Washington/Quebec City - A unique 16th-century Spanish settlement in Cuba and Mexico's Monarch butterfly reserve have received World Heritage status from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) during a committee meeting in Canada. The designations, which came late Monday, also included a second site for Mexico - the fortified town of San Miguel and the sanctuary of Jesus de Nazareno de Atotonilco.
Cuba's village of Camaguey, settled in 1528, contains large and small squares, serpentine streets, alleys and irregular urban blacks, which make it "highly exceptional for Latin American colonial towns" located on the plains, the world heritage committee said late Monday.
The town played a "prominent role as the urban centre of an inland territory dedicated to cattle breeding and the sugar industry," the committee said.
With the addition, Cuba now has nine World Heritage sites.
Mexico's 56,259-hectare Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve, about 100 km northwest of Mexico City, provides refuge to millions of butterflies which return every year in the autumn for a four-month stay. During the following eight months, the Monarchs migrate to Eastern Canada and back, during which time four successive generations are born and die, the committee said.
"How they find their way back to their overwintering site remains a mystery," the panel said.
The town of San Miguel Allende, 270 kilometres north of Mexico City in eastern Guanajuatoin Mexico's mountainous bajio region, was built in the 16th century to protect the access route inland. The town and the sanctuary represent some of the "finest examples of Baroque art and architecture in New Spain," the committee said.
With the additions, Mexico now has 29 world heritage sites.
