Santa Clara, Cuba.- Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel has participated in Santa Clara Monday in the planting of the tamarind 330 that symbolizes the years of the founding of the Villa de Santa Clara, in the center of the country.

The Cuban leader carried out the historic planting at the site where 330 years ago a group of families from the municipality of Remedios (some 40 kilometers away) settled on July 15, 1689.

Diaz-Canel had participated minutes earlier in a solemn session of the Municipal Assembly of People’s Power where he awarded the Alejo Carpentier medal to researcher and historian Marta Anido, one of the city’s most prestigious intellectuals.

He also placed a floral offering in the statue of the benefactor of Santa Clara, Marta Abreu, a distinguished patriot who collaborated with the independence wars and carried out charity works for the people of Santa Clara.

Diaz-Canel arrived in the city this morning, where he was welcomed in the church of Carmen by Monsignor Arturo Gonzalez, bishop of the diocese of Santa Clara.

The priest expressed that in this good feast day, joy and hope are not lacking in our hearts.

From El Carmen Park, next to the church, the president, accompanied by the people, walked along the main avenues to the central Leoncio Vidal Park.

During the trip he shared with the Santa Clara population and received cultural samples from the group Raptus, Danza del Alma, other folkloric groups and repentistas of the decima campesina.

Santa Clara is known internationally as the City of Che in honor of Commander Ernesto Guevara, who in late 1959 led the struggle for the liberation of the city during the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista.