Punta Brava is a small
suburb
A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area. They are oftentimes where most of a metropolitan areas jobs are located with some being predominantly residential. They can either be denser or less densely populated ...
located just to the southwest of
Havana
Havana (; ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.[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 ...](_bl ...<br></span></div>, <div class=)
, with a population of roughly 1500 inhabitants. It is one of the wards (
consejos populares) of the
La Lisa
La Lisa () is one of the 15 municipalities or boroughs (''municipios'' in Spanish) in the city of Havana, Cuba
Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, ...
municipality.
Cuban War of Independence
Punta Brava and the nearby town of Guatao were the scene of massacres during the
Cuban War of Independence
The Cuban War of Independence (), also known in Cuba as the Necessary War (), fought from 1895 to 1898, was the last of three liberation wars that Cuba fought against Spain, the other two being the Ten Years' War (1868–1878) and the Litt ...
; Cuban General
General Maceo died there in battle on December 7, 1896.
Fidel Castro
Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz (13 August 1926 – 25 November 2016) was a Cuban politician and revolutionary who was the leader of Cuba from 1959 to 2008, serving as the prime minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976 and President of Cuba, president ...
referred to Maceo's death in Punta Brava in 1992 ("Maceo, you were not defeated the day you fell in Punta Brava); on the other hand, for Castro's father,
Ángel Castro y Argiz
Ángel María Bautista Castro y Argiz (, 5 December 1875 – 21 October 1956) was a Spanish-born Cuban farmer and businessman who was the father of Cuban leaders Fidel, Raúl and Ramón Castro.
Early life
Ángel Castro was born in ...
, the day Maceo died had been "one of the best and proudest days of that war," since it was his company that killed the general.
The next year, Punta Brava was the site where a naked American named Kelley surrendered to the Spanish commander and was given a shirt and a pair of trousers: Kelley, who had disappeared from Havana in early April 1897, had reportedly told the insurgents that he was an expert in dynamite. They, believing he was a spy, stripped and hanged him, but the rope broke and Kelley managed to escape, naked but otherwise intact.
1906 uprising
In 1906, an
unsuccessful insurrection was deemed to be ended after a "negro Gen
ralQuentin Bandera, the most daring insurgent in Havana province," was killed near Punta Brava with two "mulatto comrades all frightfully gashed by the machetes of the mounted rural guards who ended their careers."
Cuban Missile Crisis
During the 1962
Cuban Missile Crisis
The Cuban Missile Crisis, also known as the October Crisis () in Cuba, or the Caribbean Crisis (), was a 13-day confrontation between the governments of the United States and the Soviet Union, when American deployments of Nuclear weapons d ...
, the Soviets reportedly built a missile site in Punta Brava.
Notables
*
Tony Pacheco
References
Geography of Havana
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