CubaPLUS Magazine

A small islet located in the middle of the bay of Santiago de Cuba, the beautiful, southeasternmost Caribbean city of Cuba, gave life to the community or maritime town named Cayo Granma.

It comes out to the navigator's path to the left of the channel that links it with open waters. It only exceeds a little more than 2 square km of extension and has always been inhabited by fishermen, who built their modest and functional houses on stilts driven into the sea, for the most part, giving it a peculiarity, not common in Cuba, despite its island status, and its vast coastlines.

It is estimated that its first neighbors were linked to aboriginal settlements located on land irrigated by the Paradas, Gascón, Yarayó, and Caimanes rivers, located in that area. They also relate to small communities located in points called Churruca, La Estrella, Punta Caracoles, and Níspero on the coast. All are native people of American lands. Thus, the islet and its inhabitants were linked very early to the history of Santiago de Cuba, at the same time as the birth of the important city that was once the capital of the colony.

There are historical events carried out in safeguarding the town, repelling attacks by corsairs and pirates since the 17th century and in the first War of Independence, called the 10-year War, and the Cuban-Hispanic-American War, in 1898. In 1877, the Hermitage of San Rafael was built in that place. At the end of the 19th century and during the 20th century, many summer houses were built, a constructive hallmark that marked the picturesque community in a remarkable way.

At the turn of the 20th century and during the neocolonial bourgeois republic of that time, other constructions boomed, such as game clubs, bathing and recreation areas, shops, water sports, and aquatic carnivals that colored the life of the place, raising the economic and tourist value of the entire town. American influence also grew. Likewise, at the height of the last liberation war that began in the Sierra Maestra, its inhabitants supported the development of that conflict in different ways, since Santiago de Cuba was one of the axes of that popular combat.

After the triumph of the Revolution, the islet was renamed Granma, in honor of the historic yacht that brought a defining expedition in the life of Cuba from Mexico. Today its inhabitants enjoy all the health, schooling, and cultural services necessary to the demands of the place and it has been subject to remodeling and works to preserve its valuable heritage. Essential elements such as history, the presence of the Caribbean Sea, and its hospitable people, define the attractions of Cayo Granma, part of the essence of beautiful Santiago de Cuba.