprising in Cuba. The Plan Fernandina was discovered and the ships with which it was going to run were captured. In spite of the great setback that this meant, Martí decided to go ahead with the plans of armed rebellions in the Island, in which he was supported by the main chiefs.

On January 29, 1895, together with Mayia and Collazo, he signed the rising order and sent it to Juan Gualberto Gómez for execution. He immediately departed from New York to Montecristi, in the Dominican Republic, where Gomez awaited him, with whom he signed on March 25, 1895 a document known as the "Manifesto of Montecristi", program of the new war. Both leaders arrived in Cuba on April 11, 1895, by Playitas de Cajobabo, Baracoa.

Three days after the landing, they made contact with the forces of Commander Felix Ruenes. On April 15, 1895, the leaders assembled under the direction of Gomez, agreed to confer Marti the rank of Major General for his merits and services rendered.

On April 28, 1895, at Vuelta Corta camp, in Guantánamo, together with Gomez Marti signed the circular "Politics of war." He sent messages to the chiefs indicating that they should send a representative to an assembly of delegates to elect a government in a short time. On May 5, 1895, took place his meeting with Gomez and Maceo in La Mejorana, where the strategy to be followed was discussed. On May 14, 1895, he signed the "Circular to the Chiefs and Officers of the Liberating Army," the last of the organizational documents of the war, which he worked out with Maximo Gomez.

Following the march to the west of the eastern province, they reached Dos Rios, near Palma Soriano. On May 19, 1895 a Spanish column was deployed in the area and the Cubans went to meet them. Marti marched between Gomez and Major General Bartolomé Masó.

When he reached the scene of the action, Gomez told him to stop and stay at the agreed place. Nevertheless, in the course of the combat, he separated of the main group of the Cuban forces, accompanied only by his assistant Angel de la Guardia. Marti rode, unknowingly, to a group of Spaniards hidden in the undergrowth and was struck by three shots that caused him mortal wounds. When it was known, it was impossible to rescue his corpse, which was led by the Spaniards and, after several burials, he was finally buried on the 27th, in the niche number 134 of the southern gallery of Santa Ifigenia Cemetery, in Santiago de Cuba.

(Taken from the Centro de Estudios Martianos’ digital site)

Details

Category: Added value in English

Published: 16 February 2017

Hits: 1824

Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz was born on August 13, 1926 in Biran, the former Cuban province of Oriente. His father, Ángel Castro Argiz, the son of poor peasants in Galicia, was a landowner and a sugar cane farmer. His mother, Lina Ruz González, came from a peasant family in the province of Pinar del Río.

He learned to read and write in the rural public school of Biran and continued his primary education in the private Catholic schools of La Salle and Dolores in the city of Santiago de Cuba. He began his bachelor studies at the Colegio de Dolores and concluded them at the Colegio de Belén, of the Compañía de Jesús, in Havana, where he graduated as a Bachelor of Arts in June 1945.

The Jesuits of Bethlehem said: "Fidel Castro was always distinguished in all the subjects related to the letters ... He was a true athlete, he has managed to win the admiration and affection of all. He will study Law and we will not doubt that he will fill the book of his life with brilliant pages. Fidel has wood and the artist will not be lacking. "

In September of 1945 he enrolled in the careers of Law and of Social Sciences and Diplomatic Law in the University of Havana. There he was immediately linked to political struggles within university students and held different positions in the University Student Federation. He was a prominent member of various progressive and anti-imperialist student organizations such as the Pro-Independence Committee of Puerto Rico, the September 30 Committee - of which he was a founder - and the Dominican Pro-Democracy Committee, where he held the presidency.

As part of his political activity in those years, he organized and participated in innumerable acts of protest and denunciation against the political and social situation in the country. More than once he was beaten or imprisoned by the repressive forces.

Between July and September of 1947, when he was in the third year of the career, he enrolled in the expeditionary contingent organized to fight against the regime of the Dominican dictator Rafael Leonidas Trujillo. The expedition was trained in Cayo Confites. He was promoted to lieutenant, platoon chief, and later to head of a battalion company. The expedition, which was transferred by boat, was intercepted by a frigate of the Cuban Navy. Fidel jumped into the water with his gun to avoid being captured. He considered it a shame that the expedition had been arrested without a fight.

He came into contact with Marxist ideas when he was already a university student.

A sympathizer of the progressive Cuban Party of the Cuban (Orthodox) Party, he participated actively in the political campaigns of that Party and, in particular, its main leader, Eduardo R. Chibas. Within his political organization he worked to cultivate among the young militancy the most radical and combative positions. After the death of Chibás, he redoubled his efforts to unmask the corruption of the government of Carlos Prío.

After his participation in the expedition against Trujillo, he traveled to Venezuela, Panama and Colombia in 1948 as a student leader, with the objective of organizing a Latin American Congress of Students, to be held in that country. He was in Bogota when the popular revolt provoked by the assassination of Colombian leader Jorge Eliécer Gaitán in April of that year. He resolutely joined that struggle. He survived by pure chance.

In March 1949 he led a protest in front of the United States diplomatic mission in Havana to express popular indignation at the failure of the US Marines to mark the Cuban National Hero's monument, José Martí.

Fidel graduated as a Doctor of Civil Law and a Diplomat in Diplomatic Law in 1950. From his firm, he dedicated himself mainly to the defense of humble people and sectors.

When Fulgencio Batista's coup d'etat occurred, on March 10, 1952, he was among the first to denounce the reactionary and illegitimate character of the de facto regime and call for his overthrow.

He organized and trained a large contingent of more than a thousand young workers, employees and students, who came primarily from the Orthodox ranks. With 160 of them, on July 26, 1953, he commanded the assault on the Moncada barracks in Santiago de Cuba and the Bayamo barracks, in an action designed to detonate the armed struggle against the Batista regime.

When the surprise factor failed, they could not reach the target. He was taken prisoner by the repressive forces of tyranny a few days after the military setback and was kept incommunicado for 76 days. He was subsequently tried and sentenced to 15 years in prison. In a reserved and guarded environment, he assumed his self-defense before the court that tried him, and pronounced the allegation known as History Will Absolve me, which outlined the program of the future Revolution in Cuba.

"No weapon, no force is able to defeat a people who decide to fight for their rights. Past and present historical examples are uncountable. The case of Bolivia is very recent, where the miners, with dynamite cartridges, defeated and crushed the regiments of the regular army, "he said on that occasion.

From prison he continued his work of denouncing the oppressive regime, while he matured his revolutionary plans and deepened the theoretical and ideological preparation of his companions.

As a result of strong pressure and popular campaigns, he was released in May 1955. In the following weeks he undertook intense work of agitation and denunciation, and founded the 26th of July Movement to continue the revolutionary struggle.

In July 1955, due to the impossibility of continuing the anti-Batista struggle by legal means, Fidel left for Mexico to organize the armed insurrection from exile. In precarious economic conditions and subjected to the close monitoring and persecution of the Batista agents, he undertook vigorous organizational and preparatory work, while an intense campaign of dissemination of the ideas and purposes of the insurrectional movement continued. He traveled to the United States, where he created with his exiled compatriots "patriotic clubs" in order to get political and economic support for the revolutionary struggle. He was in Philadelphia, New York, Tampa, Union City, Bridgeport and Miami.

Under the motto: "In 1956 we will be free or we will be martyrs", Fidel, Raúl, Juan Manuel Márquez, Ernesto Che Guevara, Camilo Cienfuegos and other outstanding revolutionaries were training with long walks through the streets of Mexico City, self-defense, guerrilla tactics, and firing practices.

On June 20, 1956, the head of the 26th of July Movement, Che and other fighters were arrested, the "camp houses" were discovered and a significant part of the weapons were seized.

After being released from the establishments of the Mexican police, the revolutionary conspiracy was accelerated. They bought the Granma yacht, in which they sailed for Cuba in the early hours of November 25, 1956, from the Tuxpan River, with 82 fighters on board, whose average age was 27 years.

After 7 days of navigation, they landed on December 2 in Las Coloradas, the south-western coast of the former province of Oriente. Batistian forces located the landing and harassed the expeditionaries. On December 5, the army of the tyranny surprised Fidel and his fighters in Alegria de Pio. The revolutionaries were decimated, several were arrested during the persecution and many were killed.

With the valuable collaboration of the peasants, Fidel meets Raúl in Cinco Palmas and regroups the revolutionary force. He then went to the Sierra Maestra to continue the revolutionary struggle.

On January 17, 1957, he led the first armed action against Batista's army at the La Plata barracks and won his first victory. The Rebel Army began to grow and strengthen.

As Commander-in-Chief, he led the military action and the revolutionary struggle of the rebel forces and the 26th of July Movement during the 25-month war. He had the direct command of Column One "Jose Marti" and personally participated in almost all the operations, combats and more important battles that took effect during the war in the territory of the First Rebel Front.

After the overwhelming defeat of the elite troops of the tyranny, these, through their main leaders, decided to recognize the rebel victory in the theater of operations of Oriente province, on December 28. At dawn on January 1st, 1959, Fidel faced, with a general revolutionary strike, supported by all the workers, the coup d'état in the capital of the Republic, promoted by the US government. He entered that same day in Santiago de Cuba and arrived in Havana on January 8.

At the conclusion of the insurrectional struggle, he maintained his functions as Commander-in-Chief. On February 13, 1959, he was appointed Prime Minister of the Revolutionary Government.

He led and participated in all actions undertaken in defense of the country and the Revolution in cases of military aggression from abroad or activities of counterrevolutionary gangs within the country, especially the defeat of the invasion organized by the Central Intelligence Agency of the United States, carried out by Playa Girón in April of 1961.

He led the Cuban people in the days of the dramatic October Crisis of 1962.

In the name of revolutionary power, he proclaimed on April 16, 1961, the socialist character of the Cuban Revolution.

He held the post of General Secretary of the Integrated Revolutionary Organizations, and later the Secretary General of the United Party of the Socialist Revolution of Cuba. From the Constitution of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba in October 1965, his position was First Secretary and Member of the Political Bureau, in which he was ratified by the five Party Congresses held since then.

He was elected Deputy to the National Assembly of People's Power, representing the municipality of Santiago de Cuba, in successive sessions since the creation of that in 1976, and from then until 2008 he held the positions of President of the State Council and President of the Council of Ministers.

He presided over Cuban official missions in more than 50 countries.

He received more than a hundred high foreign and Cuban decorations, as well as numerous honorary academic distinctions of higher education institutions in Cuba, Latin America and Europe.

He strategically led the participation of hundreds of thousands of Cuban combatants in international missions in Algeria, Syria, Angola, Ethiopia and other countries, and promoted and organized the contribution of tens of thousands of Cuban doctors, teachers and technicians who have rendered services in more Of 40 countries of the Third World, as well as the realization of studies in Cuba by tens of thousands of students of those countries. More recently, he promoted comprehensive programs of Cuban assistance and collaboration in health in many countries of Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean and the creation in Cuba of international schools of Medical Sciences, Sport, and Physical Education and other disciplines for Students of the Third World.

Fidel promoted on a global scale the Third World's battle against the current international economic order, in particular against external debt, the waste of resources as a result of military expenditures and neoliberal globalization, as well as efforts for the unity and integration of Latin America and the Caribbean

He spearheaded the determined action of the Cuban people to confront the effects of the economic blockade imposed on Cuba by the United States for over forty years and the economic consequences of the collapse of the European socialist community and has promoted the tenacious effort of the Cubans to overcome the serious difficulties resulting from these factors, their resistance during the so-called Special Period and the resumption of economic growth and development of the country.

Throughout the years of the Revolution, he promoted and directed the struggle of the Cuban people for the consolidation of the revolutionary process, its advance towards socialism, the unity of the revolutionary forces and of the whole people, the economic and social transformations of the country , the development of education, health, sport, culture and science, defense, confrontation of external aggressions, conducting an active foreign policy of principles, actions of solidarity with peoples struggling for Independence and progress, and the deepening of the revolutionary, internationalist and communist consciousness of the people.

Having resigned from official positions for health problems, he dedicated to write. By its moral authority, he kept his influences in important and strategic decisions of the Revolution.

He died on November 25th, 2016.

Details

Category: Added value in English

Published: 16 February 2017

Hits: 2947

It is the name of one of the two new provinces (Artemisa and Mayabeque) approved by the National Assembly of Cuba in August of 2010 and whose operation took effect on January 1st, 2011.

It is made up of eight municipalities of the former La Havana province and three municipalities of the province of Pinar del Río.

The new province of Artemisa becomes the thirteenth in the country for its extension (it surpasses only Mayabeque and Havana) and the eleven by its population (it surpasses Cienfuegos, Sancti Spiritus, Ciego de Ávila and Mayabeque), as well as tThe province with greater population density excepting Havana and Santiago de Cuba.

It limits to the west with Pinar del Río, to the north with the Strait of Florida and the Gulf of Mexico, to the south with Gulf of Batabanó and to the east with the provinces of Havana and Mayabeque.

Artemisa has a population of 502 392 inhabitants and its surface is of 4 thousand 004,27 km2. It has an agricultural area of 272 849 hectares, 68.1% of the territory, which allows it to produce food to meet its demand and support the capital’s.

In addition, it has a high development industrial port: Mariel.

Longest river: Los Colorados (Hondo of San Cristóbal) 113,2 km. Long 604 km2 of area 6 tributaries Vertiente Sur

Born: In Sierra del Rosario, Cordillera de Guaniguanico, at 22 ° 34 'north latitude and 83 ° 53' west longitude, at 340 meters altitude. Ends: In the Gulf of Batabanó. Run: North-South direction.

Highest elevation: The Pan de Guajaibón, with 692 meters of height.

Details

Category: Added value in English

Published: 01 February 2017

Hits: 1565

It is celebrated on February 2, 1977, commemorating the signing of the Convention on Wetlands in Ramsar, Iran, on February 2, 1971.

This agreement is the first treaty on the planet concerning the conservation and wise use of wetlands. The Ramsar list includes, until 2013, 2167 designated sites and covers an area of 208 million 518 thousand 409 ha in 168 countries.

The importance of wetlands is that they are highly biologically diverse ecosystems, regulators of the water cycle and climate, generators of water resources for freshwater supply and are areas of use for human activities such as tourism and fishing.

Wetlands contribute to the regulation of the water cycle, flood and drought control, water provision, and wildlife shelter.

The types of wetlands included in the list are natural wetland areas, peatlands, marshes, marshes, lakes, rivers, estuaries, deltas, tidal lows, coastal marine areas, mangroves, coral reefs, water eyes, and artificial sites such as fish ponds, rice paddies, reservoirs and salt flats.

Details

Category: Added value in English

Published: 01 February 2017

Hits: 1441

It is municipality of Mayabeque province. Its name comes from the aborigine name in Axaruco that means sweet water stream, which evidences the existence in that territory of a river that since ancient times was linked to the life of the inhabitants of those lands (San Juan de Jaruco river that goes across the town and in which borders there are signs of aborigines settlements and where initially emerge the population.

It is place at the east of the province, limits to the North with Santa Cruz del Norte, to the South with San José de las Lajas, to the East woth Madruga and to the West with Habana del Este, municipality of Havana.

It has a territorial extension of 275,7 km²

Popular Districts:

• San Antonio
• Caraballo
• Bainoa Casiguas
• Tumba Cuatro

Details

Category: Added value in English

Published: 31 January 2017

Hits: 1598

Mayabeque Province

It is one of the two new provinces, next to the Artemisa Province, approved by the National Assembly of Cuba in August of 2010 and whose operation took effect on January 1, 2011.

Mayabeque’s capital is San José de las Lajas. This new administrative political division changes the one that governed in Cuba since 1976. Cuba is now divided in 15 provinces and 168 municipalities according to the new division.

Mayabeque is one of the four provinces, along with Havana, Camagüey and Guantanamo with a name of aboriginal origin, which reinforces the Cuban cultural tradition.

The name

The legend refers to the cacicazgo of Habanaguex in the south of Havana, and Mayabeque was the native name of the river that waters the fertile valley where several of its municipalities are based today, although according to several stories, the siboneyes natives also baptized it with the name of Güinicajinal.

The fact is that it was the most important stream of the southern slope of the region, whose sources are in its greatest volume those of the Ojo de Agua, in Catalina, so they must be considered at the remote sources the mountains that rise at the south of Jaruco .

When entering the plain it is divided by the effect of the artificial channeling and also natural in multitude of branches and ditches that constitute the system of irrigations established in the valley of Güines. For this reason and for that of its course that city receives the name of Güines until the lands of the old herd of San Pedro de Mayabeque, that takes this last name, with which it continues until its drainage in the southern coast, in the gulf of Batabanó.

History

In a letter written in 1514 to King Ferdinand II of Aragon (the Catholic King), the conqueror and lieutenant governor of the island Fernandina (Cuba), Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar (1465-1524), narrates what the captive Spaniard, surnamed Garcia Mejia , told him of the Indians and of their adventure in that zone, caressed by Mayabeque river.

Even though there are contradictions in that respect, it is also stated that at the beggini8ng of the river, by Velázquez's own disposition, the town of San Cristobal de La Habana was founded on the day of Santiago in 1515, before being transferred to the north coast, for which historians had found an explanation for the Latin phrase that appears in the Coat of Arms of Melena del Sur "HIC PRIMO HABANA CONDITA EST" (Here Havana was first founded), while at the end of the XVIII Century several projects were contemplated for constructing a channel that connects the waters of Mayabeque river with La Chorrera, with the purpose of connecting this territory with the capital.

From this southern site, Pedro de Barba left with Hernán Cortés for the conquest of Mexico; and from the same site there were expeditions to Hispaniola, Jamaica, Puerto Rico and Tierra Firme, that is, to Yucatan, Mexico and Veracruz, not to mention Central and South America.

The first population established in the territory, which lasts until the present time, was Batabanó (hato mercedado in 1559), which served as the southern port of the town of Havana for maritime communication with the villas of the south and east of the country. In the 18th century were founded the villages of Quivicán (1700), Bejucal (1714) - both on the original route between Havana and Batabanó -, Güines (1735), Melena del Sur (1768) Jaruco (1768) and San Jose de las Lajas (1778). In the 19th century appeared Santa Cruz del Norte (1800), Nueva Paz (1802), Madruga (1803) and San Nicolás (1827).

The river is one of the largest and most important in the area, which runs from north to south. The economic prosperity of the region, as a result of the benefits of this channel, was a fundamental factor for the construction of the Iron Road to Güines, which wasbe the first railway in Latin America (1837) and the first major producer and exporter center, producing great capital and becoming the nucleus and cradle of the national sugar industry, coming to possess 94 sugar mills in all its jurisdiction.

Participation in the Independence War

The territory was an important scene of the Necessary War in which Maximo Gómez and Antonio Maceo carried out the Invasion to the West. On January 1, 1896, the invasion entered the province of Havana by the municipality of Nueva Paz. Among the battles fought in the territory, where Spain concentrated the bulk of its forces, are the conquest and burning of Jaruco, the conquer of Batabanó and the combat of Moralitos (San José de las Lajas) in February of 1896, unique time where Gomez and Maceo fought together in this territory, to evade a great blockade of the enemy forces. A monument is erected at this moment in that place.

During the campaign in Havana, less than four thousand mambises led by Gomez and Maceo successfully opposed more than 30 thousand men of the Spanish army. The national war was a reality of Havana; the 5th. Corps of the Liberating Army has been born and the harvest was paralyzed throughout the year.

A long list of young habaneros assumed, together with the Eastern veterans, the course of the independence revolution in the region and the destruction of the economic riches, with which Spain financed the war.

Cuban Revolution of 1959

Several young people from the territory (Nueva Paz, San Nicolás, Güines, San José de las Lajas participated in the assault on the Moncada Barracks in Santiago de Cuba on July 26, 1953. Among those killed were Raúl Gómez García, who grew up in Güines, and is called the poet of the Centennial Generation, a journalist and close collaborator of Fidel Castro Ruz, author of the Moncada Manifesto and the poem "Ya estamos en combate".

Farms in Catalina de Güines and Nueva Paz (Santa Elena) served as training and meeting places for the movement.

During the Literacy Campaign held in 1961, Melena del Sur was declared the country's first illiteracy-free territory.

The popular baseball stadium of San José de las Lajas is named after Nelson Fernandez, the youngest fighter (only 14 years old) who was killed in the fighting during the invasion of Playa Girón in April 1961.

Territorial organization

The province Mayabeque borders on the north with the province of Havana, capital of Cuba and the Strait of Florida, to the south with the Gulf of Batabanó, to the east with Matanzas Province and to the west with Artemisa.

The province is the second of smaller extension between all the Cuban Provinces, just ahead of Havana. It also has the smallest population.

Municipalities

The province has a total of 11 municipalities:
 

The 11 municipalities that the province includes were all part of the old province of Havana since its creation in 1878. The direct antecedent of a territorial organization with the name of Mayabeque dates from the decade of 1960 when Regions or Regional emerged as a link Intermediate between the municipalities and the provinces. The Regional Mayabeque was formed by the municipalities Melena del Sur, Osvaldo Sánchez and Catalina de Güines (both non-existent as municipalities before 1959, and now localities of Güines), San Nicolás, Madruga (without Aguacate), Nueva Paz and Palos (now Nueva Paz), with head in Güines.

On the other hand, the Regional San Jose comprised the municipalities of San Antonio de las Vegas (later absorbed by the municipality San José), Madruga, Aguacate (at the moment locality of Madruga), Jaruco, San Antonio de Rio Blanco (now locality of Jaruco), Santa Cruz del Norte, Canasí (this territory was part of the province of Matanzas and which at the moment is a locality of the municipality Santa Cruz of the North and has its principal seat in San Jose de las Lajas. Cuatro Caminos (traditionally part of Santa María del Rosario-Cotorro) and Campo Florido that included the neighborhoods of Minas and Barreras, traditionally parts of Guanabacoa were also part of the Regional San José.

With the Administrative Political Division (DPA) of 1976 that created the Province Havana City, Cuatro Caminos and Campo Florido passed to it, the first one to the municipality Cotorro, and the second to Havana del Este, while Minas and Barreras were returned to Guanabacoa.

The DPA abolished the Regionals and reduced the municipalities taking as critical number 20 000 inhabitants, abolishing even the historic municipalities of San Antonio de las Vegas and Aguacate. In the present province of Mayabeque were included also the western municipalities of Batabanó, Quivicán (with La Salud, also historical municipality eliminated in 1976) and Bejucal, members before 1976 of Regional Ariguanabo (with head in San Antonio de los Baños, present province of Artemisa).

Geography

It is characterized by the Habana-Matanzas plain where there are located the southern plain of Habana-Matanzas and the heights of Bejucal and Madruga, pertaining to the Heights of Bejucal Madruga Coliseo, where there is the culminating point of the province, the Palenque with 331 , 5 meters high.

The rivers are short and of little flow, standing out the rivers Mayabeque (the longest of the province with 52.9 km of length), Canasí and Jibacoa.

The soils are predominant fersialitic, brown, ferralitic and humic calcimorphic.

Natural regions

• Havana-Matanzas Heights
• El Palenque (the highest elevation with 332 meters in height)
• Heights of Bejucal-Madruga-Coliseo
• Sierra del Grillo

Rivers
• Jaruco River
• Mayabeque River: It is the longest in the territory, with 52.9 km in length.
It is born at 22 ° 55 'north latitude and 82 ° 04' west longitude, at 100 meters altitude and flows into Mayabeque Beach, located in a marshy area. It runs northeast-southwest.

Weather

The territory is distinguished by its low temperatures in the tropical winter of Cuba that sometimes reach values lower than 10 ° C in the red south plain and even smaller in the valley around Bainoa located about 100 m above sea level. In this town of Jaruco municipality has been registered the minimum temperature record in the country: 0.6 ° C in 1996.

Demography

The province has a population of approximately 379 942 inhabitants, of which 50.7% are men. The provincial capital, San José de las Lajas is the municipality with the largest population with more than 75 000 inhabitants. 14.1% of the inhabitants of the province are 65 or older.

The population resides predominantly in urban areas (73.2%).

Economic development

The economy of the new province is of agroindustrial character. In the agricultural sector there are great potentialities in cattle raising and dairy production. In particular, large areas with undulating relief of the municipalities San José de las Lajas, Bejucal, Güines, Madruga, Jaruco and Santa Cruz del Norte are predominantly dedicated to dairy farming.

Sugar cane plantations, bananas, potato, sweet potato, tomato, beans and other vegetables and plants predominate in the plains, especially in the red plains of the south with the most productive soils (municipalities of Quivicán, Batabanó, Melena del Sur, Güines, San Nicolás and Nueva Paz, and also in the valley between Jaruco and Aguacate. Rice is also cultivated in small scale in the areas near the south coast.

The fishing activity is centered on the Surgidero de Batabanó on the south coast, base of the fishing fleet of the Gulf of Batabanó, having as main exportable item the lobster.

It is also a region of highly diversified industrial potential, particularly in the axis around the Central Highway and the National Highway (San José de las Lajas municipality) with construction materials industries (Ceramica Blanca, asphalt mix and aggregate extraction in San José, refractory bricks in Güines, and galvanization in Nueva Paz), chemical industry (rubber, glass and paint in San José), food (pasta in San José), fish, seafood and preserves in Batabanó and Güines, meat products in Nueva Paz, metallurgical and electromechanical (aluminum, electrical and telephone cables in San José), pharmaceutical (vaccines and biopharmaceutical in Bejucal), textile and footwear (Güines), furniture industry (Batabanó) and paper production (Quivicán).

The oil and gas extraction along the northern coast (Santa Cruz del Norte) and the generation of energy in that municipality is achieved with a thermoelectric plant and two generation plants using accompanying gas (ENERGAS) that place the province in the first places in those branches, in the country.

Also very important is the rum production in Santa Cruz del Norte and a new plant in San José de las Lajas.

Main entities

According to statistical data provided by the National Bureau of Statistics and Information in 2015, Mayabeque has 400 entities, among them:

• 61 Companies
• 3 Mercantile companies
• 280 Cooperatives
• 15 Non-agricultural cooperatives
• 74 UBPC
• 19 CPA
• 172 CCS
• 56 Budgeted Units

Main Industries
• Caribe canning factory in Quivicán
• Twist Tobacco Factory "Capitán San Luis", in Quivicán
• Electrical and Telephone Conductors Company "Conrado Benítez" (ELEKA), in San José de las Lajas
• Gum Establishment "Nelson Fernández” in San José de las Lajas
• Ceramica Blanca Industry "Adalberto Vidal", in San José de las Lajas
• Dairy Products Company "Aljibe", in San José de las Lajas
• Aluminum company "Leovigildo Sierra" (CUBALUM), in San José de Las lajas
• Fishing Company "Acuabana", in San José de las Lajas
• Mampostón Aquaculture Preparation Company, in San José de las Lajas
• "Gustavo Machín" plant, in Jaruco, with capacity to process non-ferrous minerals
• Workshops of the company "Confecciones Tropicales", in Jaruco
• Company of Oil Drilling and Extraction, in Santa Cruz del Norte
• Thermoelectric power station of the East of Havana, in Santa Cruz del Norte
• ENERGAS, two electricity generating plants, in Santa Cruz del Norte
• LEFERSA, the only producer of dry yeast in the country, in Santa Cruz del Norte
• Ronera "Santa Cruz", producer of light rum of the brand, in Santa Cruz del Norte
• BECASA, "Fiesta" and "Bainoa" soft drink factory, in Santa Cruz del Norte
• Ceramics Factory, in Santa Cruz del Norte
• Factory of Furniture and Miscellaneous Items "Sign", in Batabanó
• Canned food factory in Batabanó
• Pescahabana,Industry in Batabanó
• Cane Company "Mañalich", in Melena del Sur
• Canned Fruit and Vegetable Factory, in Güines
• Wine and rum factories in Güines
• Refractory bricks manufacturing complex, in Güines
• Héctor Molina Riaño Sugar mill, in San Nicolás
• Salsa Soya Factory (San Nicolás)

Tourism

• Tourist center "Escaleras de Jaruco", in Jaruco
• Campsite Litoral Norte de La Habana, in Santa Cruz del Norte
• Breezes-Jibacoa and Villa Trópico Hotels, in Santa Cruz del Norte

Agricultural sector

• Livestock company "Ariguanabo", in Bejucal
• Cultivos Varios Company "19 de abril", in Quivicán
• Sugar Company "Boris Luis Santa Coloma" in Madruga
• Genetic Enterprise of the East, in Madruga
• New Calcium Company

Science and Technology

• National Bio-prepared Center (BIOCEN), in Bejucal
• Institute of Horticultural Research Liliana Dimitrova, in Quivicán
• Plant Nutrition Experimental Station "La Renee"
• Sugar Cane Research Institute (ICINAZ), in Quivicán
• Research and Production Union of Bagasse Cellulose (Cuba 9), in Quivicán
• Center for the Production of Microbial Fats, Enzymes, Polymers (Cuba 10), in Quivicán
• Research Station of the Sugarcane Mechanization (EIMEC), in Quivicán
• Agrarian University "Fructuoso Rodríguez", in San José de las Lajas
• National Center for Agricultural Health (CENSA), in San José de las Lajas
• National Institute of Agricultural Sciences (INCA), in San José de las Lajas
• Center for Aquaculture Preparation "Mampostón", in San José de las Lajas
Social development

Culture

Mayabeque is the birthplace of artists such as Odilio Urfé, Antonio Maria Romeu, Tata Güines, Aristides Fernandez, Arsenio Rodríguez, Mirta Cerra, Vicentina Antuña, Raúl Gómez García, Francisco Pereira (Chanchito), Juan Barona and creators like the young Batabano’s painter Vicente Hernández, the meleneros Carlos Llanes and Andrés Retamero, Güines: Féliz Núñez and Ahmed Fernández.

In the literature highlight poets such as the neopacina Andrea García Molina, the nicolareña Yasmín Sierra Montes, the Jaruqueña Encarnación de Armas Medina and the güinera Felicia Hernández Lorenzo, the latter with obvious achievements including the decima, where she has shared successes with several current mayabequenses, among them the nicolaseño Juan Carlos Garrote and Gil and the batabanoense, also Juan Carlos Garcia Guridi, essayist and poet of other branches. There are writers in full maturity, such as the narrator and essayist from Jaruco, Ricardo Alberto Pérez, the güinero José Antonio Martínez Coronel, the lajero Reinaldo Medina Hernández, the Bejucaleños Armando Landa and Misael Aguiar, as well as the bejucaleño Omar Felipe Mauri president of the Union Of Writers and Artists in the province, to which the neopacino Raúl Hernández Pérez is added.

In the essayistic, two women stand out with a whole series of national and international awards and recognitions: the Bejucaleñas Aisnara Perera and María de los Ángeles Meriño Fuentes, with very novel ways of interpreting important historical events occurred in Cuba, in addition to the güinero José Luis González Almeida.

The theater in Mayabeque is represented by several groups such as the Teatro de las Olas, Batabanó, the Teatro del Estro del Montecallado, with headquarters in Bejucal and the Theater Tacón for children, based in San Jose de las Lajas.

Public health

The province has a Provincial Center of Information in Medical Sciences (Mayabeque) in charge of guaranteeing updated scientific-medical information to health sector personnel and spreading the results of researches through the edition of the Journal of Medical Sciences Havana, with a Faculty of Medical Sciences of Mayabeque in charge of training the human resources of the sector, as well as 20 polyclinics for primary health care to the population and 4 hospitals for secondary health care. The following are the health units by municipality:

Batabanó
• Community Policlinic ¨Pascuala Restituta¨
• Stomatology Clinic

Bejucal
• Community Policlinic
• Stomatologyl Clinic

Güines
• Mayabeque Provincial Medical Information Center (CPICM)
• Polyclinic ¨Luis Li¨
• Polyclinic Marta Martinez Figuera
• General Teaching Hospital "Alleida Fernández Chardiet"
• Gynecology-obstetric Hospital of Güines ¨Manuel Piti Fajardo¨
• Psychiatric Hospital of La Habana ¨Crisanto Betancourt¨
• Clinical Stomatology "Andrés Ortiz Junco"
• Faculty of Medical Sciences of Mayabeque
• Polyclinic ¨ Osvaldo Sánchez¨

Jaruco
• Polyclinic ¨Noelio Capote¨
• Stomatology Clinic

Madruga
• Policlinic "María Emilia Alfonso"
• Polyclinic "Dionisio Sáenz"

Melena del Sur

• Community Policlinic "José Raúl Currás Regalado"
• Stomatology Clinic

Nueva Paz
• Polyclinic ¨Dr. Humberto Castelló Aldanás¨
• Primary Polyclinic Urgency ¨Felipe Poey Aloy¨
• Stomatology Clinic

Quivicán
• Community Polyclinic ¨Pablo Noriega de Quivicán¨
• Community Policlinic "Health"

San Jose de las Lajas
• General Teaching Hospital "Leopoldito Martínez"
• Polyclinic ¨Rafael Echezarreta¨
• Polyclinic "Martyrs of the 9th of April"
• Polyclinic ¨Rinaldo García¨
• Polyclinic ¨Turcios Lima¨
• Stomatology Clinic

San Nicolas
• Polyclinic "Emilia of Cordova"
• Stomatology Clinic

Santa Cruz del Norte
• Polyclinic -Hospital "Alberto Fernández"
• Polyclinic ¨Julio Rufin¨

From the Cuban Encyclopedia on the Net

Details

Category: Added value in English

Published: 31 January 2017

Hits: 2341