Today the country of Cuba is divided into fourteen provinces, but just after the Spanish American War in 1905 there were only six.  Almost in the island’s center was the province of Las Villas.  Today that province has been divided into three.  One of these  three provinces is named Sancti Spiritus, named after the town by the same name.  Sancti Spiritus is near the Yayabo River,  where the legend of  the Guayabera Shirt was born.

To this day, the origin of the Guayabera  is a matter of debate, but Cuban legend has the shirt originating in this area.  To set this legend to rest, the Cuban government established a cultural program called “La Guayabera” at the Ruben Martinez Villena Library in Sancti Spiritus.   This program consists of a collection of Guayabera shirts and photograhs donated by many Cuban personalities.

Among these personalities were Fidel Castro and his brother Raul.  Fidel  donated the Guayabera shirt he wore at the 4th Ibero-American Summit in Cartegena, Columbia.  For this occasion Fidel had replaced his traditional olive green uniform with a crisp white Guayabera shirt for the heads of state and the world to see.

It has been said that one of the most famous personalities to have worn the Guayabera was Ernest Hemmingway, though no pictures have been found.  After World War II,  Hemingway purchased a home, Finca Vigia, near Havana, Cuba.  In 1952 he wrote a story of a tired old Cuban fisherman and his battle with a giant marlin called “The Old Man and the Sea” for which he won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1954.

Several US politicians have also worn Guayabera shirts, including two presidents.  In the 1980’s, when Ronald Reagan visited Ferdinand Marcos in the Phillipines, he put one on.  Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, also wore one when he visited Cuba in 2002. He was the first U.S. president to visit Cuba since the 1959 revolution. And presidential runner Mitt Romney had one on when he attended a ralley at a youth center named after Jorge Mas Canosa, the founder of the Cuban-American National Foundation.

On a negative note, the agents of the Cuban secret service known as the General Directorate for State Security (DGSE), wear Guayaberas as their civilian incognito uniform.  And Raul Castro had a specially designed Guayabera made for the military.