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Cuba Santa Clara Photo Gallery

Come to Santa Clara to remember Che Guevara. There is a towering statue of Che Guevara at the Monumento Ernesto Che Guevara monument. The Monumento a la Toma del Tren Blindado boxcar museum marks the spot where Che Guevara’s men captured a 22-car armored train containing 350 heavily armed Batista troops. There is also a bronze statue of Che Guevara with a cigar in one hand and the Child of the Revolution in the other. Grand, mainly neoclassical public buildings like the Teatro La Caridad (Charity’s Theater) enclose the Parque Vidal.

11 Cuba - Santa Clara - Monumento Ernesto Che Guevara - Wide View The Monumento Ernesto Che Guevara monument, mausoleum and museum complex, in Santa Clara is in a vast square guarded by a bronze statue of 'El Che.' The statue was erected in 1987 to mark the 20th anniversary of Guevara's murder in Bolivia. On the block to the right of Che is Che’s farewell letter to Fidel Castro in 1965 … “I feel that I have fulfilled the part of my duty that tied me to the Cuban Revolution in its territory, and I say good-bye to you, the comrades, your people, who are already mine. … Other nations of the world call for my modest efforts. … Ever onward to victory! Our country or death! I embrace you with all my revolutionary fervor. Che.”

11 Cuba - Santa Clara - Monumento Ernesto Che Guevara - Wide View

12 Cuba - Santa Clara - Monumento Ernesto Che Guevara - Che Close Up A towering statue of Che Guevara stands with his arm in a sling (he had broken it in a previous battle) above the mausoleum and museum in Santa Clara. In 1997 the remains of 17 Cuban revolutionaries, including Che Guevara, were recovered from a secret mass grave in Bolivia and reburied in this memorial.

12 Cuba - Santa Clara - Monumento Ernesto Che Guevara - Che Close Up

13 Cuba - Santa Clara - Monumento Ernesto Che Guevara - Side View The Che Guevara statue in Santa Clara is flanked by a giant bas-relief depicting significant revolutionary events of the 1950s. La arcilla fundamental de nuestra obra es la Juventud (the fundamental clay of our work is the youth), one of Che’s sayings, is on the block to the right of Che’s statue in the Monumento Ernesto Che Guevara monument in Santa Clara. Below Che is his saying Hasta la Victoria Siempre - Ever onward to victory!

13 Cuba - Santa Clara - Monumento Ernesto Che Guevara - Side View

14 Cuba - Santa Clara - Monumento Ernesto Che Guevara - bas-relief depicting revolutionary events The block to the left of Che’s statue in Monumento Ernesto Che Guevara monument in Santa Clara has a bas-relief depicting revolutionary events of the 1950s. On August 21, 1958 Fidel Castro issued the following military order: “Se asigna al Comandante Ernesto Guevara la misión de conducir desde la Sierra Maestra hasta la provincia de Las Villas una Columna rebelde (is assigned to Commander Che Guevarra the mission to drive from the Sierra Maestra to the province of La Villas with a rebel column).

14 Cuba - Santa Clara - Monumento Ernesto Che Guevara - bas-relief depicting revolutionary events

15 Cuba - Santa Clara - Monumento Ernesto Che Guevara - Che Guevarra On Horseback - Left Block Che Guevarra rides a horse in this close up of the block to the left of Che’s statue in Monumento Ernesto Che Guevara monument in Santa Clara.

15 Cuba - Santa Clara - Monumento Ernesto Che Guevara - Che Guevarra On Horseback - Left Block

16 Cuba - Santa Clara - Poster Fidel slogan - Queremos que sean como el Che - We want to be like Che Across the street from the Monumento Ernesto Che Guevara monument in Santa Clara is a poster with Fidel’s words: Queremos que sean como el Che (We want to be like Che).

16 Cuba - Santa Clara - Poster Fidel slogan - Queremos que sean como el Che - We want to be like Che

21 Cuba - Santa Clara - Monumento a la Toma del Tren Blindado The Monumento a la Toma del Tren Blindado boxcar museum in Santa Clara marks the spot where 18 men on December 29, 1958 under the command of Che Guevara, equipped with rifles and grenades, captured a 22-car armored train containing 350 heavily armed Batista troops.

21 Cuba - Santa Clara - Monumento a la Toma del Tren Blindado

22 Cuba - Santa Clara - Monumento a la Toma del Tren Blindado - bulldozer The bulldozer that the guerrillas used to cut the railway line is on a pedestal at the Monumento a la Toma del Tren Blindado boxcar museum in Santa Clara.

22 Cuba - Santa Clara - Monumento a la Toma del Tren Blindado - bulldozer

31 Cuba - Santa Clara - Bronze Statue of Che Guevarra and the Child of the Revolution by Spanish Sculptor Casto Solano Marroyo A bronze statue of Che Guevara with a cigar in one hand and the Child of the Revolution in the other by Spanish Sculptor Casto Solano Marroyo stands outside the local communist party headquarters in Santa Clara. The statue is known locally as Che de los Ninos. Emerging from his belt buckle is a mass of people suggesting the freedom the revolution brought after the repression of the Batista regime

31 Cuba - Santa Clara - Bronze Statue of Che Guevarra and the Child of the Revolution by Spanish Sculptor Casto Solano Marroyo

32 Cuba - Santa Clara - Bronze Statue of Che Guevarra and the Child of the Revolution Close Up On Che’s right shoulder in the bronze statue of Che Guevara and the Child of the Revolution is a child riding a goat representing Che leaving the security of his family in Argentina. On his left lapel is a horse.

32 Cuba - Santa Clara - Bronze Statue of Che Guevarra and the Child of the Revolution Close Up

41 Cuba - Santa Clara - Parque Vidal Grand, mainly neoclassical public buildings enclose the Parque Vidal in Santa Clara, around an elegant bandstand and an oval track, the downtown heart and soul of Santa Clara. The square has pristine flower beds, wrought-iron benches and period street lamps.

41 Cuba - Santa Clara - Parque Vidal

42 Cuba - Santa Clara - Parque Vidal - Statue of Leoncio Vidal with Hotel Santa Clara Libre behind The Parque Vidal is named after Leoncio Vidal, a colonel in the national independence army, who died in battle in 1896. Directly behind the bust is the Casa de Cultura Juan Marinello. On the left is the green and concrete 10-story Hotel Santa Clara Libre pitted with bullet holes from the last stand of Batista's forces in 1958.

42 Cuba - Santa Clara - Parque Vidal - Statue of Leoncio Vidal with Hotel Santa Clara Libre behind

43 Cuba - Santa Clara - Parque Vidal On the northwest side of Parque Vidal in Santa Clara is the Teatro La Caridad (Charity’s Theater), the city's most impressive building, built in 1885 with a fabulous interior.

43 Cuba - Santa Clara - Parque Vidal

44 Cuba - Santa Clara - Parque Vidal - Palacio Provincial On the eastern side of Parque Vidal in Santa Clara is the 1902-12 neoclassical Palacio Provincial, home today to the Jose Marti library.

44 Cuba - Santa Clara - Parque Vidal - Palacio Provincial


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