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125-497: Between the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, the city was settled by many Spaniards, mainly Catalans and Asturians who amassed fortunes as businessmen in different branches, other few of them obtained in the sugar industry, they became rich during their stay in Cuba, and they commissioned many of the most emblematic buildings of Cienfuegos that remain today (See also: Indiano ). Other well known residents were

250-485: A Military Schools System and an Order of Merit . Cienfuegos was a popular figure in Cuba, due to his cheerful and carefree personality, which contrasted sharply with the strict austerity of his comrade Guevara. Although he was claimed by different factions to have been a communist , an anti-communist or an anarchist , he never publicly expressed any political ideology . The soldiers that fought for him remembered him for his friendly and paternal leadership style, while

375-472: A boycott in Las Villas and attempted to prevent voting urns from being brought to the province. Cienfuegos was ordered to attack towns in the north of the province, which succeeded in bringing provincial traffic to a standstill on the day of the election. In an attempt to appeal for US support, president-elect Andrés Rivero Agüero initially promised to negotiate a peaceful solution to the political crisis in

500-519: A military school in order to train new recruits. He had hoped to reunite on the front lines with Cienfuegos, who consoled his friend with a letter: Che. Soul brother: I see Fidel has put you in charge of the Military School, which makes me very happy because now we can count on having first-class soldiers in the future... You've played a very principal role in this showdown and if we need you in this insurrectional stage, Cuba needs you even more when

625-600: A tropical savanna climate , abbreviated "Aw" on climate maps. In 2004, the municipality of Cienfuegos had a population of 163,824. With a total area of 333 km (129 sq mi), it has a population density of 492.0/km (1,274/sq mi). Cienfuegos fields a team in the Cuban National Series , the Cienfuegos Elefantes . Since joining the league in 1977–78, the best finish the Camaroneros have achieved

750-525: A Catalan identity was increasingly suppressed in favor of a Spanish national identity. The Catalans regained autonomy during the Spanish Second Republic from 1932 until Francisco Franco 's nationalist forces occupied Catalonia by 1939. It was not until 1975 and the death of Franco that the Catalans as well as other Spaniards began to regain their right to cultural expression, which was restarted by

875-535: A World Heritage Site by UNESCO. Because of their intertwining history, many of the traditional symbols of Catalonia coincide with Aragon, Valencia and the Balearic Islands. The oldest known Catalan symbol is the coat of arms of the King of Aragon and Count of Barcelona, or bars of Aragon , one of Europe's oldest heraldic emblems; in modern times, Catalan nationalists have made it the main symbol of Catalan identity and it

1000-402: A bloody day of fighting, the rebels were forced to retreat, having lost a number of men. They were pursued along the way by Sánchez Mosquera's forces, as their defensive lines collapsed. Again, they attempted to set up an ambush. Cienfuegos was to fire the starting shot at point-blank range from behind a tree, following which partially-concealed sharpshooters would open fire on the road. During

1125-562: A book. Historical memory is the second axis of celebrations in Catalonia, where the Catalan people reunite with their date of birth as a people. Among the religious celebrations, there are St. George's Day and the celebrations of Saint Vincent Martyr and Saint Anthony Abbot . The maximum expressions of this element are the Easter processions and performances of Passion Plays . Some festivals have

1250-407: A city in 1880. Many of the streets in old town reflect French origins in their names: Bouyón, D'Clouet, Hourruitiner, Gacel, and Griffo, for instance. Cienfuegos port, despite being one of the latest settlements established during the colonial era, soon grew to be a powerful town due to the fertile fields surrounding it and its position on the trade route between Jamaica and South American cities to

1375-719: A complicated relationship with religion, such as Carnival and the Dances of Death , or specific aspects of Christmas such as the Tió de Nadal or the caganer in Nativity scenes . Other key elements of a Catalan celebration are: food, central to every party and especially to the pig slaughter and harvest festivals; contests such as the castells (human towers), choice of major and festive floats; music, songs and bands; processions; dances; and animals, especially bulls and representations of mythological creatures. The Patum of Berga has been declared

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1500-473: A dam, a hospital, farms, factories and workshops. The following month, they received news that Ángel Sánchez Mosquera was leading the National Army through the adjacent valley and destroying the local peasantry's homes there. Cienfuegos was dispatched to ambush them from behind, but the engagement was quick and only resulted in one National soldier's death before both sides withdrew. Cienfuegos then attempted

1625-494: A deep voice". The revolutionaries also implemented a programme of agrarian reform in Las Villas, with Cienfuegos organising local sugar workers to hold a national conference later in the year. As Guevara attempted to form an alliance with the Directorate, Cienfuegos apparently displayed "no eagerness" to move on to his destination of Pinar del Río. When the 1958 Cuban general election was held, Guevara and Cienfuegos organised

1750-522: A group of " bandits ", who they wanted to try for abuses being committed under the revolutionary banner. The column went to Mount Caracas, where they captured the Chinese Cuban bandit leader Chino Chang, tried him by revolutionary tribunal and executed him. Three of Chang's young followers were subjected to a mock execution , after which they were invited to join the revolutionary army. They also captured and executed some young bandits that had stolen from

1875-474: A group of 200 Dominicans and 10 Cuban guerrillas to invade the Dominican Republic and oust Rafael Trujillo . Almost all of them were captured, tortured and killed. Before it was carried out, Sacha Volman had begged Cienfuegos to call off the expedition, fearing it to be doomed. Cienfuegos agreed and attempted to convince Castro to call it off, but he pushed forward with the plan. Volman later claimed that

2000-434: A local term seny meaning "common sense" or a pragmatic attitude toward life. The counterpart of Catalan "seny" is "rauxa" or madness, epitomized by "crazy", eccentric and creative Catalan artists like Antoni Gaudí , Salvador Dalí , Joan Miró or Antoni Tàpies . The masia or mas is a defining characteristic of the Catalan countryside and includes a large house, land, cattle, and an extended family, but this tradition

2125-652: A machine gun. At Guevara's command, the rebels attempted to rout the National Army, but ultimately decided to pull back as they did not have support from the wounded Cienfuegos. The rebels retreated into the hills again, where they carried out a series of sabotage attacks against the army. With rebel activity increasing around the country, Castro moved to extend their theatre of operations. On 27 February, he appointed Cienfuegos, Juan Almeida and Raúl Castro to command their own columns. While Raúl and Almeida were dispatched to carry out guerrilla activities in Oriente , Cienfuegos

2250-458: A new Intelligence Directorate , which Valdés took charge of. Castro also began reorganizing the armed forces, purging the officers of the old National Army and replacing them with a new military elite of ex-guerrillas that were personally loyal to Castro. Although Cienfuegos originally envisioned an equitable merger of the Revolutionary and National Armies, Castro quickly convinced him that it

2375-474: A new base camp in La Mesa. In February 1958, Guevara's armory began preparing supplies for the rebel forces' first offensive of the year, a planned attack on a National Army company at Pino del Agua. On 16 February, the rebels attacked the army camp with explosives, overrunning the guard posts. After initial rebel successes, National reinforcements arrived and Cienfuegos was shot twice, while attempting to retrieve

2500-518: A number of linguistic varieties that are considered dialects of Catalan , among them, the dialect group with the most speakers, Central Catalan . The total number of Catalan speakers is over 9.8 million (2011), with 5.9 million residing in Catalonia. More than half of them speak Catalan as a second language, with native speakers being about 4.4 million of those (more than 2.8 in Catalonia). Very few Catalan monoglots exist; basically, virtually all of

2625-529: A plane crash and even consulting a spiritualist. According to United States ambassador Philip Bonsal, he had provided a number of American planes to cooperate in the search efforts, but the Cuban government assigned them to a location where it was unlikely the plane could have been. Castro never mentioned American assistance in his report of the search efforts. For publicity , Castro was filmed searching for Cienfuegos with his parents, who posed for pictures searching

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2750-508: A promotion. After escaping into the Sierra Maestra and becoming a bandit , Beatón was himself assassinated the following year, prompting many to suspect foul play in the disappearance of Cienfuegos. Cienfuegos was falsely reported to have been found on 5 November, and work stopped throughout the country as people came out into the streets to celebrate. Ruby Hart Phillips reported that "merchants were forced to close their stores because

2875-411: A second attack, taking up position near the National Army camp while waiting for reinforcements from Guevara's column. On 29 November, the rebels set their ambush, covering all routes of escape and concealing themselves in the trees. Most of the National Army soldiers were gunned down in the farmhouse they were stationed in, while guerrilla patrols attempted to hold back reinforcements from arriving. After

3000-408: A series of student demonstrations that were violently broken up by the authorities. After laying a wreath at a monument to Antonio Maceo , while walking back to their university, he and his fellow students were shot and wounded by police. He was eventually forced to drop out of school due to financial difficulties and began working at the same clothing shop as his father. He also briefly emigrated to

3125-430: A small special vanguard unit. It was also brought under the command of an inner council, of which Cienfuegos was also a member. With Fidel Castro as commander-in-chief, all of the leading commanders of the revolutionary armed forces shared equal rank: that of major . In March 1957, the National Army initiated a counter-offensive against the rebels, confidently declaring victory over them by early April. Within weeks,

3250-468: A while, wading through rice paddies and swamps, while attempting to evade the National Army and any aerial bombardment. They advanced into Camagüey on 7 September and clashed with the National Army at Santa Cruz del Sur . The revolutionaries pressed on despite the poor conditions of the expedition, with Cienfuegos reporting in October: Forty days of march, often with the south coast and a compass as

3375-502: Is a 3rd place showing in the 2010–11 Cuban National Series . Despite finishing with the best record at 59–31, the Elefantes lost the semifinals in six games to the eventual champions, the Pinar del Río Vegueros . The city is served by Jaime González Airport , which, as of 2024, has only one scheduled flight to Toronto. Cienfuegos has the following sister cities : Catalans This

3500-588: Is among the most industrialized metropolises. A regional capital, it is a magnet for domestic and foreign migrants. Fire is the element used in most important traditional festivals, which are derived from pagan roots. These celebrations have a high acceptance of fire between the Catalans, like the Flame of Canigó to the Bonfires of Saint John . An important and well-known celebration is La Diada de Sant Jordi , held on 23 April, in which men give women roses, and women give men

3625-465: Is an accepted version of this page Catalans ( Catalan , French and Occitan : catalans ; Spanish : catalanes ; Italian : catalani ; Sardinian : cadelanos or catalanos ) are a Romance ethnic group native to Catalonia , who speak Catalan . The current official category of "Catalans" is that of the citizens of Catalonia , a nationality and autonomous community in Spain and

3750-735: Is even associated with the Catalan language. As for anthems, "The Reapers" ( Els Segadors ) is the official national anthem of Catalonia and is also used in the other lands of the Principality; the Balanguera represents the people from the Balearic Islands and, in the case of Valencia, the official "Anthem of the Exhibition" ( Himne de l'Exposició ) alongside Muixeranga as symbols of the country. Camilo Cienfuegos Camilo Cienfuegos Gorriarán ( Spanish: [kaˈmilo sjeɱˈfweɣos ɣorjaˈɾan] ; 6 February 1932 – 28 October 1959)

3875-506: Is in decline as the nuclear family has largely replaced the extended family, as in the rest of western Europe. Catalonia in Spain is officially recognised as a " nationality " and enjoy a high degree of political autonomy, which has led to reinforcement of a Catalan identity. The Catalan language is a Romance language . It is the language closest to Occitan , and it also shares many features with other Romance languages such as Spanish, French, Portuguese, Aragonese , and Italian . There are

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4000-455: Is part of the Mediterranean diet and includes the use of olive oil . Catalan people like to eat veal ( vedella ) and lamb ( xai ). There are three main daily meals: In Catalan gastronomy, embotits (a wide variety of Catalan sausages and cold meats) are very important; these are pork sausages such as botifarra or fuet . In the past, bread figured heavily in the Catalan diet; now it

4125-545: Is sometimes called ollada . Other Catalan dishes include calçots (a type of onions that are similar in shape to leeks , often grilled and eaten with a romesco sauce ) and escalivada . Catalan music has one of the oldest documented musical traditions in Europe. The traditional religion in Catalonia is Roman Catholicism . However, in the course of recent history , Catalonia has undergone several waves of secularization. The first wave of secularization happened during

4250-445: Is used mainly in the morning (second breakfast, especially among young students and some workers) and supplements the noon meal, at home and in restaurants. Bread is still popular among Catalans; some Catalan fast-food restaurants don't serve hamburgers, but offer a wide variety of sandwiches. In the past, the poor ate soup every day and rice on Thursday and Sunday. The discipline of abstinence, not eating meat during Lent , once

4375-425: The barretina (a sort of woollen, long cap usually red or purple) and the faixa (a sort of wide belt) among men, and ret (a fine net bag to contain hair) among women. The traditional footwear was the espardenya or espadrille . Other items of clothing typical of Catalan female folk costume include the 'pubilla' dress; the 'catalana' also known as the 'payesa' and the 'gandalla' as headwear. The Catalan diet

4500-492: The .cat TLD, the first Internet language-based top-level domain, was approved for all web pages intending to serve the needs of the Catalan linguistic and cultural community on the Internet. This community is made up of those who use the Catalan language for their online communication or promote the different aspects of Catalan culture online. The traditional dress (now practically only used in folkloric celebrations) included

4625-633: The Bandung Pact . While away, Guevara's men began to worry that he had been removed by Castro, protesting to Cienfuegos when an unpopular commander was named as his substitute. But Cienfuegos proved unmoved by their complaints and reprimanded the soldiers for not obeying orders. On the anniversary of the attack on the Moncada Barracks that had started the Revolution, the revolutionary government went to mass, where they commemorated those that fell during

4750-459: The Cuban Revolution , the city saw an uprising against Fulgencio Batista and was bombed in retaliation on 5 September 1957. The city later became a key industrial center, part of the revolutionary government's "anti-urban" planning policy, with industrial projects including the never-completed Juraguá nuclear power plant , the "Camilo Cienfuegos" oil refinery named for Camilo Cienfuegos , and

4875-588: The Iberian Peninsula , inhabited by Proto-Celtic Urnfield people who brought with them the rite of burning the dead. Much of the Pyrenees mountains was inhabited at the time by peoples related to modern Basques , and today many town names in the western Catalan Pyrenees can be linked to Basque etymologies. These groups came under the rule of various invading groups starting with the Greeks that founded Empúries and

5000-588: The Irish-born John O’Bourke, he had ten children on the island, three of whom were Cuban independence fighters from the Spanish crown, the mestizos Juan O'Bourke y Palacio, Rafael O’Bourke y Borroto, and Don Miguel O’Bourke y Ramos. There were also artistic personalities born in Cuba who have contributed in the cultural history of the city. The architects of Cienfuegos buildings from different centuries were Cuban-born, Italians and Spaniards architects. During

5125-592: The Italian peninsula . An early precursor to the Catalan language began to develop from a local form of popular Latin before and during the collapse of the Roman Empire . Various Germanic tribes arrived following nearly six centuries of Roman rule, which had completely transformed the area into the Roman province of Tarraconensis . The German Visigoths established themselves in the fifth century, making their first capital in

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5250-700: The Phoenicians and Carthaginians , who set up colonies along the coast, including Barcino (present-day Barcelona). Following the Punic Wars , the Romans replaced the Carthaginians as the dominant power in the Iberian eastern coast, including parts of Catalonia, by 206 BCE. Rome established Latin as the official language and imparted a distinctly Roman culture upon the local population, which merged with Roman colonists from

5375-622: The Reconquista by Catalan forces over most of Catalonia by the year 801. As the border between Muslim and Frankish realms stabilized, Barcelona would become an important center for Christian forces in the Iberian Peninsula . In 1137, the County of Barcelona entered a dynastic union with the Kingdom of Aragon to form what modern historians call the Crown of Aragon in the so-called Reconquista . This allowed

5500-806: The Revolutionary Directorate and the Second National Front of Escambray , as well as small detachments of the Popular Socialist Party and 26 July Movement. Although these groups had accomplished little before, the new leadership of Guevara and Cienfuegos would transform the revolutionary situation in Las Villas and prove instrumental to the adhesion of the Communists to the movement. Cienfuegos' and Guevara's columns arrived in Las Villas on 14 October 1958, gaining strength from National Army deserters and local 26 July Movement activists along

5625-491: The Spanish Constitution of 1978 . Since this period, a balance between a sense of Catalan national identity versus the broader Spanish one has emerged as the dominant political force in Catalonia. The former tends to advocate for even greater autonomy, national recognition and, part of it, independence; the latter tends to argue for maintaining either a status quo or removal of autonomy and cultural identity, depending on

5750-511: The Straits of Florida . After a few days of an attempted search and rescue operation, he was presumed dead by the Cuban government. His disappearance quickly spawned a number of conspiracy theories , many of which speculated Fidel or Raúl Castro to have been responsible, but no proof of such has been discovered. Cienfuegos has since become known as a revolutionary martyr in Cuba, with a number of institutions being dedicated to his name, including

5875-638: The United States , where he worked illegally for a period. In 1956, Cienfuegos moved to Mexico and joined Fidel Castro 's 26th of July Movement for its expedition back to Cuba. After the landing of the Granma on 2 December 1956, 26 July Movement made its way into the Sierra Maestra , where they were ambushed in a cane field  [ es ] by the Cuban National Army on 5 December. Many of

6000-542: The World Heritage List , citing Cienfuegos as the best extant example of early 19th century Spanish Enlightenment implementation in urban planning . The downtown area contains six buildings from 1819–50, 327 buildings from 1851 to 1900, and 1188 buildings from the 20th century. The area where the city lies was identified as Cacicazgo de Jagua by early Spanish conquistadors. It was originally settled by Ciboney ( Taino ) indigenous people. Cacicazgo translates from

6125-474: The "Carlos Marx" cement factory. In 1969 and 1970, a flotilla of Soviet naval vessels visited the city, which included two barges used to store and transport nuclear waste and a submarine maintenance vessel. Their presence was detected by U-2 reconnaissance aircraft of the United States Air Force that were sent out to monitor the Cuban coastline after a suspicious Soviet request to renegotiate

6250-411: The 1980s. During the 1990s most of the population of Catalonia was non-practising Catholic. Nowadays 52.4% of Catalans declare themselves Catholic, practising or not, 30.2% of Catalans are agnostic or atheist , and there is also a considerable share of other religions, often connected to recent immigration: 7.3% Muslim , 2.5% Evangelical , 1.3% Buddhism , and 1.2% Orthodox Christians . According to

6375-451: The 26 July Movement and the Revolutionary Directorate signed a joint manifesto on 12 March, which called for a general strike and " total war " against the Batista regime. However, the call for a general strike was disregarded by the trade unions , as many workplaces remained open and any workers taking strike action were shot by Batista's death squads . The failure of the general strike

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6500-430: The 26th of July forces. Camilo's column should be in the lead, the vanguard, to take over Havana when the dictatorship falls, if we don't want the weapons from Camp Columbia [military headquarters] to be distributed among all the various groups, which would present a very serious problem in the future." On 2 January 1959, Cienfuegos' and Guevara's columns finally moved on the Cuban capital of Havana, with Guevara capturing

6625-769: The Asociacíon Libertaria de Cuba (ALC). While Camilo was still an infant, his father took him along with him to raise money for the Republicans during the Spanish Civil War . Camilo's older brother Osmany Cienfuegos , who had graduated as an architect, became a communist activist, at a time when student dissidents were highly active and increasingly being repressed by the anti-communist regime of Fulgencio Batista . Having himself enrolled in an art school to study sculpture , in December 1955, Camilo participated in

6750-400: The Catalan speakers in Spain are bilingual speakers of Catalan and Spanish, with a sizable population of Spanish-only speakers of immigrant origin (typically born outside Catalonia or with both parents born outside Catalonia) existing in the major Catalan urban areas as well. In Roussillon , only a minority of French Catalans speak Catalan nowadays, with French being the majority language for

6875-524: The Cuban government upheld him as a loyal supporter of Fidel Castro. Every year, on 28 October, Cuban children throw flowers into the rivers and seas, in tribute to him. In 1932, Camilo Cienfuegos was born into a working-class family, the son of Spanish anarchists who had immigrated to Cuba . His father Ramón Cienfuegos worked as a tailor in Havana and was involved in left-wing political activism , working with Solidaridad Internacional Antifascista (SIA) and

7000-685: The Iberian peninsula Barcelona, and they later would move to Toledo. This continued until 718 when Muslim Arabs took control of the region in order to pass through the Pyrenees into French territory. With the help of the Franks, a land border was created commonly known nowadays as Old Catalonia (which would consist of the counties County of Barcelona , Ausona , County of Pallars , County of Rosselló , County of Empúries , County of Cerdanya and County of Urgell ) which faced Muslim raids but resisted any kind of settlement from them. The southern New Catalonia

7125-549: The Irish-born John O’Bourke, he had ten children on the island, three of whom were Cuban independence fighters from the Spanish crown, the mestizos Juan O'Bourke y Palacio, Rafael O’Bourke y Borroto, and Don Miguel O’Bourke y Ramos. There were also artistic personalities born in Cuba who have contributed in the cultural history of the city. In 2005, UNESCO inscribed the Urban Historic Centre of Cienfuegos on

7250-586: The PSP to have proven themselves worthy of participating in the government and aiding them in their early operations. Meanwhile, Camilo solicited his brother Osmany Cienfuegos , a member of the PSP, to establish a Cultural Section of the Revolutionary Armed Forces that would oversee the Cuban literacy campaign . According to Julio García Espinosa , Cienfuegos also commissioned a number of PSP members as officers in

7375-516: The Prime Minister, alleged by his admirers to have been a promising pitcher of big league caliber, throwing a few curves to Major Camilo Cienfuegos, a former minor-leaguer, and generally clowning about on the diamond was a feature of the pregame show of many important contests." Before long, Cienfuegos was observing the beginnings of Castro's consolidation of power . Castro quickly tasked Cienfuegos, Ramiro Valdés and Victor Pina with establishing

7500-518: The Sierra that aimed to cut off Castro's supply lines and weaken his forces. When the National Army advanced in the foothills along the northern front, Castro was forced to withdraw all of his forces from the south, as he only had 300 soldiers for the defense. On 26 June, Cienfuegos' patrol group was recalled from Holguín , in order to reinforce the revolutionary forces against the national offensive. The revolutionaries were then able to continuously ambush

7625-863: The Soviet Union and the United States since 1962, no major military or diplomatic confrontation ensued, and the Soviets agreed to withdraw their ships after American National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger informed Soviet ambassador to the United States Anatoly Dobrynin that the United States government believed the presence of these naval vessels to be a violation of the agreements made eight years before. In 2005, Hurricane Dennis made its second landfall near Cienfuegos at about 1:00 PM AST (17:00 UTC ) with winds of 232 km/h (144 mph) and gusts reaching 285 km/h (177 mph). Near

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7750-475: The Spanish defenders. Between the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, the city was settled by many Spaniards, mainly Catalans and Asturians who amassed fortunes as businessmen in different branches, other few of them obtained in the sugar industry, they became rich during their stay in Cuba, and they commissioned many of the most emblematic buildings of Cienfuegos that remain today (See also: Indiano ). Other well known residents were

7875-605: The Taino language as "chiefdom". Cacicazgo de Jagua was therefore the chiefdom of Chief Jagua. The city was later settled by French immigrants from Bordeaux and Louisiana led by Don Louis de Clouet on 22 April 1819. The settlers named the city Fernandina de Jagua in honor of King Ferdinand VII of Spain and local Ciboneyan -Chief Jagua. The settlement successively became a town ( villa ) in 1829, renamed for Asturian-born José Cienfuegos Jovellanos, Captain General of Cuba (1816–19), and

8000-440: The army, even though they hadn't fought in the war. Cienfuegos also participated in talks between 26 July Movement and the Popular Socialist Party, which aimed at merging the two organisations. Having declared victory for the Revolution, Cienfuegos never ended up taking an official position within the government. He instead preferred to enjoy Havana's nightlife , going to clubs and reveling in his status as "the spoiled darling of

8125-489: The army, which mostly focused on guarding coffee and sugar plantations, while their own insurgent economy only grew. By August 1958, the National Army had finally withdrawn from the Sierra and Castro began to plan new offensive operations. By this time, independent insurrections had broken out in the Escambray Mountains of Central Cuba. Castro decided to send Che Guevara and Cienfuegos west, in an attempt to bring

8250-423: The arrival of the new president, with Cienfuegos considering an attack against the palace. According to Franqui: "Camilo, half joking and half serious, said a couple of cannonballs should be fired off as a warning. [...] As I was not an admirer of the palace, I said it seemed like a good idea, but Che, with his sense of responsibility, told us it wasn't the right time to waste cannonballs, and he patiently returned to

8375-683: The autonomous community of Catalonia, in the northeast part of Spain. At least 100,000 Catalan speakers live in the Pays Catalan in France. An indeterminate number of Catalans emigrated to the Americas during the Spanish colonial period and to France in the years following the Spanish Civil War . Described by author Walter Starkie in The Road to Santiago as a subtle people, he sums up their national character with

8500-452: The city of Alghero in Sardinia . The Catalan government regularly surveys its population regarding its "sentiment of belonging". As of July 2019, the results point out that 46.7% of the Catalans and other people living in Catalonia would like independence from Spain, 1.3% less than the year before. In 1500 BCE the area that is now known primarily as Catalonia was, along with the rest of

8625-462: The comandant's office was Camilo, with his romantic beard, looking like Christ on a spree, his boots thrown on the floor and his feet up on the table, as he received his excellency the ambassador of the United States . The following day, 26 July Movement called for a general strike to mark the final blow to the Batista regime, with the old institutions falling to the revolution with each passing hour. As Batista's former soldiers defected en masse to

8750-464: The country, but quickly re-committed to Batista's plan of forcefully suppressing the uprising. In November 1958, the National Air Force began bombarding Guevara's forces daily and the National Army moved several heavily armed companies towards their positions. Cienfuegos brought his Column to reinforce Guevara and the two sides battled for a week. On 4 December 1958, the National Army's offensive

8875-409: The direction of the fighting under their command. Cienfuegos himself was directed to lead his 82-strong Antonio Maceo Column across the island towards Pinar del Río , in emulation of his column's namesake. Together with Guevara's own column, they left the revolutionary headquarters on foot, as their vehicles had been rendered useless by a National Army ambush. The two columns travelled together for

9000-527: The eighteenth century as a result of the enlightenment influence to the bourgeoisie . The second one happened during the nineteenth century, that had a huge impact on the lower and middle class , but was interrupted by the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939). The end of the Francoist regime led to a loss of power by the Catholic Church and to another wave of secularization that extends since

9125-658: The ensuing Battle of Yaguajay , Cienfuegos' column captured 250 men and 375 rifles, before moving on. This offensive proved to be the coup de grâce of the Batista regime, with the President himself deciding to flee the country. By the end of December 1958, Las Villas was completely under revolutionary control, cutting communications between the National Army in the east and the west. Guevara then began making preparations for their final campaign. Guevara and Cienfuegos received orders from Castro, directing them to advance on Havana, while specifying that it "be carried out exclusively by

9250-520: The entrance to Cienfuegos Bay is Castillo de Jagua (full name: Castillo de Nuestra Señora de los Angeles de Jagua ), a fortress erected in 1745 for protection against Caribbean pirates . Cienfuegos, one of the chief seaports of Cuba, is a center of the sugar trade as well as coffee and tobacco. While sugarcane is the chief crop, local farmers also grow coffee. According to the Köppen Climate Classification system, Cienfuegos has

9375-457: The expedition and sometimes it was necessary to stop and dispense justice, with Cienfuegos being noted to have shot two of his men for looting. In Camagüey, they received assistance from local communists, who helped produce propaganda leaflets for 26 July Movement. Before the arrival of Guevara and Cienfuegos in Las Villas , the insurrection there was mostly directed by independent groups such as

9500-453: The expedition was "set up to fail". The conflict between Castro and the liberal president Manuel Urrutia, in which the former rallied his supporters to oust the latter, lay the foundations for the construction of an authoritarian state , with Castro dissolving all remaining institutions of civilian government. Cienfuegos complained during the events that "[t]his Fidel really likes to fuck around". Castro's consolidation of power, as well as

9625-508: The fortress of La Cabaña . That day, Cienfuegos' column arrived at Matanzas , where they accepted the unconditional surrender of the local regiment. The soldiers were disarmed of their rifles but allowed by Cienfuegos to keep their pistols. Cienfuegos' column then moved on and occupied Camp Columbia in Havana, which Cienfuegos received command over from Ramón Barquín . When Carlos Franqui arrived in Havana, he reported of Cienfuegos' Camp Columbia that: The gloomy Camp Columbia, mother of

9750-512: The guerrilla warfare in the area between Bayamo , Manzanillo and Las Tunas . There he was directed to sabotage the National Army, take over supply lines, implement agrarian reform and a new civil code. Castro aimed to defend Sierra Maestra, as it became clear that Batista was planning a new offensive. Castro and Guevara subsequently moved their headquarters into the hills, where they clashed with Sánchez Mosquera's forces. After Guevara had set up camp, Castro tasked him with establishing and running

9875-463: The guerrillas were captured and killed, forcing the rest to escape into the mountains. Cienfuegos' small group wandered around the area for days, eventually being pointed in Castro's direction by local peasants. He found himself to be one of only twelve men that had survived the initial expedition. During the set up for an ambush of the National Army, Cienfuegos accidentally almost shot Che Guevara , who

10000-524: The imposition of absolutism and the abolition of Catalan political institutions and public law, thus ending the status of Catalonia as a separate state within a personal union. During the Napoleonic Wars , much of Catalonia was seized by French forces by 1808, as France ruled the entire country of Spain briefly until Napoleon 's surrender to Allied Armies. In France, strong assimilationist policies integrated many Catalans into French society, while in Spain

10125-507: The increasing role of the Popular Socialist Party in government, began to worry some officers in the Revolutionary Army. The provincial commander of Camagüey, Huber Matos , shared his own concerns with Cienfuegos, who promised to investigate the situation. In October 1959, Raúl Castro was promoted to Minister of the Revolutionary Armed Forces , formally demoting Cienfuegos, who had previously been his superior officer. This triggered

10250-511: The inhabitants after a continued process of language shift . According to a 2019 survey by the Catalan government, 31.5% of the inhabitants of Catalonia have Catalan as first language at home whereas 52.7% have Spanish, 2.8% both Catalan and Spanish and 10.8% other languages. The inhabitants of the Aran valley count Aranese –an Occitan dialect–rather than Catalan as their own language. These Catalans are also bilingual in Spanish. In September 2005,

10375-621: The inhabitants of the Roussillon historical region in southern France, today the Pyrénées Orientales department, also called Northern Catalonia and Pays Catalan in French. Some authors also extend the word "Catalans" to include all people from areas in which Catalan is spoken , namely those from Andorra , Valencia , the Balearic Islands , eastern Aragon , Roussillon , and

10500-509: The interaction to thousands of viewers, he made a point to release a number of parrots from their birdcages , declaring "these also have a right to liberty". Cienfuegos' "easy manners" quickly became emblematic of the revolutionaries, who Havana was pleasantly surprised to find on good behavior; neither drinking alcohol nor looting the city after its capture. Due to the saturation of radio and television access in Cuba, before long, "everyone knew who Camilo Cienfuegos was" and could easily identify

10625-602: The late Middle Ages , the loss of hegemony within the Crown, as well as urban and feudal internal conflicts led to the Catalan Civil War in 1462. In the last quarter of the 15th century, the marriage of Isabella I of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragon led to the dynastic union of the Crown of Aragon with the Crown of Castille , in which each of the constitutive realm kept its own laws, policies, power structures, borders and monetary systems. Continuous unrest led to conflicts on

10750-415: The leanings of the current government. As a result, there tends to be much fluctuation depending on regional and national politics during a given election cycle. Given the stronger centralist tendencies in France, however, French Catalans display a much less dynamic sense of uniqueness, having been integrated more consistently into the unitary French national identity. The vast majority of Catalans reside in

10875-452: The masses". In February 1959, Cienfuegos surprised Guevara by arranging a free flight for Guevara's family to come see him from Argentina. If Guevara had known about it, he may not have allowed it, due to his self-imposed austerity. When Guevara married Aleida March on 2 June, Cienfuegos arrived with bottles of rum "to liven up" the wedding reception . Shortly after the wedding, Guevara went to Egypt to meet with state representatives of

11000-430: The minority that had wanted to see him executed subsequently left the rebel forces. Sardiñas was stripped of command and replaced by Cienfuegos, who was made captain of Guevara's vanguard platoon . Cienfuegos' and Guevara's leadership styles proved complementary, as "Camilo's devil-may-care personality helped offset Che's strictness", and the two became fast friends. Castro ordered Cienfuegos to pursue and neutralise

11125-478: The most recent study sponsored by the government of Catalonia , as of 2016, 61.9% of the Catalans identify as Christians , up from 56.5% in 2014. At the same time, 16.0% of the population identify as atheists , 11.9% as agnostics , 4.8% as Muslims , 1.3% as Buddhists , and a further 2.4% as being of other religions. Catalonia is one of the richest and most developed regions in Southern Europe . Barcelona

11250-467: The only guide. During fifteen days we marched with water and mud up to the knees, travelling by night to avoid ambushes... during the thirty-one days of our journey across Camagüey we ate eleven times. After four days of famine we had to eat a mare... Almost all our animals were left in the marsh. During the "Westward March of Che and Camilo", the revolutionaries took control of a number of towns, cities and transportation hubs. Further clashes occurred during

11375-498: The order when Fidel gave it personally. Fidel dispatched Cienfuegos to Camagüey, where he found that Matos' forces remained loyal to their commander. Matos ordered his officers to treat Cienfuegos' arrival with respect, so as to make it clear that there was no conspiracy against the government, but they instead resigned en masse. Cienfuegos arrested Matos and his fellow dissidents without resistance, refusing to handcuff his former comrade and walking side-by-side with him in front of

11500-573: The palace, met Faure Chomón , and matters were straightened out. Camilo always listened to Che." The situation was thus diffused and the palace was peacefully handed over to Urrutia. On 8 January, Fidel Castro finally arrived in Havana, meeting with Urrutia at the presidential palace and giving a speech at Cienfuegos' Camp Columbia. During the rally, Castro interrupted his speech to ask Cienfuegos " ¿Voy bien, Camilo? " (English: "Am I doing all right, Camilo?" ) Cienfuegos responded in kind, " Vas bien, Fidel! " (English: "You are doing fine, Fidel!" ) In

11625-517: The press. Matos was then taken back to Havana. Cienfuegos remained behind in Camagüey to take over Matos' command, overseeing the complete reorganization of the province's armed forces. On 28 October 1959, Cienfuegos' Cessna 310 took off from Camagüey, headed for Havana. Cienfuegos disappeared along the way, his plane apparently having been lost in the Caribbean Sea . News of his disappearance

11750-422: The process meeting Guevara and Cienfuegos. Cienfuegos' column was supplied with provisions by the local communist militants such as Armando Acosta , who became Guevara's personal aide. Cienfuegos spent much of his time there organising regular collective reading sessions, dedicated to studying the works of Cuban national heroes José Martí and Antonio Maceo , the latter of whom Cienfuegos read aloud himself "in

11875-417: The province. Guevara captured Fomento on 18 December, and Cabaiguán and Guayos on 21 December, before moving on to capture the junction at Placetas . By Christmas Day, they had captured most of the province, leaving only the major cities in the hands of the regime. Meanwhile, Cienfuegos' column moved to the north of the province and launched an attack on the National Army garrison at Yaguajay . During

12000-545: The rebel commander. Castro himself preferred Cienfuegos taking the center stage over the foreign communist Guevara, as the "handsome, Stetson-wearing, baseball-playing, womanizing, humorous Camilo was Cuban, not known to be a Communist, and had already become a popular folk hero." Tensions had not yet subsided, as the Revolutionary Directorate held on to the Presidential Palace and refused to vacate it for

12125-475: The rebels returned to Pico Turquino , supported by the local population. There they made efforts to combat the chronic malnutrition and illness of the peasantry, carried out agrarian reform and taught classes on Marxist theory . By May 1957, the rebels were marching east, planning to launch another attack against the army. With Castro having appointed Cienfuegos as commander of the Second Column, on 28 May,

12250-505: The rebels surrounded the Uvero barracks and began firing on it. Despite some losses, the rebels were victorious and quickly looted the barracks, taking supplies and prisoners of war back into the mountains with them. With the rebellion well under way, both the National and Revolutionary armies were now attempting to assert their rule over the Sierra Maestra. In the absence of firm state control,

12375-469: The reclamation of Muslim-dominated lands, eventually conquering the kingdoms of Valencia and Majorca (the Balearic Islands ). From the 13th century onwards, the territory of the County of Barcelona and the other Catalan counties progressively began to be identified as a single political entity and, from the mid-14th century, that polity began to be known as the Principality of Catalonia . The crisis of

12500-445: The region fell into chaos, as various armed groups committed a litany of abuses. The rebels themselves had a code of conduct and Che Guevara in particular was committed to strict discipline, which caused tensions with the recruits when rebel commander Lalo Sardiñas shot a disobedient soldier. Castro defended the killing as a disciplinary action, managing to persuade a majority of the soldiers to vote for his demotion. Many of those in

12625-451: The resignation of Huber Matos, who accused Fidel Castro of "burying the revolution". Fidel responded by publicly denouncing Matos for treason . Cienfuegos, along with Guevara and President Osvaldo Dorticós , considered Castro's denunciations of Matos to have been a mistake and attempted to persuade Fidel to be lenient while prosecuting him. When Raúl Castro ordered Cienfuegos to arrest Matos, he initially refused, only reluctantly accepting

12750-633: The rest remained under Spanish Crown. The Catalan government took sides with the Habsburg pretender against the Bourbon one during the War of the Spanish Succession that started in 1705 and ended in 1714. The Catalan failure to defend the continuation of Habsburg rule in Spain culminated in the surrender of Barcelona on 11 September 1714 which came to be commemorated as Catalonia's National Day . The surrender led to

12875-538: The revolution, the newly installed revolutionary president Manuel Urrutia appointed Cienfuegos as commander-in-chief of the Revolutionary Armed Forces. On 5 January, Cienfuegos welcomed members of the new revolutionary Council of Ministers as they arrived in Havana, where they awaited Castro. While Castro delayed in reaching the capital, Cienfuegos became the public face of the revolution in Havana. When visited in Camp Columbia by television reporters, who broadcast

13000-578: The revolution, before presiding over a mass demonstration at Plaza de la Revolución , followed by a military parade. Later that night, they held a baseball game at the Estadio Latinoamericano , where Cienfuegos and Castro played for a team called "Los Barbudos" ( lit.   ' the Bearded Ones ' ). Baseball quickly became a fixture of post-revolutionary Cuban culture, with United States ambassador Philip Bonsal observing: "The spectacle of

13125-516: The revolutionaries, as well as a rapist that had impersonated Guevara. When interviewed about the executions, Castro downplayed the number and justified the documented cases. In October 1957, Guevara pulled back and began looking to establish industrial infrastructure in the region, so that the guerrilla war could be materially sustained. Before long, the revolutionaries had managed to establish an entire insurgent economy in El Hombrito, complete with

13250-472: The skies for their lost son. But some of those who accompanied Castro on these search flights claimed that he never appeared to be emotionally invested in the search and seemed indifferent to Cienfuegos' fate. While himself investigating the disappearance, Cienfuegos' former aide Major Cristóbal Naranjo was murdered by Captain Manuel Beatón, apparently during a drunken argument after Beatón was passed over for

13375-518: The southeast and the hinterland provincial capital of Santa Clara to the northeast. Its advantageous trading location on the historically eponymous Bay of Jagua was used by the Cuban sugar oligarchy when a railroad was built between both cities between 1853 and 1860. Near Cienfuegos was the scene of a battle during the Spanish–American War on 11 May 1898, between American Marines attempting to sever underwater Spanish communication lines and

13500-721: The states of the Crown of Aragon, such as the Revolt of the Germanies in Valencia and Majorca, and the 1640 revolt in Catalonia known as the Reapers' War . This latter conflict embroiled Spain in a larger war with France as the Catalan institutions allied themselves with Louis XIII . The war continued until 1659 and ended with the Peace of the Pyrenees , which effectively partitioned the Principality of Catalonia as its northern strip came under French rule, while

13625-436: The subsequent fire fight, Guevara was hit in the foot, lost his rifle and was again forced to pull back. Guevara went to request urgent reinforcements from Castro, but found that the National Army had withdrawn from the area. He was initially pleased and after his foot was operated on, returned to his base camp in El Hombrito, which he found completely destroyed. As the new year of 1958 dawned, Guevara's column began establishing

13750-616: The terms of the Kennedy – Khrushchev agreements of 1962 that were made in the aftermath of the Cuban Missile Crisis , with many American intelligence analysts concluding that the Soviet Navy was planning to construct a submarine base in Cienfuegos. This was interpreted by some to be in violation of the 1962 agreements between Kennedy and Khrushchev. However, because of a détente between

13875-439: The tyranny and of crime, which I had known as a prisoner, was now almost a picturesque theater, impossible to imagine. On the one hand, the bearded rebels with Camilo, no more than five hundred of them, and on the other hand, twenty thousand army soldiers intact — generals, colonels, majors, captains, corporals, sergeants, and privates. When they saw us walk by, they stood at attention. It was enough to make you burst out laughing. In

14000-438: The wake of the revolution, most political parties dissolved themselves voluntarily, hoping to make way for a "new political order". By 10 January 1959, Cienfuegos had legalized the Popular Socialist Party (PSP), declaring that it "would have rights to organize themselves like all other democratic parties providing that they did not represent the interests of a foreign power". Che supported Cienfuegos' decision, himself considering

14125-459: The war ends, so the Giant [Fidel] does a good thing in looking after you. I would like to be always at your side, you were my chief for a long time and you will always continue to be. Thanks to you I now have the opportunity to be more useful, I'll do the unspeakable to not make you look bad. Your eternal chicharrón , Camilo. On 24 May 1958, the National Army launched Operation Verano , an offensive into

14250-542: The way. There Cienfuegos' column was joined by another commanded by the Communist Félix Torres, who subordinated himself to Cienfuegos' command. Together they clashed with a 450-strong detachment of the National Army and faced difficulties with a local unit of the Revolutionary Directorate, with Enrique Oltuski coming to them from Trinidad , in Sancti Spíritus Province , to mediate the dispute, and in

14375-567: Was "necessary to reorganize the armed forces with men loyal to the Revolution, and not accomplices of tyranny." In the process, Cienfuegos was appointed as the chief of staff of the Revolutionary Armed Forces, replacing Colonel José Rego Rubido . In September 1959, Cienfuegos joined the Castro brothers in going to Santa Clara, where they sacked the provincial heads of 26 July Movement, the revolutionary army and Instituto Nacional de Reforma Agraria (INRA), replacing them with more loyal supporters of Castro. During this time, Castro also dispatched

14500-427: Was a Cuban revolutionary . One of the major figures of the Cuban Revolution , he was considered second only to Fidel Castro among the revolutionary leadership. The son of Spanish anarchists , Cienfuegos engaged with left-wing politics from an early age, going on to join the opposition movement against the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista . He joined Castro's 26th of July Movement on its expedition to Cuba and

14625-482: Was a blow to the revolutionaries, with different factions blaming each other, while Batista received new arms shipments from Dominican dictator Rafael Trujillo . In response, 26 July Movement and the Popular Socialist Party formed an alliance against the regime, with many communists joining the army. On 16 April, Cienfuegos returned to active combat in the Sierra, with Castro appointing him as commander of

14750-477: Was appointed as commander-in-chief of the armed forces by the new revolutionary government. He oversaw the reorganization of the armed forces, in order to purge leading figures of the Cuban National Army and replace them with guerrilla commanders more loyal to Fidel Castro. When Huber Matos objected to Castro's consolidation of power, he was arrested by Cienfuegos. While flying back from Matos' former headquarters at Camagüey , Cienfuegos' plane disappeared over

14875-439: Was disguised as a National Army officer. Despite this mistake, the ambush went ahead successfully. The ranks of the rebels soon grew, as they gained the support of the local peasantry. Relations with new recruits didn't start off well, as the veterans were frustrated by their lack of experience, knowledge and proper equipment. This larger revolutionary armed force was divided into three companies , while Cienfuegos took command of

15000-405: Was halted and they were then pushed back to Fomento , with the revolutionaries capturing a large amount of territory and materiel . As Cienfuegos and Guevara continued to see success against the National Army, Cienfuegos' column was ordered to remain in the province, rather than pushing on to Pinar del Río. Instead, Cienfuegos and Guevara aimed to cut the island in half by definitively capturing

15125-468: Was left to recover from his wounds. Meanwhile, Castro himself began consolidating his authority within the "free territory" that had been carved out of the Sierra Maestra. In March 1958, the Catholic Church in Cuba began calling for peace negotiations and the formation of a national unity government , but the initiative was rejected by Castro. As Fulgencio Batista attempted to salvage the situation,

15250-521: Was not reported until 30 October. When news of it was brought to the Cabinet by Raúl Castro, Fidel seemed surprised and visibly upset, and the government quickly ordered a search and rescue operation. Throughout the country, Catholics held mass processions in honour of Cienfuegos and the political leadership widely publicised their concern for their lost comrade. The military followed any leads they could, speaking with peasants that claimed to have witnessed

15375-595: Was one of the few survivors of the Landing of the Granma . He quickly distinguished himself as one of the top commanders of the Cuban Revolutionary Armed Forces and a popular leading figure of the revolution, becoming close friends with Che Guevara during their guerrilla campaign in Las Villas . After winning the Battle of Yaguajay in December 1958, Cienfuegos led the capture of Matanzas and Havana , where he

15500-555: Was under Arab/Muslim rule for about 4-5 centuries. The Franks on the other side of the Pyrenees held back the main Muslim raiding army which had penetrated virtually unchallenged as far as central France at the Battle of Tours in 732. Frankish suzerainty was then extended over much of present-day Catalonia. Larger wars with the Muslims began in the March of Barcelona which led to the beginnings of

15625-450: Was very strong, but today it is only practiced in the rural areas. Spicy food is rare in the Catalan diet but there are quite garlicky sauces such as allioli or romesco . One type of Catalan dish is escudella , a soup which contains chick peas, potatoes, and vegetables such as green cabbage, celery, carrots, turnips, and meats such as botifarra (a Catalan sausage), pork feet, salted ham, chicken, and veal. In Northern Catalonia, it

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