Las Terrazas (pop. 1200), though not significant in terms of size, it is certainly one the area's most interesting towns.

The area's history of poverty began in the late 18th century when coffee crops planted by French exiles from Haiti began to fail.  After that, the locals relied on sales of charcoal to feed and clothe their families.  Not only did they become appallingly poor, but much of the area had been clear-cut, and was ecologically dead.  This area became one of the poorest in the province of Pinar del Rio.

Even for years after the Revolution, the area was still impoverished and fully reliant on charcoal exports.  The people of this area were still isolated from the health care and education that would be necessary to escape the cruel cycle of poverty.   In 1967, noting the area's horrid conditions, the government established programs of rural development and ecological restoration in an attempt to renew the community.

The town of Las Terrazas was founded in the early 1970's to provide housing for the area's families.  The town was designed with good taste in mind, certainly a welcome change from the functional but ugly Eastern bloc architecture (example) found in many recent housing projects.