Isle of Youth

The Isle of Youth (In Spanish: Isla de la Juventud), formerly Isle of Pines (Isla de Pinos), is the largest Cuban island after Cuba proper. Lying at a distance of 100 km from the main island, it forms a special municipality of the Province of Havana. It has a population of a little less than 100,000 people. The largest cities are Nueva Gerona (40,000 at 2003 census; a very fast growing town in the northern region of the island) and La Fe.

The main transportation from the little island is by boats or aeroplanes. It has ports and small towns. Hydrofoils (kometas) and motorized catamarans will make the trip in between 2 and 3 hours. A much slower and larger cargo ferry takes around 6 hours to make the crossing, but is cheaper.

From 1953 to 1955, Cuban leader Fidel Castro was imprisoned on the Isle of Youth by the Batista regime after leading the failed attack on the Moncada Barracks in province of Oriente in July, 1953.