Santa Clara: Where Roads Cross

Enrico Caruso sang at La Caridad Theatre in 1885. The first university opened its doors in 1952. The provincial hospital is nowadays one of the most prestigious in the country. El Mejunje is a superior cultural center. With its clean and straight streets, its horizontal and eclectic architecture, its monuments and bridges, Santa Clara is a city full of life that has the rhythm of Cuba. It is also full of history. This is Che's city.

It was in Santa Clara that Commander Ernesto Guevara struck the final blow that provided the triumph of the revolution on January 1st 1959. The façade of the Santa Clara Libre Hotel, just across from the beautiful Vidal Park, still has bullet holes from that famous battle. You can also see some of the wagons of the armored train that, full of soldiers and weaponry, was derailed by the Rebel Army on the outskirts of town.

There, in the square bearing his name, rest the bodies of Che and his comrades from the Bolivian adventure. Santa Clara is the capital of Villa Clara, one of the central provinces of the island and the one with the greatest industrial and agricultural development. It is located 270 km to the east of Havana. Access is provided by an international airport, railroad, and several national and local roads.

The northern keys, Las Brujas, Ensenacho and Santa María, are linked to the mainland by a causeway built some years ago opening the area up to tourism