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| Santa Ifigenia Cemetary |
After three days in Cienfuegos, our cruise moved on to the
Bahía de Santiago de Cuba. Here we stopped to visit the city of Santiago de Cuba.
I chose to not take the included tour, but instead, went on a tour designed for
photographers.
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| An old diesel engine, still in service |
Santiago
de Cuba, in the southeast corner of the island, is Cuba’s second largest
city. Santiago was founded in 1515 and served as the capital from 1522 until
1589. The city became a major port and industrial center for sugar cane and
aluminum mining.
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| General Antonio Maceo |
Our tour started with a stop at the Plaza
de la Revolución. The plaza, which opened in 1991, has two parts. One is a
large open space that can hold up to 150,000 people for large rallies. Across
Avenida de los Desfiles is a building with space for cultural event and conferences.
This structure is topped with a tribute to Lt. General Antonio
Maceo y Grajales, a general during Cuba’s war for independence in the 1890’s.
He served in the Cuban Army from 1868 until his death in battle in 1896. The
statute is 16m (50 ft) tall and is joined by twenty-three metallic shafts
thrust into the ground. These are meant to represent machetes. The instillation
was built to celebrate the rebel spirit of the Cuban people.
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| Classic Car |
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| Public Transportation |
From the plaza we traveled into the center of the city, to
the ArteSantiago gallery, for a meeting with a local photographer. Dr. C.
Vicente Gonzalez Díaz, an archeologist and underwater photographer gave us a
short lecture on the places we were going to visit and tips for taking the best
photos when we got there.
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| Dr. Vicente Gonzalez |
After our lecture, it was on to the Cementerio Santa
Ifigenia. This is the burial site for many of Cuba’s most famous residents. The
two main attractions are the mausoleum of José Martí and the grave site of
Fidel Castro. José Martí (1853-1895) was a poet, author and revolutionary
philosopher. He wrote about, and fought for an end to Spanish colonialism in
Cuba and through out the Americas. Martí and his wife lie in rest in a beautiful
mausoleum. It is guarded by soldiers of the Cuban Army day and night, with an
eternal flame in front. We were lucky enough to arrive in time to see the
changing of the guard.
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| Tomb of the Bacardi family |
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| Changing of the Guard |
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| José Martí Mausoleum |
Fidel Castro (1926-2016) was a leader of the Cuban Revolution
and the Cuban Communist Party. When he died, his brother Raul, declared that
Fidel had wanted no monuments or roads named after him, who “strongly opposed
any manifestation of cult of personality.” Fidel’s ashes are interred in a
single boulder, meant to resemble a kernel of corn, in honor of a poem by José
Martí.
While he did not want a memorial, in fact, that is what his grave has
become. Next to it is a part of a speech he wrote for the May Day celebration
in 2000. I believe it is a wonderful declaration and description of the base
ideas of what he fought for:
Revolución by Fidel Castro Ruz May 1, 2000
Es sentído momento histórico
Es cambiar todo lo que debe ser
cambiado
Es iqualidad y libertad plenas
Es ser tratado y tartar a los demás
como ser humanos
Es emanciparnos por nostoros mismos y
con nuestros propios esfuerzos
Es desafiar ponderosas fuerzas
dominantes dentro y fuera del ámbito social y nacional
Es defender valores en los que se
cree al precicide caulquier sacrificio
Es modestia desinterés altruism,
solidaridad y heroism
Es luchar con audacia, inteligencia y
realismo
Es no mentir jamás ni volar pricipios
éticos
Es conviccion profunda de que no
existe fuerza de los verdad ys las ideas
Revolución
es unidad, es independencia
Es luchar por nuestros sueños de justiciar
para Cuba y para el mundo
Que es la base de nuestro patriotism
Nuestro Socialismo
Y nuestro Internacionlismo
Is the sense of the historic moment;
is to change all which must be changed
is complete equality and liberty
is to be treated and to treat others as human beings
is to emancipate ourselves by ourselves and with our own efforts
is to challenge dominant powerful forces within the social and national scope and realm;
is to defend values in which we believe at the price of any sacrifice;
is modesty, unselfishness, altruism, solidarity and heroism;
is to fight with audacity, intelligence and realism;
is to never lie nor violate ethical principles;
is the profound conviction that exists no force in the world capable of confounding truth and ideas
REVOLUTION
is unity, is independence, is to fight for our dreams of justice for Cuba and for the world
which is the base of our patriotism, our socialism and our internationalism
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