Administratively, Cuba is divided into 15 provinces and one special municipality (the Isla de la Juventud). The current structure has been in place since August 2010, when the then-La Habana Province was divided into Artemisa Province and Mayabeque Province.
List of provinces From west to east, Cuba's provinces are:
Pinar del Río Artemisa La Habana Mayabeque Matanzas Cienfuegos Villa Clara Sancti Spíritus Ciego de Ávila Camagüey Las Tunas Granma Holguín Santiago de Cuba Guantánamo Isla de la Juventud ("special municipality")
List by population Source: Cuba census 2002Cuba Census 2002 Population table
Coat of arms Province Capital (2012) (%) Area Area (%) Density per per Camagüey Camagüey 7.02 13.2 Ciego de Ávila Ciego de Ávila 3.68 5.6 Cienfuegos Cienfuegos 3.54 3.9 La Habana La Habana (Havana) 19.70 0.7 Granma Bayamo 7.36 7.9 Guantánamo Guantánamo 4.54 6.0 Holguín Holguín 9.14 8.5 Nueva Gerona 0.77 2.1 Artemisa Artemisa 4.49 3.75 Las Tunas 4.70 6.0 Matanzas Matanzas 6.00 10.0 Mayabeque San José de las Lajas 3.41 3.49 Pinar del Río Pinar del Río 5.32 8.32 Sancti Spíritus Sancti Spíritus 4.12 6.3 Santiago de Cuba Santiago de Cuba 9.27 5.9 Villa Clara Santa Clara 7.31 7.6 Cuba La Habana Special municipality
History 1879–1976
The provinces were created in 1879 by the Spanish colonial government. From 1879 to 1976, Cuba was divided into six provinces, which maintained with little changes the same boundaries and capital cities, although with modifications in official names. These "historical" provinces are the following (from west to east): Pinar del Río La Habana, included the city of Havana, current Mayabeque, some municipalities of current Artemisa Province (prior to 1970: 5 municipalities; from 1970 to 2011, 8 municipalities, including Artemisa city itself). Isla de Pinos ("Isle of Pines") was considered a "special municipality" in the province of La Habana. Matanzas Las Villas (before 1940 named "Santa Clara"), contained the present-day provinces of Cienfuegos, Villa Clara, Sancti Spíritus, and Southern Matanzas Province. Camagüey (before 1899 named "Puerto Príncipe"), contained the present-day provinces of Camagüey and Ciego de Ávila, as well as two municipalities of current Las Tunas Province (prior to 1970). Oriente (before 1905 named "Santiago de Cuba"), contained the present-day provinces of Las Tunas, Granma, Holguín, Santiago de Cuba and Guantánamo
1976–2011
In December 1976, the original six provinces were reconstituted into 14 provinces plus one special municipality:
Pinar del Río La Habana Ciudad de La Habana Matanzas Cienfuegos Villa Clara Sancti Spíritus Ciego de Ávila Camagüey Las Tunas Granma Holguín Santiago de Cuba Guantánamo Isla de Pinos ("special municipality")
Isla de Pinos was renamed Isla de la Juventud on 3 August 1978.
2011–present In August 2010, the Cuban National Assembly split the then-La Habana Province into two new provinces: Artemisa (which incorporated three eastern municipalities of neighboring Pinar del Río) and Mayabeque. The new provinces started functioning from 1 January 2011.Proponen en Pleno del Partido dos nuevas provincias cubanas: Artemisa y Mayabeque (+ Infografía) - Cubadebate Havana City Province (Ciudad de La Habana Province) recovered its original name, La Habana Province.
Presidents of the People's Power Provincial Councils The following are the presidents of the Provincial People's Councils in each province in the country (local governments).
The Provincial People's Councils replaced the Provincial Assemblies in the 2019 Constitution and are made up of provincial representatives elected by the municipal assemblies or councils.
Province President of the Provincial Council CamagüeyJesús Arturo García Collazo Ciego de ÁvilaAgustín Gregorio Arza Pascual CienfuegosRolando Díaz González La HabanaReinaldo García Zapata GranmaJesús Antonio Infante López GuantánamoLuis Fernando Navarro Fernández HolguínAlberto Olivera Fis Isla de la JuventudRoberto Unger Pérez MayabequeArmando Cuellar Domínguez ArtemisaRaúl Rodríguez Cartaya Las TunasVíctor Luis Rodríguez Carballosa MatanzasNilo Tomás Díaz Fundora Pinar del RíoVidal Pérez Baños Sancti SpíritusFidel Pérez Luzbert Santiago de CubaRolando Yero García Villa ClaraAlexander Rodriguez Rosada Special municipality
See also
List of cities in Cuba by population List of places in Cuba Municipalities of Cuba Politics of Cuba Demographics of Cuba List of West Indian first-level country subdivisions, a list of first-level country subdivisions within the Caribbean in order of total area ISO 3166-2:CU, which defines codes for the names of the principal subdivisions of the country
References
External links Cuba at GeoHive