Protected areas are natural, terrestrial, or marine areas determined by the country to ensure the conservation, recovery, or preservation of particularities and environmental and cultural richness. They are managed by the National System of Protected Areas (SNAP) of the Ministry of Science, Technology, and Environment (CITMA). 

Through the Ordinary Issue of the Official Gazette No. 111, dated October 8, 2021, of the Council of Ministers of Cuba, eight new protected areas have been declared as Zones with Special Regulations, of the type of High Environmental Significance and Historical-Cultural Importance (Protected Area Category): Lomas de La Canoa-Cueva La Chucha and Lomas Las Tasajeras, located in the municipality of Yaguajay in the province of Sancti Spíritus. 

Also declared as Zones with Special Regulations, of High Environmental Significance and Historical-Cultural Importance were the following areas: Corona de San Carlos (Fauna Refuge Category) and East of Los Colorados Archipelago (Managed Resources Protected Area Category), located in the municipalities of Viñales, La Palma and Minas de Matahambre, in the province of Pinar del Río. 

Also declared as Zones with Special Regulations, of High Environmental Significance and Historical-Cultural Importance (Fauna Refuge Category) are the following areas: Gulf of Batabanó in the municipality of the same name, Southeast of El Inglés in the municipality of Nueva Paz, both in the province of Mayabeque. 

In the municipality of Niquero in the province of Granma, the Banco de Buena Esperanza-Manáguano area was declared as a Zone with Special Regulations, of High Environmental Significance and Historical-Cultural Importance, in the category of Protected Area (Outstanding Natural Element Category). 

In the province of Santiago de Cuba, in the municipality of the same name, the Baconao Lagoon area was declared a Zone with Special Regulations of High Environmental Significance and Historical-Cultural Importance (Protected Natural Landscape Category). 

In the municipality of Candelaria, in the province of Artemisa, the area of Loma El Mogote de Soroa was declared a Zone with Special Regulations, of High Environmental Significance and Historical-Cultural Importance (Outstanding Natural Element Category). 

The Official Gazette contains the description, buffer zones, geographic coordinates, regulations, and prohibitions, as well as the map of all the areas declared as protected. 

The administration of the areas declared as protected is the responsibility of the Ministry of Agriculture, which will designate, as appropriate, the entity that will be in charge of the administration of these areas on its behalf. 

To carry out activities in these areas, according to their management categories, the entities responsible for their administration must incorporate the specific regulations and prohibitions in the special operational and management plans that they prepare for this purpose, under the procedure established by CITMA.