History
It is known for its rich colonial history, being the home town of Chacón, Guaracheros de Regla and the traditional Virgen de Regla Santería celebrations. It formed during the colonial period around the hermitage of Nuestra Señora de Regla (est. 1690) and was officially founded in 1687 (1765).
Regla has a strong patriotic tradition being home to several patriots and personalities, among them Eduardo Facciolo, executed by the colonial Spanish government for conspiring for Cuban independence, and Miguel Coyula, who reached the rank of Lieutenant Colonel of the Cuban Liberation Army (Mambi Army) in its fight against colonial Spain.
It is an historic known fact that the first speech with political pro-independence overtones delivered by National Apostle José Martí was delivered in the Lyceum of Regla.
During the struggle against dictator Fulgencio Batista, due to the strong opposition to Batista, the town was described as "sierra chiquita" (little mountain range) in allusion to the rebels in the Sierra Maestra range. The most conspicuous public action against Batista in town was led by Juan Alborná Salado, at the time 21 years old, head of the clandestine militias of the Movimiento 26 de Julio in town, in March 1958, when the local police killed another young man of Regla named Gilberto Monzon. The young men Leonardo Lopez, Filiberto Torres, Luis Lorenzo Gonzalez, Marcos Gonzalez, Manuel Lopez Guenaga, Elio Serrano, German Roche, Pedro Valdes, Jose Luis Cabrera and others seconded him. All of them belonged to the Movimiento 26 de Julio.
Thousands of people took to the streets, with the burial of the young men being a centerpoint of a riot, and a crowd escorted the funerary car up to the cemetery at which Alborná and Luis Lorenzo Gonzalez spoke. Motorized police reinforcements took Regla and surrounded the cemetery and shot at close range. The police took prisoners, and many escaped, including Juan Alborná, but with a hand injury that was cured by his girlfriend Noemi Vidal. It was practically a popular uprising.
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