Punta Brava

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Punta Brava is a small suburb located just to the southwest of Havana, Cuba, with a population of roughly 1500 inhabitants. It is one of the wards (consejos populares) of the La Lisa municipality.

Cuban War of Independence

Punta Brava and the nearby town of Guatao were the scene of massacres during the Cuban War of Independence;{{cite book|last1=Merchán|first1=Rafael María|last2=de Quesada|first2=Gonzalo|title=Free Cuba: her oppression, struggle for liberty, history, and present|url=https://archive.org/details/freecubaheroppr01quesgoog|year=1896|publisher=Publishers' union|page=[https://archive.org/details/freecubaheroppr01quesgoog/page/n570 566]}} Cuban General General Maceo died there in battle on December 7, 1896.{{cite news|url=http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=FB0917FE3B5C17738DDDA00894DA415B8685F0D3|title=Maceo Reported Killed: Said to Have Fallen in a Battle Near Punta Brava|date=8 December 1898|work=The New York Times|access-date=8 November 2011}}{{cite book|last1=de Quesada|first1=Gonzalo|last2=Northrop|first2=Henry Davenport|title=The war in Cuba: being a full account of her great struggle for freedom|url=https://archive.org/details/warincubabeinga00nortgoog|year=1896|publisher=Liberty|pages=[https://archive.org/details/warincubabeinga00nortgoog/page/n599 563]-65}} Fidel Castro referred to Maceo's death in Punta Brava in 1992 ("Maceo, you were not defeated the day you fell in Punta Brava);{{cite book|last=Pérez|first=Louis A.|title=To die in Cuba: suicide and society|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=q4VnueDQv6EC&pg=PA345|year=2005|publisher=UNC Press|isbn=9780807829370|page=345}} on the other hand, for Castro's father, Ángel Castro y Argiz, the day Maceo died had been "one of the best and proudest days of that war," since it was his company that killed the general.{{cite book|last=Márquez-Sterling|first=Manuel|title=Cuba 1952-1959: The True Story of Castro's Rise to Power|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-83soUfPWEEC&pg=PA167|year=2009|publisher=Kleiopatria|isbn=9780615318561|page=167}}

The next year, Punta Brava was the site where a naked American named Kelley surrendered to the Spanish commander and was given a shirt and a pair of trousers: Kelley, who had disappeared from Havana in early April 1897, had reportedly told the insurgents that he was an expert in dynamite. They, believing he was a spy, stripped and hanged him, but the rope broke and Kelley managed to escape, naked but otherwise intact.{{cite news|url=http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=F20C15FD395416738DDDAA0A94DC405B8785F0D3|title=Kelley Alive and Free: He Was Hanged by the Cuban Insurgents, But Fell Down and Escaped|date=22 April 1897|work=The New York Times|access-date=8 November 2011}}

1906 uprising

In 1906, an unsuccessful insurrection was deemed to be ended after a "negro Gen[eral] Quentin Bandera, the most daring insurgent in Havana province," was killed near Punta Brava with two "mulatto comrades all frightfully gashed by the machetes of the mounted rural guards who ended their careers."{{cite news|url=http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=WidfAAAAIBAJ&sjid=704NAAAAIBAJ&pg=3822,616966&dq=punta-brava+cuba&hl=en|title=Gen. Bandera, Rebel Leader, Killed in Cuba|date=22 August 1906|work=The News-Democrat (Providence, R.I.)|access-date=8 November 2011}}

Cuban Missile Crisis

During the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, the Soviets reportedly built a missile site in Punta Brava.{{cite news|url=http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=tVoyAAAAIBAJ&sjid=6ekFAAAAIBAJ&pg=733,5029598&dq=punta-brava+cuba&hl=en|title=Soviet Missilemen Beef Up Cuban Sites|last=Hendrix|first=Hal|date=13 November 1963|work=The Miami News|page=10A|access-date=8 November 2011}}{{Dead link|date=February 2025 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}

Notables

  • Tony Pacheco{{cite news|url=http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=khUfAAAAIBAJ&sjid=To0EAAAAIBAJ&pg=5331,779037&dq=punta-brava+cuba&hl=en|title=Tony Pacheco: Baseball's Bouncing Man to Wear Uniform to Grave|last=Isphording|first=Bruce|date=5 August 1975|work=Sarasota Journal|pages=1–B|access-date=8 November 2011}}

References

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Category:Geography of Havana

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