Santa Clara

In 1958, a thirty-year old doctor from Argentina ordered his small platoon of rebel soldiers to destroy the rails on the tracks leading into the small central city of Santa Clara. Within an hour, an armored military train carrying soldiers, weapons and munitions for the dictatorial Batista regime derailed on the spot and was surrounded by the rebels. The surrender of the train set in motion a rapid chain of events that led to the exile of the dictator Fulgencio Batista, the arrival of the Argentine, Ernesto “Ché” Guevara to Havana and the triumph of the Cuban Revolution on January 1^st, 1959.

Che Guevara, newly naturalized as a Cuban citizen, made Santa Clara his home in the months after the Revolution. Katie, Maeve, Ani and I decided to visit the city precisely because of the historical connection between the city and el comandante. Our visit was brief but good. We managed to get Astro (the national bus line which is far cheaper than the tourist line – only 2 CUC compared to 18 CUC) tickets for 6 am on Saturday (after waiting for them for three and a half hours on Wednesday). We arrived at Santa Clara at 10 and walked from the bus station to our Casa Particular, which the guide book described as a “national treasure”. It was very nice – the rooms we got were decorated with an eclectic mix of art deco and colonial antique furniture.

Top: the patio of the Casa where we slept. Above: one of the rooms at the Casa Particular

After checking in, we got lunch at a peso pizza place and then caught a ride on a horse carraige to the Che monument and mausoleum.

Enjoying peso pizza in Parque Vidal

Horse carriage - the main mode of transportation in Santa Clara

Che Guevara left Cuba in somewhat mysterious circumstances. Up to that point, he had been Minister of Industry, an important position in a government that had declared itself as socialist in 1962; however, Che grew restless in his new country and clashed with Fidel Castro about the way the country was going. He became obsessed with “exporting” the revolution to other countries, a policy that under his influence was officially adopted by the Cuban government as “foquismo”. In 1965, Che sent Fidel his resignation letter, renounced his Cuban citizenship and disappeared. He reappeared in the Democratic Republic of the Congo with a band of Cuban followers and tried to instigate a revolution; however, he became frustrated with the lack of commitment and cohesion between the rebel forces in the Congo. He disappeared again and showed up in Bolivia, where he tried once again to lead a peasant revolution. His revolutionary fervor blinded him to the realities of Bolivia and led him to misjudge the Bolivian people. In 1968 he was betrayed by the very peasants that he had been trying to save but who had always viewed him and his movement with suspicion. He was summarily executed by the Bolivian army with the express approval of the U.S. and buried in an unmarked grave.

Fidel Castro marked Che’s death by declaring him the ideal man, an example to which every Cuban should strive to be. He has since become a symbol of the Revolution and of rebellion not only in Cuba but around the world. His image has been rampantly commercialized, especially his iconic photograph that was made into pop-art by Andy Warhol. It is ironic that the man who despised capitalism and sought to overthrow has made millions of dollars in profit for t-shirt companies in the US and Europe.

In 1997, Che’s remains were discovered and brought to Santa Clara, where the government erected a massive monument and plaza to his legacy. A mural depicts his actions in the battle of Santa Clara; next to it, stands a rather ugly statue of him emblazoned with his iconic phrase: ¡Hasta la victoria siempre! - to victory forever. Underneath the monument is a museum with artifacts from his various expeditions and his remains, along with those of the men who fought with him in Bolivia.

After visiting the monument, we walked back to the city center and bought some soda on the rooftop of the Hotel Santa Clara Libre, another important battle site. We then walked to the site where the trains had been derailed and checked out the museum inside some of the boxcars that are still on the site of the derailing. On our way back to the Casa, an enterprising old man tried to sell us some puppies for a dollar each, an offer that was very difficult for Maeve, Ani and Katie to refuse.

At the site of the train derailment

View from above of Parque Vidal and the rest of Santa Clara

We had dinner at the Casa and had lobster with shrimp – it was absolutely delicious. We ate dinner with two Dutch girls that we had met earlier that day. They were backpacking through Cuba without a schedule or itinerary, something which I would love to do if I had time. After dinner, we went to a club called Mejunje which was really cool – it was in an old building with no roof and had trees growing in it. We found out when we walked in that it was gay night, so for the first time I got more hit on by men than the girls. It ended up being really fun though and they played some American music which we got excited about.

After the club, we walked to Parque Vidal, Santa Clara’s main square, which is closed off to traffic. Tons of Cubans were out late so it was fun to talk and people watch.

Some anti-American grafitti on one of Santa Clara's main streets. The bubble reads: "Yes Mom, I'll take care of the terrorists"

We decided to head back to Havana early so that we could have time in the city, but we ended up waiting in the standby line for the bus for four hours without getting any closer to getting tickets, so we ended up getting a private taxi back to Havana for 15 CUC each. We didn’t have any trouble on the highway and got back to the residence by 6.