Mataguá is a

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...

n village and ''consejo popular'' ("people's council", i.e. hamlet) of the municipality of

Manicaragua Manicaragua () is a municipality and mountain town in the Villa Clara Province of Cuba. It is located in the Escambray Mountains at the southern part of Villa Clara, bordering the provinces of Cienfuegos to the west and Sancti Spíritus to the ea ...

, in

Villa Clara Province Villa Clara is one of the provinces of Cuba. It is located in the central region of the island bordering with the Atlantic at north, Matanzas Province by west, Sancti Spiritus Province by east, and Cienfuegos Province on the South. Villa Cl ...

. With a population of ca. 10,000, it is the most populated village in the municipality after Manicaragua.

History

Founded in 1868 as a farm estate owned by a

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: ** Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Ca ...

man named Jacinto Rivero, it was sold some years later to Susano Rodríguez, that changed the aboriginal name of Mataguá to ''Palma Sola''. The property was transferred in 1904 to the brothers Pablo and Belisario Millar Vila. The new owners changed the name of the estate, which returned to be the aboriginal one. The village was connected to the mains in 1927, and had a

train station A train station, railway station, railroad station or depot is a railway facility where trains stop to load or unload passengers, freight or both. It generally consists of at least one platform, one track and a station building providing ...

on a no longer active line. During the

Cuban Revolution The Cuban Revolution ( es, Revolución Cubana) was carried out after the 1952 Cuban coup d'état which placed Fulgencio Batista as head of state and the failed mass strike in opposition that followed. After failing to contest Batista in cour ...

, Mataguá was taken by

the revolutionaries The Revolutionaries (sometimes known as "Revolutionaires") was a Jamaican reggae band. Career Set up in 1975 as the house band of the Channel One Studios owned by Joseph Hoo Kim, The Revolutionaries with Sly Dunbar on drums and Bertram "R ...

on 22 December 1958, one week before the

Battle of Santa Clara The Battle of Santa Clara was a series of events in late December 1958 that led to the capture of the Cuban city of Santa Clara by revolutionaries under the command of Che Guevara. The battle was a decisive victory for the rebels fighting ag ...

, by a group led by the commander Raúl Nieves.

Geography

Located 11 km in north of

and 27 in south of the city of Santa Clara, Mataguá spans on a valley near the

Escambray Mountains The Escambray Mountains () are a mountain range in the central region of Cuba, in the provinces of Sancti Spíritus, Cienfuegos and Villa Clara. Overview The Escambray Mountains are located in the south-central region of the island, extending ab ...

, next to the village of Jorobada (8 km far). It is crossed in the middle by the state highway "474" (''Carretera de Manicaragua''), linking Santa Clara to Manicaragua and to the

A1 motorway A1, A-1, A01 or A.1. may refer to: Education * A1, the Basic Language Certificate of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages * Language A1, the former name for "Language A: literature", one of the IB Group 1 subjects * A1, a ...

exit "Santa Clara South", 10 km in north of Mataguá. The highway, which continues as "152" and crosses the

Topes de Collantes Topes de Collantes is a nature reserve park in the Escambray Mountains range in Cuba. It also refers to the third highest peak in the reserve, where a small settlement and tourist center is located, all sharing the same name. Geography Topes d ...

nature reserve, ends in the town of

Trinidad Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands of Trinidad and Tobago. The island lies off the northeastern coast of Venezuela and sits on the continental shelf of South America. It is often referred to as the southernmos ...

, 71 km in south. The village is also 31 km far from the resort of

Hanabanilla El Salto del Hanabanilla, also known as Hanabanilla, is a Cuban village and ''consejo popular'' ("people's council", i.e. hamlet) of the municipality of Manicaragua, Villa Clara Province.Báez Báez is a Cuban village and ''consejo popular'' ("people's council", i.e. hamlet) of the municipality of Placetas, in Villa Clara Province. In 2011 it had a population of around 7,000. History The village was founded in 1804 with the name ''Hato ...

, 53 from

Placetas Placetas () is a city in the Villa Clara Province in the center of Cuba; before the change in the country's government in 1959 the province was called Las Villas. The town is also known as ''La Villa de los Laureles'' because of its wild laurel t ...

, and 66 from

Cienfuegos Cienfuegos (), capital of Cienfuegos Province, is a city on the southern coast of Cuba. It is located about from Havana and has a population of 150,000. Since the late 1960s, Cienfuegos has become one of Cuba's main industrial centers, especia ...

Personalities

Ofelia Domínguez Navarro Ofelia Domínguez Navarro (Mataguá, December 9, 1894 - Havana, July 7, 1976) was a Cuban writer, teacher, lawyer, feminist and activist. She was a proponent of the rights of women and illegitimate children. As a journalist, Domínguez Navarro supp ...

(1894-1976), writer, teacher, lawyer, feminist, and activist.

References

External links

Mataguá at geografiainfo.es
{{DEFAULTSORT:Matagua Populated places in Villa Clara Province Populated places established in 1868

History

Geography

Personalities

See also

References

External links