Welcome | Bienvenidos | Yá’át’ééh

Quick Contacts

About the Village of Cuba, New Mexico USA

Na’azísí Bito’ (Gophers’ Water) is the Navajo place name for Cuba. Since the 11th century, this wilderness area of the Upper Puerco was used by subsistence cultures — the Apache, Navajo, and Pueblo people. This region is located within the Navajo Four Sacred mountains, and many landforms are representative of characters in rich lore for indigenous cultures. Today, the Navajo people (Diné) continue weaving the ancestors’ cultural fabrics of language and traditions into daily lives. (Source: Navajo Tours USA)

In 1769, Spanish Governor Pedro Fermin de Mendinueta made the San Joaquin del Nacimiento land grant to 35 pioneering families who had settled the headwaters of the Rio Puerco in 1736. The community, originally called Nacimiento, was later abandoned owing to raids by frontier Indian tribes but was resettled in the late 1870s. The town of Cuba, meaning “large tank” or “vat,” was sometimes called La Laguna in reference to the wetlands that were once prevalent in this area. Settlers drained the area for agriculture and the village officially came to be called Cuba when a post office was established in 1887 before the Spanish American War. (Sources: Jemez Springs Public Library and State of New Mexico)

Once thriving with a robust economy fueled by oil and gas, timber, and copper mining in the mid- to late-1900’s, “Copper City” enjoyed a modern renaissance with a bustling Main Street complete with movie theaters, roller skating rink, department stores, dance halls, and social clubs. Today, Cuba is a village in transition from old to new. Cuba supports a diverse and culturally-rich population to include the many surrounding rural communities with basic goods and services. Looking ahead to diversifying the economy for sustainable growth, the Village of Cuba is working to position itself as a destination for tourism, embracing smart land use and renewable energy, and encouraging a homegrown entrepreneurial ecosystem.

Cuba, New Mexico City-Data

Cuba, NM Census Reporter