Guatemala, also known as Preston, is a
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 ...
n village and ''
consejo popular
In Cuba, a consejo popular (; ; sometimes shortened to CP) is an electoral ward or political-administrative demarcation of the National Assembly of People's Power of Cuba
Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, compri ...
'' ("people's council", i.e. hamlet) of the municipality of
Mayarí
Mayarí is a municipality and town in the Holguín Province of Cuba.
History
The origins of the city date back to 1757 in Spanish Cuba, when the first farms were established here by immigrant colonists. On 19 January 1879 the city became the se ...
, in
Holguín Province
Holguín () is one of the provinces of Cuba, the third most populous after Havana and Santiago de Cuba. It lies in the southeast of the country. Its major cities include Holguín (the capital), Banes, Antilla, Mayarí, and Moa.
The provinc ...
.
History
In the first half of the 20th century, the village was a sugar cane processing center owned and operated by the
United Fruit Company and named in honor of one of the company's founders,
Andrew W. Preston. In the Caribbean, processing centers for cane sugar are referred to by the Spanish term "central". Following 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 ...
of 1958, United Fruit was forced to withdraw and the Cuban government renamed the town
Guatemala
Guatemala, officially the Republic of Guatemala, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico, to the northeast by Belize, to the east by Honduras, and to the southeast by El Salvador. It is hydrologically b ...
to symbolize solidarity with the Central American nation. Due to decades of neglect and failure to modernize the mill - not to mention declining global prices for sugar - the mill/central was closed around 1990 and the village went into decline.
[Personal recollection of Preston by a former American resident and United Fruit employee.]
Geography
The village is located in
Nipe Bay, 14 km north of Mayarí. It is 27 km from
Nicaro-Levisa
Nicaro-Levisa, also Levisa-Nicaro, is a Cuban town and ''consejo popular'' ("people's council", i.e. hamlet) of the municipality of Mayarí, in Holguín Province, formed by the settlements of Nicaro and Levisa. With a population of about 20,000, ...
, 34 from
Cayo Saetía, and 98 from
Holguín.
Transportation
Guatemala was served by the
Preston Airport .
See also
*
Birán
Birán is a village in Holguín Province of Cuba, hamlet and ''consejo popular'' of Cueto, best known as the birthplace of Ramón, Fidel, Raúl and Juanita Castro. Their father Ángel Castro y Argiz owned a plantation there.
History
Unti ...
*
Municipalities of Cuba
The Provinces of Cuba, provinces of Cuba are divided into 168 municipality, municipalities (). They were defined by Cuban Law Number 1304 of July 3, 1976Fifth United Nations Conference on the Standardization of Geographical Names, Vol. II, publish ...
*
List of cities in Cuba
This is a list of cities in Cuba with at least 20,000 inhabitants, listed in descending order. Population data refers to city proper and not to the whole municipality, because they include large rural areas with several villages. All figu ...
References
{{Authority control
Mayarí
Populated places in Holguín Province