By: Luis Miguel Cabrera
Havana was chosen as one of the seven Wonder cities of the world, among the finalists of global competition organized by the Swiss foundation New7Wonders.
The official result of the vote, published by the sponsor contest´s site (www.new7wonders.com), placed at Havana in fourth place in alphabetical order after the cities of Beirut, Doha and Durban.
The result was released on video by the founder-president of the New7Wonders, Bernard Weber, who described at seven winning cities as representatives of “the global diversity of human society”. He also said that “they will be part of the global memory of mankind, to join the new seven wonders of nature (New7Wonders of Nature) and the new seven wonders of the world (New7Wonders of the World)” collected by his foundation.
From Dubai, United Arab Emirates capital, Weber congratulated each of the winning cities and hoped to celebrate the result with its citizens in 2015.
With 495 years of existence, Havana was a finalist in the fourth stage of the vote, which reduced from 28 to 14 the list of cities with the potential to become ‘Wonder city’. Initially, more than a thousand cities in 220 countries had been nominated.
This result recognizes not only the architectural values of Havana but their culture, idiosyncrasies and history. It also represents a significant contribution to the tourism sector, one of the main economic lines of the Caribbean country.
The vote through the official website of the foundation was totally popular and included millions of people around the world. In the last week, Cubans with access to internet or via their mobile phones, through sms, could also participate in the contest.
