On the occasion of commemorating the 149th anniversary of the granting of the title of Villa to Guantánamo, the President of the Municipal Assembly of People's Power in a solemn session mentioned the proposal to include a Royal Palm in the Coat of Arms of the Villa of Guantánamo.
Taking into account this proposal and other ideas that emerged later, a group of 14 prestigious colleagues was organized, made up of historians, artists, writers, professors and communicators who debated the subject in depth. Group that took into account the following essential elements:
Five years after the Regency of the Spanish Kingdom granted the Title of Villa to Guantánamo, by Royal Order, in March 1875, the Coat of Arms was granted to the current City of Guaso.
The Shield of Guantanamo, unlike other bucklers granted by the high peninsular authorities to various populations in the 19th century, has representative allegories of its splendid geography and the Guantanamo economy: its valley of more light, the wide bay, the Guaso rivers and Guantánamo, the surrounding mountains; coffee, sugar cane, tobacco, and in its center a beehive, an emblem of the industriousness of its inhabitants.
The members of the Guantánamo City Council wanted that, in addition to the elements mentioned, a Royal Palm would appear on the Coat of Arms, a proposal that was radically rejected by the Spanish political-military high command of the island, considering the majestic tree as a symbol of independence. , "because it constitutes one of the signs that the insurgents have placed," they alleged.
While symbols of Spanish despotic power predominate in the coats of arms of other localities (fortresses, churches and even dogs, a symbol of submission), in ours, one of the most Creole and Cuban on the large island of the Caribbean, geographical and economic; which is why, Guantanamo people and Guantanamo people have the duty to promote and disseminate the values of the first official symbol (in time) of the current city and its historical region.
The Coat of Arms is found on the façade of the old Municipal Town Hall (Provincial Library), on the shell of Parque Martí, in the Provincial Historical Archive and in the UNHIC Branch; symbol that General Pedro A. Pérez protected during his mandate in the local government, the authorities that continued him between 1904 and 1958, and the revolutionary commissioners after the triumph of January 1959. The Shield was the emblem of the El Managϋí Magazine of the Party History Section and the UNHIC, and is the hallmark of the Office of the City Historian and the House of History.
Evaluated the grounds expressed, the Municipal Assembly of People's Power approved the following agreements:
- Place the Royal Palm on the Shield and locate as the text of the buckler: “AUTHENTIC, LOYAL, OURS. VILLA GUANTANAMO”
- In the Solemn Assembly for the 150th anniversary of the granting of the title of Villa, unveil the Coat of Arms in Plaza 24 de Febrero, the area where the town was founded in the twenties of the 19th century.
- Incorporate from the year 2021 the Shield of the Villa de Guantánamo to the incentive system delivered by the Municipal Assembly of People's Power.
The City Shield was made and donated by the sculptor Noel Manzo Azaharez, and unveiled on December 1, 2020, by Zulma Ojeda Suárez, Director of the City Development Group and José Sánchez Guerra, City Historian, at the Plaza 24 de Febrero during the Solemn Assembly for the 150th anniversary of the granting of the title of Villa.
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