Turquino National Park

Turquino National Park
Parque Nacional Turquino
Turquino National Park is located in Cuba
Turquino National Park
Location within Cuba
LocationSantiago de Cuba Province, Cuba
Nearest cityGuamá
Coordinates19°59′22″N 76°50′9″W / 19.98944°N 76.83583°W / 19.98944; -76.83583
Area229.38 km2 (88.56 sq mi)[1]
EstablishedJanuary 8, 1980[2]

Turquino National Park, also called Sierra Maestra National Park,[3][4] is a national park located in the Sierra Maestra mountain range in southeastern Cuba.[5] It was established on 8 January 1980 with the passing of Bill 27/1980.[2] It is named after Pico Turquino, the highest point in Cuba.[4]

Geography

The park is located in the Sierra Maestra mountain range about 50 kilometres (31 mi) west of Guamá in Santiago de Cuba Province.[3] It encompasses a total area of 229.38 square kilometres (88.56 sq mi).[1]

Among the mountains within the park are Pico Turbino, the highest point in Cuba at 1,975 metres (6,480 ft), Pico Cuba, Pico Real, and Pico Suecia.[3] There are also numerous waterfalls and rivers, including the Río Turquino,[5] as well as Marea del Portillo beach on Cuba's southeastern coast.[3]

Flora and fauna

Cuban moist forests in Turquino National Park.
The Sierra Maestra mountains with Cuban pine forests in the park.
Las Cuevas trailhead at the coast.

The park has tropical forest habitats, including the lower elevation Cuban moist forests and higher elevation Cuban pine forests ecoregions.[6] It also has "some of the best-preserved cloud forests in the Caribbean".[7]

Turquino and the adjoining Pico La Bayamesa National Park were together designated the Turquino - Bayamesa Important Bird Area.[8] The bird species that qualified them for that status are the:[9]

Note: Species in italics are non-resident.

Other animal species include the Cuban hutia, a large rodent, as well as several species of bats.[5]

Cuban Revolution

La Comandancia de la Plata, Fidel Castro's headquarters during the Cuban Revolution, was located in what is now the park.[5]

Operation Verano, Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista's 1958 attempt to destroy Castro's greatly outnumbered guerrilla band, which Castro had deployed west of Pico Turquino along a 15-mile (24 km) front.[10] Its failure demoralized Batista's army.[11]

Bust

A bronze bust of national hero José Martí (1853–1895), sculpted by Jilma Madera, rests on Pico Turbino.[12]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 National Protected Areas System of Cuba. "Protected Areas". Archived from the original on 10 August 2007. Retrieved 10 October 2007.
  2. 1 2 Radio Habana. "Parque Nacional Sierra Maestra" (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 4 October 2007. Retrieved 10 October 2007.
  3. 1 2 3 4 "Cuba's Revolutionary Peaks: Exploring Sierra Maestra and Turquino National Park". Latin American & Caribbean Geographic. 10 August 2024. Retrieved 3 June 2026.
  4. 1 2 Portilla, Sandra (23 January 2021). "Turquino National Park, bright star of the Sierra Maestra". CubaPlus. Retrieved 31 May 2026.
  5. 1 2 3 4 "Turquino National Park". nationalparksassociation.org. Retrieved 31 May 2026.
  6. ↑ "The Seven Remarkable National Parks Of Cuba". worldatlas.com. Retrieved 31 May 2026.
  7. ↑ Michelangeli, Fabian (24 April 2014). "Exploring the Mountains of Eastern Cuba, Part I". www.nybg.org. Retrieved 31 May 2026.
  8. ↑ "Turquino - Bayamesa". BirdLife International. Retrieved 31 May 2026.
  9. ↑ "Turquino - Bayamesa". BirdLife International. Retrieved 31 May 2026.
  10. ↑ Major H. Callen, Jr. (April 1985). "Analysis of the Military Strategies and Warfare Principles of Che Guevara and Fidel Castro During the Cuban Revolution". Air University (United States Air Force). p. 26. Retrieved 1 June 2026.
  11. ↑ Paul, Christopher; Clarke, Colin P.; Grill, Beth; Dunigan, Molly. Paths to Victory: Detailed Insurgency Case Studies (PDF). RAND Corporation. Retrieved 1 June 2026.
  12. ↑ Pino, Irina (27 June 2025). "Cuba's Omnipresent Busts of Jose Marti". Havana Times. Retrieved 31 May 2026.
Wikimedia Commons logo
Wikimedia Commons has media related to
Turquino National Park
(Parque Nacional Turquino).


This page is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.