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

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 ...

. The elevation gained local and worldwide historic significance after

Che Guevara Ernesto Che Guevara (; 14 June 1928The date of birth recorded on /upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/78/Ernesto_Guevara_Acta_de_Nacimiento.jpg his birth certificatewas 14 June 1928, although one tertiary source, (Julia Constenla, quot ...

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 revolutionaries under the command of Che Guevara. The battle was a decisive victory for the rebels fighting ag ...

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 co ...

. 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 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 found else ...

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

tamarind Tamarind (''Tamarindus indica'') is a leguminous tree bearing edible fruit that is probably indigenous to tropical Africa. The genus ''Tamarindus'' is monotypic, meaning that it contains only this species. It belongs to the family Fabaceae ...

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 or Portuguese surname. Notable persons with the name include: * Batista (footballer, born 1955), Brazilian football player * Dave Bautista, American actor and professional wrestler, also known as Batista * Edina Alves Batis ...

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 other names'') is a hand thrown incendiary weapon constructed from a frangible container filled with flammable substances equipped with a fuse (typically a glass bottle filled with fla ...

s against its metal walls. The soldiers inside did not stand a chance against the heat and gave up. A museum and monument of the armored train action stands near the hill today. With all the new armament 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. The Revolution triumphed that very day.

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 near the community of Chicxulub, after which it is named. It was formed slightly over 66 million years ago when a large a ...

. 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 145 to 66 million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era, as well as the longest. At around 79 million years, it is the longest geological period of ...

/ Paleogene 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 missing, Cuba Tourist attractions in Santa Clara, Cuba Hills of Cuba Geography of Villa Clara Province