Camaguey

Camagüey is the easternmost province of central Cuba , the largest area and the flattest. Before the current political-administrative division it included the territories of the provinces of Ciego de Ávila , part of Sancti Spíritus and Las Tunas .

Summary

[ disguise ]

• 1 History
• 2 Geographical location
  • 1 Relief
  • 2 Hydrography
  • 3 Climate
• 3 Demographics
  • 1 Municipalities
• 4 Population
• 5 Economy
• 6 Institutions
  • 1 Science and technology
• 7 Public Services
  • 1 Education
  • 2 Health
• 8 Sports
• 9 Tourism
• 10 Places of historical and cultural interest
  • 1 Other places of interest
• 11 Sources

History

Main article: History of the province of Camagüey .

Geographic situation

The province is located between 20° 31′ 01” ―Faro Cabeza del Este― and 22° 29′ 00” ― Paredón Grande Lighthouse ― north latitude and 76° 57′ 00” west longitude of the Greenwich meridian , It is bordered to the north by the Old Bahamas Channel , and to the south by the Caribbean Sea , to the east by the province of Las Tunas , and to the west by the province of Ciego de Ávila . It is the largest province of Cuba and the flattest, with a total area of ​​15,386.16 km², occupying 14.0% of the national territory. The area of ​​the mainland is 14152.20 km² and the adjacent keys is 1233.96 km².

In the northern part is the Camagüey archipelago : Cayo Romano – the largest in the country -, Cayo Guajaba and Cayo Sabinal .

In the southern part the Jardines de la Reina keys are located . The main bay is located in the municipality of Nuevitas .

The province has 25% of all the country’s beaches with approximately 120 km and also has the second largest barrier reef in the world.

Relief

Its territory is fundamentally flat with few mountain groups, among which the following stand out: Loma La Deseada with 298 m above sea level, Sierra del Chorrillo with 324 m above sea level and Loma Mirador de Limones with 309 m above sea level. from sea. The main elevation is Cerro Tuabaquey with 330 m above sea level,

Hydrography

The rivers are short and low in flow. The following table shows the main rivers of the province.

River	Slope	Length (km)
Caonao	North	154.0
The Mares	South	117.0
Saint Peter	South	134.0

Climate

The average annual temperature is 24.7  °C . The average lowest minimum is in January, with 18.6  °C , and the highest average is in August, with 33.1°C.

Demography

It is divided into 13 municipalities of which the city of Camagüey is the head, divided into four districts.

Municipalities

• Carlos Manuel de Cespedes
• Emerald
• Sierra de Cubitas
• Mines
• New
• Guaimaro
• Sibanicú
• Camaguey
• Florida
• Slopes
• Jimaguayu
• Najasa
• Santa Cruz del Sur .

Population

The general population of the province amounts to more than 772,201 inhabitants with a population density of 50.2 inhabitants/km², in the city of Camagüey it amounts to 329,195 inhabitants. Taking into account the economic base of the province, which is eminently agricultural, the density is considered low and the degree of urbanization high, since only 25% of the population lives in rural areas.

Economy

Around 125 kilometers of beach of exceptional quality located in the resort of Santa Lucía and a group of adjacent keys, among which Cayo Sabinal, Cayo Romano and Cayo Cruz stand out, constitute the main and best-known tourist attraction of Camagüey, a province spread over 15,900 square kilometers in the central-eastern portion of the Cuban archipelago and which has traditionally had livestock and the sugar industry as the two main pillars of its economic development. However, tourism is very poorly exploited, although it has all the basic infrastructure in the Santa Lucía area. As of 2011, plans and work have begun to be developed to build more than 25,000 tourist rooms in the area of ​​​​the northern keys of the province, specifically in the Romano and Sabinal keys.

Likewise, the province has powerful industries, such as the Diez de Octubre thermoelectric plant, the 26 de Julio cement factory, the Revolución de Octubre fertilizer factory in the city of Nuevitas , and numerous construction materials companies, both production of cement as well as floor and prefabricated elements, even quarries. Likewise, important companies in the metal-mechanical branch, such as the Ignacio Agramonte y Loynaz Mechanical Plant , or the José Smith Comas engine repair plant. Camagüey also has important railway workshops.

There are also important potentialities of the mining industry, through the unexploited nickel deposits of San Felipe, near the city of Camagüey, and the San Jacinto gold mine, in Guáimaro, in addition to other chrome, feldspar, manganese, and the El Real Salina, on Santa Lucía beach.

Another important pillar in the Camagüey economy is the food industry, with factories dedicated to processing dairy production, meat processing and the Tínima beer factory, which produces the nationally famous beer of the same name. A powdered milk factory is under construction in the city of Camagüey, which will produce about 6 tons of powdered milk daily.

The sugar industry currently includes 5 sugar mills, two of them refineries. Camagüey produces 13% of Cuban sugar.

Camagüey continues to be the main Cuban livestock province, with an estimated mass of more than 68,853 heads of livestock. It also owns important equine and buffalo breeding companies.

The food and milk produced in Camagüey are used to supply surrounding provinces that do not have such resources. The province produces 25% of the country’s beef milk.

Also important is the existence of scientific institutions linked to production, such as the Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology of Camagüey , whose productions are fundamentally destined for the agricultural and livestock sphere.

Institutions

Science and Technology

The province of Camagüey has a high number of scientific institutions, in addition to having been the birthplace of eminent Cuban scientists such as Carlos J. Finlay and Orfilio Peláez . Among the research institutions the following stand out:

• Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology , CIGB
• Camagüey Environmental Research Center, CIMAC
• Camagüey Environmental Engineering Center , CIAC
• Camagüey Meteorology Center
• Center for Information and Technological Management , CIGET

Add to all this the existing research groups and centers in the universities of the province.

Public services

Education

In the province there is a high number of schools at all levels of education. It is worth highlighting the existence of 5 higher education centers:

• University of Camagüey Ignacio Agramonte Loynaz
• “Carlos J. Finlay” University of Medical Sciences .
• MININT Military Training Center
• Provincial School of the Communist Party of Cuba “Cándido Gónzalez Morales”
• Branch of the Higher Institute of Art .

Health

The province of Camagüey has a large number of hospital centers. Of them, 7 are provincial hospitals:

• Manuel Ascunce Domenech Provincial Hospital
• Madame Curie Cancer Hospital
• Comandante René Vallejo Psychiatric Hospital
• Eduardo Agramonte Piña Pediatric Hospital
• Ana Betancourt de Mora Maternal Hospital
• Amalia Simoni Surgical Clinical Hospital
• Martín Chang Puga General Teaching Hospital ( Nuevitas )

It also has:

• 728 Family Doctor and Nurse offices
• 31 polyclinics
• 10 dentistry clinics (and additionally dentistry chairs located in places far from the main cities)
• 12 optics
• 148 pharmacies
• 7 maternal homes
• 15 nursing homes. ^[2]

and other specialized centers for the treatment of various eye conditions and heart disease. Each municipality has its own hospital.

Regarding the strength of health professionals:

• 2019: 29,498
• 2020: 30,434
• 2021: 32,797

There are 2,495 doctors working in Primary Health Care, of which 1,657 are specialists in Comprehensive General Medicine, MGI, 721 are residents, and 517 are non-specialized. ^[3]

Sports

The province of Camagüey has been the birthplace of various Olympic champions and runners-up, such as Filiberto Azcuy (wrestling), Luis Ulacia Alvarez (baseball), Yumilka Ruiz and Mireya Luis (volleyball), Yipsi Moreno (hammer throw). It has provincial teams in all national championships, highlighting Boxing , Wrestling , Women’s Volleyball , Soccer , Basketball , and outstanding athletes in the sports of rowing and platform jumping. It has numerous sports facilities, among which the ” Rafael Fortún ” Multipurpose Room stands out, and the Cándido González Stadium baseball .

This province has had the initiative to declare Pan American Families to the homes of the relatives of the athletes who will participate in the Guadalajara 2011 Pan American Games, which will take place from October 14 to October 30 in Mexico .

In 2015, the Camagüey boxing team won its fifth consecutive title of champion of the Playa Girón Tournament, the highest Cuban boxing competition.

Tourism

Santa Lucia Beach

Santa Lucía de Cuba is the main resort north of Camagüey, with about 20 kilometers of fine white sand beaches. A short distance from the shore, in Saint Lucia, one of the most beautiful and extensive coral reefs in the Caribbean area is revealed, ideal for diving lovers.

The bulk of foreign visitors who today arrive at this tourist destination using the services of the Ignacio Agramonte international airport, or by road from other regions of the country, do so attracted by the natural charms of Santa Lucía, and in particular by its sandy beaches. , with warm, transparent waters and protected by the second largest coral barrier on the planet, which extends for about 400 kilometers in a west direction parallel to the Sabinal, Guajaba, Romano and Cruz keys, until reaching Varadero .

Precisely in front of Saint Lucia is where this coral barrier is closest to the coast of Cuba: barely 200 m away. From the shore it is now possible to immerse yourself in a fascinating world, which is home to 50 species of corals, 200 species of sponges, around 500 species of tropical fish and, in addition, there are the remains of at least 27 sunken ships.

The diving area occupies a five-kilometer sector and is delimited by the Lavanderas reef, to the east, and Playa Bonita (west), including La Boca, a peaceful semi-isolated place, adjacent to the access channel to Nuevitas bay and very next to a picturesque fishing village.

The lavish black coral, the “deer horn”, and the “bridal bouquet”; purple, orange or yellow sponges; Tarpon, snook, frogfish, manta rays and green moray eels, among several hundred species, populate these seabeds, where the remains of the galleon Fernando Estela and the ships Mortera and Nuevo Mortera also lie, the only two built for Cuba in the British shipyards of Liverpool between the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century .

The full enjoyment of nautical activities in Santa Lucía goes even further, to the enormous Cayo Sabinal (335 km² in area and more than 30 km of virgin beaches), which can also be accessed from the mainland through a highway of just over 2 km of extension built on the sea.

In Cayo Sabinal, an ideal place for photo hunting, excursions and recreational boating, there are freshwater lagoons where different species of the local fauna tend to concentrate, among which a large colony of pink flamingos stands out. Additionally, during the winter, it constitutes a safe haven for various types of migratory ducks.

The ruins of Fort San Hilario; the unique Playa Brava; the Colón lighthouse, built in 1894 and become an excellent viewpoint; Indications of the presence of aboriginal settlements, and the attractive elevations of the eastern area, constitute other reasons to visit this islet, whose purity and virginity are attested to by the fact that it is a natural nesting site for four species of sea turtles.

As of 2011, plans and work have begun to be developed to build more than 21,000 tourist rooms in the area of ​​​​the northern keys of the province, specifically in the Romano and Sabinal keys. It is planned that starting approximately in 2015, no less than 1,000 rooms will be built per year in said area. At the end of 2021, at least two hotels were already operational in Cayo Cruz.

From Santa Lucía you can also visit the Ballenatos Islands, inside the Nuevitas Bay, or the Sierra de Cubitas, a 260 km mountain range, about 30 km from the provincial capital, where more than 300 species have been reported. vegetation, aboriginal pictographs can be seen in the caves of Los Generales, Las Mercedes, Indio and Pichardo, and there are at least three natural features of great interest: the Sima de Rolando, the Hoyo de Bonet and the Los Paredones gorge.

The historic center of the city of Camagüey, the second largest in the country, is rightly becoming one of the must-see sites for those who choose Santa Lucía as a vacation destination. Between both points there are 110 km of road and countless charms to discover.

Places of historical and cultural interest

The Callejón Funda del Catre , popularly called this way because according to the residents of the place it did not allow two horses to travel together; the Plaza de San Juan de Dios and Plaza del Carmen ; the Convent of the Ursuline Mothers ; the Five corners of the Angel ; the Railway Water Carrier; or the Church of Nuestra Señora del Carmen , Iglesia Nuestra Señora de la Merced , the Iglesia Santa Ana , the Iglesia Parroquial Mayor , the Parish of Our Lady of Soledad and the Parish of Our Lady of Charity , or the Church of the Sacred Heart de Jesús , are points of the Camagüey urban fabric of great interest to the visitor.

As are also the birthplace of Ignacio Agramonte , hero of the first independence feat; of the National Poet, Nicolás Guillén ; the eminent scientist Carlos J. Finlay , and the poetesses Gertrudis Gómez de Avellaneda and Aurelia Castillo ; as well as the Teatro Principal , headquarters of the famous Camagüey Ballet , founded in 1967, and of the Provincial Symphony Orchestra in 1961; or the Casino Campestre park , the largest of the parks built within a Cuban city.

Visiting this city represents the possibility of enjoying San Juan Camagüeyano , a popular festival that emerged between 1725 and 1728 and is today celebrated between June 24 and 29 ; taste typical dishes of local cuisine such as Ajiaco from Camagüey , Tasaj or Montería; or get closer to the work of a young generation of talented ceramists to see, first-hand, a city considered an important cultural and scientific center of the nation and where the first Cuban literary work, Mirror of Patience , was born in the 16th century . a creation of the town hall notary Silvestre de Balboa .

Although with an incipient tourist development, the Jardines de la Reina , on the south coast, constitute another attraction for visitors interested in diving, fly fishing, the exciting experience of taking a bath with sharks, or living some unforgettable days at aboard the Tortuga floating hotel, from the Puertosol marina chain, anchored in the middle of the most preserved island group in the Caribbean .

Other places of interest

• Maceo Square (Camagüey)
• Youth Plaza (Camagüey)
• Revolution Square (Camagüey)
• Solidarity Square (Camagüey)
• Workers’ Square (Camagüey)
• Bedoya Square (Camagüey)
• José Martí Park (Camagüey)
• Antonio Maceo Square (Camagüey)
• Ignacio Agramonte Park (Camagüey)
• Plaza del Carmen (Camagüey)
• Plaza de San Juan de Dios
• El Cañón Park (Nuevitas)
• Malecón Patana Complex (Nuevitas)
• Santa Lucía Beach (Nuevitas)
• José Marti Park (Florida)
• Florida Boulevard (Florida)
• Constitution Park (Guaimaro)
• Santa Cruz Square (Santa Cruz del Sur)