{"id":209501,"date":"2019-11-19T10:01:25","date_gmt":"2019-11-19T15:01:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/?p=209501"},"modified":"2019-11-19T10:01:25","modified_gmt":"2019-11-19T15:01:25","slug":"eusebio-of-old-havana-putting-soul-into-the-stones","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/opinion\/columns\/counterbalance\/eusebio-of-old-havana-putting-soul-into-the-stones\/","title":{"rendered":"Eusebio of Old Havana: putting soul into the stones"},"content":{"rendered":"

This will not be an article on economics, although it will inexorably be related to it.<\/span><\/p>\n

Cities have become one of the leading actresses of economic development in the world. I heard a colleague, Ricardo N\u00fa\u00f1ez, say a long time ago (2010) that \u201ccities are revitalizing entities of national and even regional economies.\u201d Perhaps today, Singapore with 719 km2 of surface, is the most evident proof of this assertion. That small city state is decisive in an entire region, in one of the most dynamic markets in the world and its extension is less than that of Havana!<\/span><\/p>\n

As Havanans that we all Cubans are, since Havana is the capital of all, we have been partying because our city turned 500 and we have celebrated it as it should, among other things, because none of us will be present when the city\u2019s millennium is celebrated. And if it has been possible, in addition to the passion and dedication of many men and women who devoted hours and hours to that purpose, it has also been possible because of the seed that was planted and that germinated since long before, ever since around 1925 when Don Emilio Roig de Leuchsenring was conferred the title of City Historian and thirteen years later the Office of the Historic Center was founded.<\/span><\/p>\n

All that effort grew later and became great thanks to the mind, heart and shoes of Don Eusebio Leal. As early as 1982, UNESCO would recognize it by declaring the Historic Center of Havana a World Heritage Site. But instead of sitting down and taking off his shoes to enjoy recognition, he walked and walked Havana with more vigor and ambition to reach greater goals, turning that recognition into the lever to transform the neighborhood and its inhabitants. This has not been a solely conservationist effort, but rather a purpose of highly inclusive and sustainable social development.<\/span><\/p>\n

It is likely that many Havanans don\u2019t know that the Historic Center of our city with its 2.14 square kilometers barely comprises 0.3% of the territory of the city (727 km2) and not more than 0.6% of its urbanized area. It is also likely that they barely know that, in its time, it was one of the Cuban territories with the greatest deterioration of its infrastructure, both residential as well as of its basic service networks, such as water and sewage. It is likely that in its time it was the territory with the highest concentration of infrastructure deficits per square meter, if that indicator exists. Even today, after so much effort, that indicator must be very high.<\/span><\/p>\n

It is in that small territory where the most successful local development project that I have known in Cuba emerged and consolidated. It started with an initial capital of just 25,000 dollars and a loan of 1 million dollars and some assets such as the Ambos Mundos Hotel (which was nowhere near the hotel it is today), a 13-room hostel, the People\u2019s Power construction company, three restaurants, La Mina, El Mes\u00f3n and El Patio, an architecture workshop of the Ministry of Culture and the Office of the Historian, at that time in the Palace of the Captains General. [1]<\/span><\/p>\n

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Photo: Naturaleza Secreta.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In just a few years (2009), total assets reached 1 billion Cuban pesos and the contribution of mercantile societies belonging to the Office of the Historian generated more than 35 million dollars that were redistributed between productive investments in mercantile societies that allowed for making economically sustainable the project, social investments, infrastructure and works for cultural heritage. Today all of Cuba\u2019s tourist routes, even those that do not pass through Havana, in some way cannot escape its charm, dozens of restaurants have turned the neighborhood into a gourmet destination, a great deal of its inhabitants every day discover something new that makes its environment different and its people improve.<\/span><\/p>\n

Then came other fateful times, still mysterious to me, where several branches were practically cut off from the tree and that almost felled it. The ability that sometimes develops to jeopardize what has been successful in social, economic, political and environmental terms always calls attention. Now it seems that something has been done to rectify this.<\/span><\/p>\n

But beyond the vicissitudes, the work has remained and perhaps one of the greatest legacies of the Office and the Historian of Havana is the example of how to put together a development project based on building, WITH EVERYONE, a strategic development plan of the territory. Neighborhoods like that of Santo \u00c1ngel have reproduced and innovated based on the Office\u2019s model and the projects shared by its inhabitants have transformed the neighborhood, making it richer materially, culturally and spiritually. The same can be said of the Alliance Project for the Plaza Vieja.<\/span><\/p>\n

Those who have studied the Office’s experience underline some decisive features:<\/span><\/p>\n