In the latest episode of Postcards, we visit Cuba's southeastern Santiago de Cuba Province to celebrate its distinctive and diverse cultural history.
In the latest episode of Postcards, we visit Cuba's second-largest city, Santiago de Cuba.
ADVERTISEMENTNicknamed “the Hot Land”, because of high temperatures, it’s the birthplace of different music styles including 'Trova' and 'Son'. It’s also where the Cuban revolution began. Music floods over its colourful Carribean streets, but echoes of an old European presence linger.
For Euronews reporter Cristina Giner: “we are in the most Caribbean city of Cuba but in this part of the island; in its streets, its people and its architecture, the traces of a French presence are still felt.”
Euronews spoke to Santiago historian Olga Portuondo about the city’s varied history.
"At the end of the 18th and beginning of the 19th century, the French settled in Santiago mainly in the mountain area and developed a coffee economy with the slave labour force".
Embedded in the foothills of Sierra Maestra, Santiago always had a close connection with the mountain.
"At the end of the 18th and beginning of the 19th century, the French settled in Santiago mainly in the mountain area and developed a coffee economy with the slave labour force," says Portuondo.
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