Yara is a small town and municipality in the Granma Province of

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 ...

, located halfway between the cities of Bayamo and Manzanillo, in the Gulf of Guacanayabo. Yara means "place" in the

Taíno language Taíno is an Arawakan language formerly spoken widely by the Taíno people of the Caribbean. In its revived form, there exist several modern-day Taíno language variants including Hiwatahia-Taino and Tainonaiki. At the time of Spanish contact ...

History

The Taíno Cacique (chief)

Hatuey Hatuey (), also Hatüey (; died 2 February 1512), was a Taíno ''Cacique'' (chief) of the Hispaniolan cacicazgo of Guanaba (in present-day La Gonave, Haiti). He lived from the late 15th until the early 16th century. Chief Hatuey and many of h ...

was burnt at the stake in Yara, on February 2, 1512, after he organized a guerrilla war against the Spaniards. Hatuey is known as "Cuba's First National Hero".Running Fox, 'The Story of Cacique Hatuey, Cuba's First National Hero', La Voz del Pueblo Taíno (The Voice of the Taíno People) (United Confederation of Taino People, U.S. Regional Chapter, January 1998) This action gave birth to one of Cuba's major myths; ''"La Luz de Yara"'', The Light of Yara.The Light of Yara. On October 10, 1868, the beginning of the

Ten Years' War The Ten Years' War (; 1868–1878), also known as the Great War () and the War of '68, was part of Cuba's fight for independence from Spain. The uprising was led by Cuban-born planters and other wealthy natives. On 10 October 1868, sugar mil ...

in Cuba occurred and is known as ''El Grito de Yara'' ( The Cry of Yara) and was the beginning of the First Cuban War of Independence. Yara was established as a municipality in 1912, when Manzanillo was split up.

Geography

The municipality is divided into the

barrio ''Barrio'' () is a Spanish language, Spanish word that means "Quarter (urban subdivision), quarter" or "neighborhood". In the modern Spanish language, it is generally defined as each area of a city delimited by functional (e.g. residential, comm ...

s of Yara, Yara Arriba, Veguitas, Buey de Gallego, Coco, Caboa, Cabagán, Calambrosio, Canabacoa, Cayo Redondo, José Martí, Los Cayos, Mateo Romás and Sofía.

Demographics

In 2022, the municipality of Yara had a population of 53,818. With a total area of , it has a population density of .

Personalities

* Bartolomé Masó (1830–1907), soldier and politician * Tete Puebla (born 1940), Cuban politician * Harry Villegas (1940–2019), Cuban revolutionary * Huber Matos (1918–2014), Cuban revolutionary military leader, political dissident against Castro's marxist regime, political prisoner, activist and writer

References

External links