Loma del Capiro () is a group of three small peaks located in the city of Santa Clara,

Cuba Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...

. The elevation gained local and worldwide historic significance after

Che Guevara Ernesto "Che" Guevara (14th May 1928 – 9 October 1967) was an Argentines, Argentine Communist revolution, Marxist revolutionary, physician, author, Guerrilla warfare, guerrilla leader, diplomat, and Military theory, military theorist. A majo ...

used it as hideout and command center to invade the city in a battle known as

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 rebel forces under the command of Che Guevara at the end of the Cuban Revolution. A decisive victory for the re ...

during the

Cuban Revolution The Cuban Revolution () was the military and political movement that overthrew the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista, who had ruled Cuba from 1952 to 1959. The revolution began after the 1952 Cuban coup d'état, in which Batista overthrew ...

. With an altitude of , the smallest peak holds the name of Capiro and next to it, with 185.9 and 188.4 meters tall are twin peaks known as Dos Hermanas (Two sisters). A monument commemorating the battle was placed at the top of the smallest peak. A lookout is located close to it, providing a view of the city, the savanna filled with royal palms and farms. The natural surroundings provide shelter to

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

vegetation and a plantation of Santa Clara's tree, the

tamarind Tamarind (''Tamarindus indica'') is a Legume, leguminous tree bearing edible fruit that is indigenous to tropical Africa and naturalized in Asia. The genus ''Tamarindus'' is monotypic taxon, monotypic, meaning that it contains only this spe ...

sits on the South side of it.

History

With a strategic location overlooking the city, the hill was decisive for the rebels in their quest to take down the

Batista Batista is a Spanish language, Spanish or Portuguese language, Portuguese surname. Notable persons with the name include: * Batista (footballer, born 1955), Brazilian football player João Batista da Silva * Dave Bautista, Batista (wrestler) (Dave ...

regime in 1958. Boasting an army airport, Santa Clara city had several garrisons, numerous troops, mortars tanks and air support. Che Guevara initially estimated that taking over the city would take around two months of fighting. A key action in the very beginning of the battle made it happen in just a few days. Che intercepted an armored train filled with weapons passing the skirts of Capiro hill. The train was derailed and using

Molotov cocktail A Molotov cocktail (among several other names – ''see '') is a hand-thrown incendiary weapon consisting of a frangible container filled with flammable substances and equipped with a Fuse (explosives), fuse (typically a glass bottle filled wit ...

s against its metal walls, the soldiers inside did not stand a chance against the heat and surrendered. A museum and monument of the armored train action stands near the hill today. With all the new armaments the rebels began gaining positions inside the city. Once Santa Clara was in the hands of the rebel force, Batista fled Cuba from Havana, never to return again.

Nature

Aside from the great historic importance of Capiro hill, there is also a great natural, scientific and tourist interest attached to these hills, unfortunately these others features are completely unknown to locals and visitors. ;A witness of the Chicxulub impact In an article released in GeoScienceWorld in September 2005 by Laia Alegret is described how the author researched the sediments at Loma Capiro in Central Cuba and provided new evidence about the

Chicxulub impact The Chicxulub crater is an impact crater buried underneath the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico. Its center is offshore, but the crater is named after the onshore community of Chicxulub Pueblo (not the larger coastal town of Chicxulub Puerto). I ...

. The Chicxulub impact refers to the huge meteor that hit the Yucatán Peninsula in the

Cretaceous The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 143.1 to 66 mya (unit), million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era (geology), Era, as well as the longest. At around 77.1 million years, it is the ...

Paleogene The Paleogene Period ( ; also spelled Palaeogene or Palæogene) is a geologic period and system that spans 43 million years from the end of the Cretaceous Period Ma (million years ago) to the beginning of the Neogene Period Ma. It is the fir ...

era and is believed to have played a major role in the mass extinction of the dinosaurs. During impact, mega tsunamis, earthquakes and continental destabilization were generated. It affected Cuba in particular, due to the proximity and elongated shape of the island. ;A natural shelter Many endemic species of the Cuban savanna and forests can be found on the north slope of the site, while in the south, a plantation of Tamarind trees was started decades ago. This is the symbolic tree of Santa Clara city, representing its foundation. This plantation helps prevent slope erosion and provides fruit for the nearby community.

Tourism

Declared National Historic Site of Cuba in 1990, along with the museum-monument of the armored train a staircase was built in order to reach the top of the hill where a metal sculpture by Jose Delarra is resting in a green marble base. It symbolizes the will to unify the Cuban nation. The trenches dug by the rebel forces surround the monument. The place serves as lookout post for the outstanding beauty of Santa Clara valley savanna, interrupted here and there by royal palms and farmlands. The city lies down the hill facing South West. Locals used to gather around at night in the site with guitars to serenade friends. In 2002 "Trabajos Comunales" (Community Works), a government enterprise in charge of every city public works, considered the possibility of turning the three hills and surrounding areas into a city natural recreation park and zoo; but without any funds for the idea, they had to keep improving the small city zoo instead.

References

External links

{{coord, 22.40831, -79.94929, type:landmark_globe:earth_region:CU, display=title Tourist attractions in Santa Clara, Cuba Hills of Cuba Geography of Villa Clara Province