Holguín

Town in eastern Cuba, in the West Indies, 105 km/65 mi northwest of Santiago de Cuba, capital of Holguín province; population (1997) 237,000. Holguín is the fourth-largest city in Cuba, and is the commercial centre of a sugar- and tobacco-growing area. The main sources of employment are the leatherworking, tobacco, woodworking, and textile industries. There are also a number of specialized industries, including the manufacture of machines for cutting sugar cane, and the production of asphalt.

Holguín is sometimes known as ‘the Granary of Cuba’. The town grew rapidly and was developed throughout the 1950s and 1960s as a result of the Castro regime's industrialization programme.