Güira de Melena is a municipality and city in the Artemisa Province

Artemisa Province

Artemisa Province is one of two new provinces in Cuba, which creation was approved by the Cuban National Assembly by splitting former La Habana Province.Artemisa was the largest city and municipality of the former La Habana province...

 of west Cuba

Cuba

The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...

. It is located on the southern shore of the island, bordering the Bay of Batabanó. It was founded in 1779.

The town is south of San Antonio de los Baños

San Antonio de los Baños

San Antonio de los Baños is a municipality and city in the Artemisa Province of Cuba.It is located 26 km from the city of Havana, and the Ariguanabo River runs through it. The city was founded in 1802....

 and east of Alquízar

Alquízar

Alquízar is a municipality and city in the Artemisa Province of Cuba.The town is located in the south-west corner of the province, south-west of San Antonio de los Baños and west of Güira de Melena....

.

The principal economic activities include agriculture, especially tobacco

Tobacco

Tobacco is an agricultural product processed from the leaves of plants in the genus Nicotiana. It can be consumed, used as a pesticide and, in the form of nicotine tartrate, used in some medicines...

; the city has cigar factories. Other agricultural products are potato

Potato

The potato is a starchy, tuberous crop from the perennial Solanum tuberosum of the Solanaceae family . The word potato may refer to the plant itself as well as the edible tuber. In the region of the Andes, there are some other closely related cultivated potato species...

es, banana

Banana

Banana is the common name for herbaceous plants of the genus Musa and for the fruit they produce. Bananas come in a variety of sizes and colors when ripe, including yellow, purple, and red....

s, pineapple

Pineapple

Pineapple is the common name for a tropical plant and its edible fruit, which is actually a multiple fruit consisting of coalesced berries. It was given the name pineapple due to its resemblance to a pine cone. The pineapple is by far the most economically important plant in the Bromeliaceae...

s and other tropical fruits, and dairy

Dairy

A dairy is a business enterprise established for the harvesting of animal milk—mostly from cows or goats, but also from buffalo, sheep, horses or camels —for human consumption. A dairy is typically located on a dedicated dairy farm or section of a multi-purpose farm that is concerned...

 products.

Demographics

In 2004, the municipality of Güira de Melena had a population of 37,838. With a total area of 178 km² (68.7 sq mi), it has a population density of 212.6 /km2.

The municipality is divided into the barrio

Barrio

Barrio is a Spanish word meaning district or neighborhood.-Usage:In its formal usage in English, barrios are generally considered cohesive places, sharing, for example, a church and traditions such as feast days...

s of Gabriel, Norte Pueblo, Sibanacán, Sur Pueblo, La Cachimba, El Junco and El Cajío.

External links

• Article from El Habanero newspaper