Varadero

Varadero is a special territory ( Territorio especial) on the north coast of Cuba on the Hicacos Peninsula, some 120 kilometers east of Havana. It belongs administratively to the municipality of Cárdenas in Matanzas province. There is also the closest to the U.S. point of the main island.

Originally populated by Indians and wooded peninsula has been cut down by the Spaniards for shipbuilding, their caves served as a hideout for pirates. Captains left their ships to repair on these shores to drop anchor, hence the name Varadero ( boatyard ). Since 1587 the saline of Varadero supplied ( closed 1961), large parts of the Spanish Latin America Fleet with the necessary salt for the crossing to Europe.

In the 19th century Cuban hacendados began to build summer villas on the beach of Varadero. The first plots for holiday homes have been approved in 1887 in the area of ​​today's roads 42 to 48. At this point also the tourism in Varadero began. Was for the annual rowing regatta here since 1910 and five years later the first hotel called " Varadero " ( " Club Nautico " later) built for the members of Cuban society. In the 1920s they were followed by rich Americans, first T. Coleman du Pont, great-grandson of ELEUTHERE Irenée Du Pont de Nemours, the founder of the powder factory and later company DuPont, the east of the village Varadero a villa built and a golf course docked. Al Capone also had near the harbor on the western edge a villa in Varadero ( although he does not even inhabited, but used as a depot for smuggled goods ) as well as the Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista and later President.

Starting in 1950, began a first boom of mass tourism, a number of hotels were built. After the revolution of 1959, the land was expropriated and released the 20 -kilometer-long white, sandy beach of Varadero for public use. Symbol of the new integrated tourism for locals of all classes and foreign visitors was built in 1960 Park of " 8,000 Taquillas " ( Taquilla = locker ), where the day trippers besides the storage space for your valuables and sanitary facilities, rental vorfanden of bathing articles and dining facilities. The park was also the first hitherto marginalized sections of the population including women Varadero paid work. Around the park, the center of the village developed.

From the 1960s to 1980s, Varadero also developed into a center of Cuban music and culture scene. The central park (8000 Taquillas ) was the venue for numerous concerts and festivals.

Since Cuba's opening to international tourism, Varadero has become the most popular destination in Cuba. Especially 4 and 5 star hotels have been built since 1990. So the Hotel Melia Varadero was inaugurated as 1991 by the then head of state Fidel Castro personally. The originally for DuPont villa features a golf course was expanded from nine to eighteen holes.

Along however, went with the appreciation of Varadero as a tourist destination, a displacement of the local population from the key positions of the state and tourism industry, which were increasingly staffed with cadres from other parts of the country. As a result of this process, Varadero has lost much of its cultural and social life and its traditions. Institutions such as the central park, the cinema and ancestral cultural meeting points were neglected in favor of a restricted to the hotel facilities all inclusive tourism and finally closed. Typical local events such as the International Carnival in January / February, which since the 1980s, foreign visitors and locals joint initiatives had developed, were also settled.

A curious sight are the - preferably in the western part of occurring - land crabs.

Varadero has visited today about 7,000 inhabitants on the Hicacos Peninsula, as well as a further 13,000 in the incorporated villages of Santa Marta and Boca de Camarioca and is used by about 500,000 tourists annually. The excessive exploitation and lack of maintenance of the natural resources ( beach, tree growth ) and the loss of local color can stagnate while the number of visitors.

Near the town is the most important addition to Havana Cuba international airport, Varadero " Juan Gualberto Gómez " airport. This was moved end of the 1980s/early 1990s, some 20 km to the west, since the old airport pushed to capacity, there was also the physical proximity to the peninsula a significant acoustic disturbance potential. Parts of the old airport building, as well as the runway are still present and are mostly used as Kawama airport for tourist sightseeing flights with older machines manufactured in Russia.

798858
de