Guantanamo City Guide

Situated 90km east of Santiago and a few kilometres north of the bay of the same name. It has about 208,000 inhabitants and most of them live from producing sugarcane and cotton wool.

Guantanamera ("The girl from Guantanamo") is perhaps the best known Cuban song and that country’s most noted patriotic song. The lyrics are based on the first poem in the collection Simple Verses by Cuban nationalist poet José Martí, adapted by Julian Orban. The music was composed by Fernandez Dias.

The city seems to have two rather unfortunate unofficial emblems. One is a depot crammed with rusting buses that have no fuel, the other is an apartment tower that was to be showcase of efficient, prefabricated architecture.

The main reason to stop in this city is to visit the lookout at the Guantanamo Bay American naval base, which is the last colonial outpost remaining on the island. These days the base is the home to around 7,000 American servicemen. It is a self-sufficient entity with its own TV and radio station , water supply, medical, sports and general recreational facilities.

City life revolves around Parque Marti, a pleasant leafy square shaded by laburnum trees ( glorious in March), and with an attractive golden-coloured church, the Iglesia Parroquial de Santa Catalina. You can’t forget to visit the attractive old houses on Calles Perez and Calixto Garcia.

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