Cuba’s First Capital Gets New Lease

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31349, 20 April 1967, Page 28

Cuba ’s First Capital Gets New Lease

(N.Z.P.A.-Reuter)

BARACOA, (Cuba). A new road is injecting fresh life into Baracoa, the historic 450-year-old town which was Cuba’s first capital, from 1518 to 1522.

The spectacular 100-mile road snakes along the precipitous face of a mountain wall to link the rich region of Baracoa on the country’s eastern shores, with Guantanamo, on the south coast.

From there are connexions to Santiago de Cuba, the island’s second largest town, and all other points in the country.

Cut off by steep mountains and surrounded by nearjungle, the little port of Baracoa, founded in 1512, seemed destined until a few years ago to slumber bn in its centuries-old isolation.

Mule transport, jeeps and a local passenger, air service were its only links with the rest of the country. Now the new road swoops over a 4500 ft ridge, where both the Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean Sea are in view, to open up a potentially-rich coffee, tobacco, cocoa and lumber-producing area. At one spot, there is a fourmile viaduct claimed to be unique in all America. Jutting out like a balcony from the sheer mountain face, it was completely pre-fabricated. Cuban engineers claim that in Europe only Switzerland has

a similar pre-fabricated viaduct

In all, there are 10 bridges ranging in length from 170 ft to 530 ft and total construction costs so far have exceeded £3,750,000. Over 500 specialised labourers were engaged on the task, working up to 17 hours a day. At present the road peters out into the jungle just north of Baracoa, but plans have been made to continue it by a bridge over the river Toa, and link the town with the nickel mining centres of Moa and Nicaro, on the north coast of eastern Cuba.

A new fishing village has already been built between Baracoa and Moa to replace an old wooden hamlet destroyed in 1963 by hurricane Flora.

The revolutionary Government, which prides itself on

developing previously neglected rural areas instead of concentrating all its attention on the large urban centres, has other projects in mind and is introducing new techniques into the cultivation of coffee and cocoa in the area. A second branch of the road will lead to Punto Maisi, the easternmost top of the coun-

try, from where on a clear day one can see the mountains of Haiti. Meanwhile, Baracoa itself Is at last beginning to feel the new surge of life. To provide for the increase of visitors resulting from the development of the region, the State Tourist Board is transforming the ruins of a Spanish fort, built in 1740, into a 33-room hotel