Other Monuments in Cárdenas

Monument to the Mothers of the World Photo: Lourdes M. de la Fe, 1993;

Bust of the Cuban patriot, José Martí, at José Martí Park, Photo: Lourdes M. de la Fe, 1993;

Statue of Narciso López, a Venezuelan-born Spanish army general turned Filibuster, who landed in Cárdenas in 1850 in a failed first attempt to free Cuba from Spain. When freedom eventually came, Narciso López's flag was adopted as the official Cuban Flag. Photo: Thanks to Ernesto Alzola;

Mausoleum where the ashes of 238 fallen heroes of Cuba's War of Independence against Spain rest, Photo: Lourdes M. de la Fe, 1993;

Buoy from the Hurricane of 1933. This buoy was deposited at its present location in Columbus Park by the risen tide of a killer hurricane that struck Cárdenas in 1933. By all accounts, the destructive power of the storm was similar to that of Hurricane Andrew in 1992, when it struck Miami. Unpredicatability was a greater problem than today, and people would come around to the author's grandfathers' and great-uncles' hardware store all day to get a look at the barometer. Many times my grandmother told me that at 11:00 that night she'd been sitting on the balcony, enjoying a clear night with my grandfather, and all hell started to break loose about 3:30 A.M.. I remembered my grandmother a lot the night before Andrew hit, when I went outside and saw the stars in the sky, Photo: Lourdes M. de la Fe, 1993;

Statue of Don Tomas Estrada Palma, first president of Cuba, in the old plaza that had been named for him, Photo: La Enciclopedia de Cuba, 1977;

Recently Constructed Monuments

Statue of Jose Antonio Echeverria; Photo: Sandro Solazzi, 1997;

The Crab, at the city entrance from Varadero; Photo: Ernesto Rodriguez, 1997;

The Bicycle, at the south entrance to the city, next to the fort; Photo: Ernesto Rodriguez, 1997;

The Horse and Carriage; Photo: Ernesto Rodriguez, 1997;

[INDEX]