Cárdenas supplies part of Varadero in labor. It boasts nice examples of neo-classic architectura (superb patios, high windows, detailed motifs) some dating to the town's founding in 1828 and a fascinating history linked to the first rhum factory and the first vacationers on the Hicacos Peninsula (Varadero).
During our Cardenas dog day afternoon, we saw half-drunk, red faced, bare pot-bellied, 9cuc-per-hour scooter buzzing jimbos looking for their way out of hotter than hell streets.
Seriously, Cuba's flag was raised here for the first time in 1850. The first electric tramways started here. Second only to Bacardi, one of Cuba's largest rum distillery Ron Arrechabala (founded 1878) was established here. Other town firsts include the first electric power plant and the first gynaecological clinic.
Its owner created the Havana Club brand which infamous Bacardi claimed was theirs but after a years-long legal battle in Europe and the US, Pernod-Ricard in partnership with Cuba got rightful ownership of the brand.
The sleepy town used to live off two sugar mills (José Smith Comas and Humberto Alvarez) in the area but now, there's only nearby Varadero's tourist industry and a few of the fishermen's catches.
Its citizens use the horse-drawn taxis to get around. Most ride bikes. Hasta la bicicleta siempre !
Seamos realistas, pedimos el impossible.
A LITTLE HISTORY
Before the Revolucion, the city was the largest port of Cuba. From 1878, the Arechabala rum distillery established by Jose Arechabala y Aldama was one of the largest employers on the island with its 1.024 trabajadores who distilled rum, made sugar, syrup, honey, candy, brandy, cognac and imported and distributed gin, whiskey and wines.
But the U.S. prohibition (1919-1933), a scandal of shady promoters who pocketed $ 700,000 to redo the port, a murder and a kidnapping of family members, the 1929 crash contributed to Cardenas losing its industrial shine and importance. In addition, the port became unusable due to its lack of depth.
In 1926, arrives an Arechabala nephew, Jose Fermin (Josechu) Iturrioz Llaguno who joins with a brilliant engineer, Manuel F. Arias. So at the age of 36, Josechu takes the reins of the family industries and transforms the city port, launches the Havana Club label in 1935, relaunching its businesses and modernizes its plants, despite two deadly hurricanes.
As business is going well, Josechu builds, a few miles away, a family compound with houses, a lagoon and a park. He gives it the name JosOne, acronym of the name of his great-uncle and great aunt. One can see it today in Varadero. A sort of famous Cardenas resident long worked there as a waiter : the father of Elian Gonzalez.
Josechu died in exile in New York on New Year's Day 1960, having been driven from his city and its expropriated and nationalized industries - without compensation - by the barbudos he had elected to reject with the help of Bacardi.
Today on calle Pinillos on the corner of calle Sáez, remains the distillery which was the most prominent of the island, "La Vizcaya" along with Bacardi in Santiago. However, the two names banded together to fight Cuba and Pernod-Ricard before US courts about the rights to the Havana Club name and so are hidden — sadly and to the detriment of all — from the modern history books of the island.
| MAPS & LINKS |
| Map - City with cultural spots, old photos and casas |
| Map - Architectural & Landscape Guide - 17 spots |
| Map - Detailed city plan with burroughs and casas |
| Centro Circuits - Itins & Top Casas |
| Tramways of yesteryear |
| Varadero detailed map |
| Island-wide bus connections (horariodebuses.com/) |
| Daily currency exchange rates |
| Robin Thom's fabulous pictures of the town |
| Rising and downward tides for Cardenas |
| Arechabala & Bacardi fighting over Havana Club |
| All that's natural in Matanzas province |
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DISTANCES
Bay of Pigs (Playa Larga), 93
Cienfuegos, 165
Colon, 60
Corralillo, 74
Jagüey Grande, 66
Jovellanos, 29
Las Morlas, 34
La Habana, 138
Matanzas, 43
Máximo Gomez, 26
Playa Girón, 127
San Miguel de los Baños, 25
Santa Clara, 170
Trinidad, 250
Varadero, 12
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1960 Intl Women's Day poster, by Eliado Rivadulla (1923-2011)
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POPULATION 107,085 (2007) in Cardenas Municipio (regional township)
SEE.KNOW.DO
• Catedral de la Inmaculada Concepcion (stained glass with Cristobal Colon still standing in front, overlooking his namesake Parque since 1862) • Hotel La Dominica (National monument where the city was founded) was planned to be renovated to be the city's first hotel but the deal fell through with Spanish investors late 2008 • Museo a la Batalla de Ideas (superb views, odd statue of boy throwing a Superman doll... Elian ?); avenida 6, e/11 y 12 • Museo Casa Natal José Antonio Echevarria (student killed by Batista's henchmen in 1957) • Museo Óscar María de Rojas (natural history and geology : a curious if not totally strange arrangement of fleas, fossils, a horsetail and a rarity, guides who know their stuff) on Plaza Echevarria, avenida 4 este, corner calle 12 • Plaza Echevarría with statue of José Antonio Echevarria • Plaza Malacoff (50-foot high dome, metal-framed building) now a fruit and vegetable market as it was meant to be in 1859 • Fabrica de Ron Arechabala (first home of Havana Club rum; tours 3 cuc) • Galeria de Arte Salon Massaguner on avenida Cespédes features paintings from provincial artists • San Miguel de los Baños, 25 (swimming pool, Loma de Jacán) • Libreria La Concha de Venus, Cespedes 551, esquina calle 12
PLAYAS
All those of Peninsula de Hicacos, where Varadero spreads its resorts over 17 km. Playa Larga (not the one on the bay of Pigs, 93 km south). Varadero - The beginning of the Peninsula de Hicacos is at Santa Maria (bridge), or 8 km from Cardenas. Varadero Las Morlas, the very end of Hicacos is 34 km away
RESTAURANTS/PALADARES
Top choices : Retiro Estangel (Angelo) Calle Spriu, 656, Casa Espriu (Plaza Echeverria, calle 12, e/4 y6), El Viajero (esquina 13 y 13, in moneda nacional), Casa de las Infusiones, Cafeteria La Cubanita on Plaza Malacoff, El Rapido, Los Almendros, Las Palmas, Pizzeria La Bolognesa Paladares La Barra 1470 (calle 13 e/ 6 y 7)
SERVICES
• Local Yoga Instructor Pablo c/o Iglesia Reflexion y Dialogo Ave. Céspedes No. 1210 e/ Calle 25 y 26 • Hourly buses to Varadero (6cuc) ; three dailies from La Habana ; regular service for Jaguey Grande (junction with the trans-island autopista), Jovellanos, Matanzas, Santa Clara (10cuc), Trinidad (18cuc) • Local train between Cardenas, Jovellanos and Colon. • Horse-drawn collective taxis available most everywhere.
Viazul's Ruta 56 goes by here on its way to and from Santiago de Cuba - Click for details
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The Cathedral dates from 1846 and two ways to get around this town, both ecological. •}• Same picture in April 2009 © Frank Buschhutter panoramio |
This 1980 stamp is a reminder of the glory days of the local naval yards which were the most important when post-Revolucion Cuba decided to build a fleet of fishing boats — now decimated, mostly through mismanagement and corruption, alas. |
End of November yearly rail festival at what used to be the operating sugar mill CAI Jose Smith Comas — now Museo UEB Turismo Azucarero © internationalsteam dot co dot uk •}• The center of town railway station building © |
During the US colony heyday — here in the Twenties — the vast Teatro Arechabala (same name as the rhum factory) was the scene of some giant gatherings of the local ruling class and its employees, clients and families. |
Elian Gonzalez back with his dad. Taken in exile by his mother Elizabeth Brotons on November 22 1999, the child (28 years of age in 2021, studied Engineering) became media fodder and his exiled family's trophy. US Secretary of Justice had to forcefully seize Elian and fly him back to his rightful parent 8 months later. •}• At Museo a la Batalla de Ideas, opened in 2001 Elian's story and other contemporary US low blows are presented in "other side of the coin" fashion © Michelle Tisdel Flikke |
At the top of its glory in 1953, Cardenas had been revitalized, its port had a new levy and most, thanks to the leadership of the Arechabalas. |
Ciné Cardenas. Postcard from the Fifties •}• Same perspective today |
Jewel in the Arechabala family crown, symbol of the pre-Revolucion success of Cuban entrepreneurship by a hard-working Spanish immigrant who landed in 1878, the large distillery La Vizcaya. In 1934, it created the Havana Club brand. More about crime in exile, the preposterous Bacardi act and litigation here. |
One of the rare Cuban cities to elevate the bike to its well-deserved height, the best means of transport in the history of humanity, la bicicleta © Robin Thom - Click to see more photos of Cardenas |
In 1850, Narciso Lopez disembarked in Cardenas, bringing a flag which would be hoisted for the first time in Cuba and which became a symbol of the fight for independence from Spain. |
"There are about 300,000 cuentapropistas — small business owners in Cuba" - now 600,000 (May 2021) © Meridith Kohut, New York Times - Click for December 2014 NYT article. |
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![© Robin Thom Photography • ] • Cuba Cardenas © Frank Buschhuter, panoramio,.com](http://www.particuba.net/villes/cardenas/images/Ventana720RobinThom.jpg)
