List of Famous people born in Santiago de Cuba Province, Cuba

Máximo Francisco Repilado Muñoz Telles, known professionally as "Compay Segundo", was a Cuban trova guitarist, singer and composer.

Eduardo René Chibás Ribas was a Cuban politician who used radio to broadcast his political views to the public. He primarily denounced corruption and gangsterism rampant during the governments of Ramón Grau and Carlos Prío which preceded the Batista era. He believed corruption was the most important problem Cuba faced.

Paul Lafargue was a French revolutionary Marxist socialist, political writer, journalist, literary critic, and activist; he was Karl Marx's son-in-law having married his second daughter, Laura. His best known work is The Right to Be Lazy. Born in Cuba to French and Creole parents, Lafargue spent most of his life in France, with periods in England and Spain. At the age of 69, he and 66-year-old Laura died together by a suicide pact.

Carlos Fernández Gondín was a Cuban politician. He was a founding member of the Communist Party of Cuba, and served as the country's Minister of the Interior from 2015 until his death.

Ibrahim Ferrer was a Cuban singer who played with Los Bocucos for nearly forty years. He also performed with Conjunto Sorpresa, Chepín y su Orquesta Oriental and Mario Patterson. After his retirement in 1991, he was brought back in the studio to record with the Afro-Cuban All Stars and Buena Vista Social Club in March 1996. He then toured internationally with these revival groups and recorded several solo albums for World Circuit before his death in 2005.

José Ramón Fernández Álvarez was a Cuban Communist leader who was a Vice-President of the Council of Ministers.

Carmen Lydia Đurić, known by her artist name Hessie, was a Cuban textile artist who lived in France from 1962 until her death. Her creative work was mainly focused on embroidery using fabrics, although she also used the technique of collage with waste materials.

José-Maria de Heredia was a Cuban-born French Parnassian poet. He was the fifteenth member elected for seat 4 of the Académie française in 1894.

Reinaldo Hierrezuelo La O, known professionally as Rey Caney, was a Cuban singer, guitarist, and tresero. Born in Santiago de Cuba as the youngest of 11 siblings, he led Cuarteto Patría for some time; this famous group is now led by Eliades Ochoa. In the middle 1950s, he took over Compay Segundo's place in the duo Los Compadres, as "Duo Los Compadres" they recorded for several record labels including Panart and Seeco, with the latter he also recorded as Rey Caney in New York City in 1960. The other partner being his elder brother Lorenzo Hierrezuelo. He and his brother sang together for thirty years. He also sang and played with many other groups, and finally came back to Santiago de Cuba to lead the Vieja Trova Santiaguera, one of the top groups in Cuba's second city. He also worked with his sister Caridad Hierrezuelo, a singer of guaracha style.

Eustacia María Caridad del Río Hernández, better known as Caridad del Río, Caridad Mercader or Caritat Mercader, was a Cuban communist militant and an agent of the Soviet NKVD. She is also known for being the mother of Ramón Mercader, the assassin of Leon Trotsky, and for having personally participated in the operation.