Sandino is a municipality and town in the

Pinar del Río Province Pinar del Río is one of the provinces of Cuba. It is at the western end of the island of Cuba. Geography The Pinar del Río province is Cuba's westernmost province and contains one of Cuba's three main mountain ranges, the Cordillera de Guanig ...

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 town is located close to the coast and as such, fishing is the main economic resource of this place. It is also the gateway to the

Guanahacabibes Peninsula Guanahacabibes Peninsula is the westernmost point on the island of Cuba. It is located in Pinar del Río Province, in the municipality of Sandino and is sparsely populated. The waters surrounding the peninsula are important spiny lobster and re ...

, a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve.

History

The municipality was named after the Nicaraguan revolutionary,

Augusto César Sandino Augusto C. Sandino (; May 18, 1895 February 21, 1934), full name Augusto Nicolás Calderón de Sandino y José de María Sandino, was a Nicaraguan revolutionary and leader of a rebellion between 1927 and 1933 against the United States occupat ...

. In January 2019 Sacred Heart of Jesus Catholic Church in Sandino became the first Catholic church in Cuba to be inaugurated since 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 cou ...

Geography

Located in the westernmost area of Cuba, the municipality borders with the territories of

Guane Guane is a municipality and town in the Pinar del Río Province of Cuba. It was founded in 1602. Geography The municipality is divided into the barrios of Cabo de San Antonio y La Fe, Catalina, Cortés, Hato de Guane, Isabel Rubio (Paso Real d ...

and

Mantua Mantua ( ; it, Mantova ; Lombard language, Lombard and la, Mantua) is a city and ''comune'' in Lombardy, Italy, and capital of the Province of Mantua, province of the same name. In 2016, Mantua was designated as the Italian Capital of Culture ...

. Its westernmost point is Cape San Antonio (''Cabo de San Antonio''), on the

. The municipality includes the hamlets of Babineyes, Bolívar,

Cayuco Cayuco is a Latin American Spanish term for a small canoe. Overview Cayuco racing is the activity of paddling a canoe for the purpose of recreation (also called a float trip), sport, or transportation. It usually refers exclusively to using a pa ...

, Cortés, Covadonga, La Bajada, La Conchita, La Fe, La Furnia, La Grifa, Las Martinas, La Yana, Las Tumbas, Los Cayuelos, María la Gorda, Marina Cabo San Antonio, Roncali, San Julián, Santa Barbara, Valle San Juan and Veinte de Mayo.

Demographics

In 2004, the municipality of Sandino had a population of 39,245. With a total area of , it has a population density of .

Education

Various high schools (Spanish ''secundarias'') are established in Sandino, with students from San Juan y Martinez, San Luis, all the way to

and Isabel Rubio (approximately an area of about ). Sandino is the newest pole of the Cuban university program ELAM (Escuela Latinoamericana de Medicina) where the Cuban government has placed many similar medical faculties. Many of the students are from Latin America and Caribbean countries such as Guyana, Argentina, Ecuador, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Bolivia, Peru, Suriname, Dominica, St. Lucia, Belize, Jamaica, Haiti, St. Vincent, Antigua, Solomon Islands, Nauru, Grenada, Barbados and more countries to be expected like Tuvalu and the Philippines. They are part of the new education program of the ''Escuela Latin Americana de Medicina''. There are several campuses located in this municipality. Most only contain people from one country (300 or more students), but there are others such as ELAM 10 that have more than 15 nationalities enrolled. These are however in lesser quantities and have a total of up to 500 students.

Transportation

There are not many roads in this municipality. And even out of this little number, most roads do not have names. The locations are identified by the farms they lead towards. There are regular buses that frequent the town of Sandino, and straight to several locations as Guane, Isabel Rubio and

Pinar del Río Pinar del Río is the capital city of Pinar del Río Province, Cuba. With a population of 139,336 (2004) in a municipality of 190,332, it is the List of cities in Cuba, 10th-largest city in Cuba. Inhabitants of the area are called ''Pinareños'' ...

. It is not uncommon to see oxcarts, donkey-carts and horse-driven carts. Most people have to walk great distances before they can find viable transportation. Hitchhiking is very common in these areas. In the village of La Fé starts the national road Carretera Central, passing also through Sandino.

Personalities

José Contreras José Ariel Contreras Camejo (born December 6, 1971), is a Cuban former professional baseball pitcher, who played in the Cuban National Series (CNS), Major League Baseball (MLB), and internationally for the Cuban national baseball team. Contr ...

(b. 1971), baseball player

References

External links

Sandino
on EcuRed
Villa Cabo San AntonioVilla Maria La Gorda - International Diving Centre
{{Municipalities in Pinar del Río Cities in Cuba Populated places in Pinar del Río Province