Fate wanted it to be on February 2th, the day of the Virgin of Candelaria, the one chosen for the people of Camagüey to celebrate each year a new anniversary of the foundation of our town.

Historical and scientific controversy aside, the date includes in itself one of the most important cultural facts for the inhabitants of this land. But it was not between the Tínima and Hatibonico rivers where it all began. As happened with several of the first towns founded by the Spaniards in Cuba, the first settlement of Santa María del Puerto del Príncipe was near the sea, at a location in the current Nuevitera geography.

“The place where the original town was for a while is a wild place, not suitable for planting crops or for raising animals, subject to inclement weather, with sparse vegetation, that is, it did not have the conditions for it to last for a long time. That is why it is moved to a place near the Caonao River where a first confrontation takes place with fatal consequences for the native population. Lastly, it moves to a place between the Tínima and Hatibonico rivers and presumably settled around what is known today as Agramonte Park, the old Armas Square.” – tells us José Rodríguez Barreras, director of the Office of the Historian of Camagüey city.

From then on, the city that reached our days began to be erected, which, taking into account the many structures ​​built, preserved and exalted by several generations of principeños, which are proud that a fragment of its historic center was declared by UNESCO a Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

Today, the task is not only to safeguard our heritage that was forged thanks to the mixture of customs and idiosyncrasies, but to enrich it with the best of our daily work.

And what better way to start the day than with our Diana Mambisa, that also marked a milestone in the country’s history and who is remembered every February 2nd from the old Armas Square.

Translated by: Aileen Álvarez García