{"id":211440,"date":"2019-12-29T17:40:35","date_gmt":"2019-12-29T22:40:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/?p=211440"},"modified":"2019-12-29T17:40:35","modified_gmt":"2019-12-29T22:40:35","slug":"eusebio-how-did-you-do-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/opinion\/columns\/driving\/eusebio-how-did-you-do-it\/","title":{"rendered":"Eusebio, how did you do it?"},"content":{"rendered":"

It was 1979. Eusebio Leal was leaning on the southeast wall of the Palace of the Captains General in Old Havana, looking up at the sky. It was a sunny day, there were no signs of rain but Eusebio always looks up as if looking for some kind of inspiration. Never, in all these years, have I spoken to him about this curious detail.<\/span><\/p>\n

Norma and I were walking through the square when we spotted him. Eusebio was, as his friend Garc\u00eda M\u00e1rquez said, a being who levitated without realizing it because he was not interested. At that time, he was interested in two things: teaching and recovering. And when we met him that\u2019s what we got, a lesson. \u201cAre you students?\u201d Of course. \u201cThat\u2019s great\u2026.\u201d The phrase stayed in the air and as I was a fan of the \u201cAndar La Habana\u201d (A Walk through Havana) program, I couldn’t think of anything other than asking where those stones he was leaning on came from. We had to ask him something, didn\u2019t we?<\/span><\/p>\n

What followed was a university lecture. He explained that many came from quarries on the island, others from Spain, some marbles from Europe but, most importantly, that the cutters also crossed the Atlantic. I don\u2019t remember his exact words, but he said something like that it was a monumental work that did not stop at the Palace of the Captains General but encompassed a myriad of other palaces and mansions built in a carefully designed symmetry that ended up establishing an architectural style that determined the future of the city. I also remember that he added that the architects took care of adapting European designs to the characteristics of the country, building high ceilings to cool the environment.<\/span><\/p>\n

And he added something that would mark his life from that moment on: \u201cNow we have to rebuild all this. It is our task.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019m not going to say that it was a premonition, because rebuilding Havana was an old social aspiration, but I remember asking myself how he would do it.<\/span><\/p>\n