Boquerón, Cuba

Boquerón is a Cuban village and consejo popular ("people's council", i.e. hamlet) of the municipality of Caimanera, in the Province of Guantánamo. Located near Guantánamo Bay, it is also known as Mártires de la Frontera,[1] Spanish for "Martyrs of the Border".

Boquerón Mártiers de la Frontera
Village
Boquerón waterfront
Map of Guantánamo Bay, showing the location of Boquerón
Location of Boquerón in Cuba
Coordinates: 19°58′59.88″N 75°07′00.12″W
Country	Cuba
Province	Guantánamo
Municipality	Caimanera
Time zone	UTC-5 (EST)
Area code(s)	+53-21

History

The village was founded in 1903 and developed urbanistically since the 1970s.[2]

Geography

Boquerón, located in the eastern shore of the bay, is the nearest Cuban settlement to the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base. The North East Gate (19.97382°N 75.08692°W), located 4 km from it, is the only US-Cuban border crossing point.[3][4][5] Due to its proximity to the US Base Boquerón is, along with Caimanera, a forbidden town needing a special permission from the government to visit it.[6]

Boquerón lies in front of 3 islets: Cayo Piedra, Cayo Ramón and Cayo Redondo. It is 12 km far from Caimanera and 28 from Guantánamo.

Transport

The village is the southern terminal of a minor railway line from Guantánamo and counts a little port. It is linked with the Carretera Central highway (11 km far) by a road named "Carretera a Boquerón". Nearest airport, the "Mariana Grajales" of Guantánamo, is located 28 km in the north.

See also

• Mata Abajo
• List of cities in Cuba

References

1. (in Spanish) Boquerón / Mártires de la Frontera on EcuRed
2. (in Spanish)"History of Boquerón" (EcuRed)
3. Article Archived 2013-12-24 at the Wayback Machine on Joint Task Force Guantanamo website
4. Article Archived 2014-12-11 at the Wayback Machine on US Department of Defense website
5. (in Spanish) "The Naval Base in Caimanera" (EcuRed)
6. "Cuba's Forbidden Towns" on the Havana Journal

External links

• (in Spanish) Boquerón on EcuRed
• Boquerón on Index Mundi