Sadly, the new man has not only vandalized human values. He has made sure anything dear to them, namely, Cubans was brutally raped, too. My generation and the ones thereafter have endured the most sadistic obliteration of moral and ethical principles, but have also witnessed how the new man preyed on cities and places many of us treasure as ours!
Havana, my city, wouldn't certainly be exempt. Fidel Castro and his new man have basically brought it down to its knees. Once a place Cubans and visitors alike were proud of, the city of Havana today is little more than a giant showcase of decay, destruction, and neglect.
Clearly, I never saw my city before the new man, but no matter how hard they've tried to hide it, there are pictures and there are people and books to tell the stories of the past. Thus, it is not hard to travel back in time and see myself walking around Havana before I was even born! Sad, for sure! The city has changed! some change it is!
Fortunately, pictures can take me back to an era when my childhood city was not as saddening and depressing as it was while growing up. I don't know if that's a good or a bad sign. I know it is comforting to look back at streets and places I am so familiar with and hope we, as a nation, have enough time to reclaim whatever is left.
Yet, however dreadful our days of revolution, I don't look at the past to hate the present. I rather imagine a future where we all enjoy the memories, dream as in a fairy tale, learn and share it with future generations and, ultimately, make sure a revolution does not happen again.
Bitterness aside, I wish I could have been in Havana 50 or even a 100 years ago and I wish I could fit all that history and memories into such a little space like this! Fortunately, a picture is worth a thousand words, isn't it?
If nothing else, I still see myself walking down the streets of Havana as if it was today. Not a pretty image necessarily, but my city after all.
For one, Old Havana is barely standing. The passing of time and the aftermaths of the lack of care and love are evident nowadays. Yet, history and the lives of many of us are trapped in here and that's what matters most.
And, who, on his or her way home, hasn't stopped by the adjoining Parque Central, a unique place that blends nature with the stories told by several statues and monuments spread all over the park? For one, the first statue ever built to honor Jose Marti was set in place right here back in 1905.
The statue was designed by sculptor Jose Villalta de Saavedra after a 1899 poll conducted by El Figaro, an illustrated magazine published between the end of the XIX Century and the early years of the XX.
Construction of the park itself was finished in 1877 after the Murallas de La Habana were finally demolished. Some of the trees planted here are now over a hundred years old.
Trees and marble benches cover the boulevard from one end to the other; private houses, hotels, theaters, cinemas, and stores reminiscent of Vienna, Madrid, and Paris line both sides of the first paved street in Havana.
After decades of splendor, many of the rich residents of the area begun moving to Miramar during the 1950's.
Decades later, after the revolution, not much was done to maintain the area and many buildings collapsed swallowing with them a piece of history.
El Paseo del Prado once looked like this, though:
Not far away, Obispo resembles a flea market. Countless stores and street merchants are open for business year round. Even today, the street is one of the busiest areas in the city.
Thrift stores and banks once lined up the boulevard. Yet, informal commercial stands were also a common feature.
The boulevard dies at Plaza de Armas, a colonial venue packed today with street vendors. The plaza accommodates several of the most important colonial structures miraculously still standing today.
Unfortunately, Habana Vieja was completely ignored and neglected for years until renovation projects were undertaken in the early 2000's. Today, it certainly looks in better shape, but I wonder how much history has been lost on the way.
West of the old city, Centro Habana, an area I am pretty familiar with, has not fared any better. Buildings are barely in one piece; digging into the past makes me fear not much will be left in a few years from now.
The busy corner of Infanta and San Lazaro looks decrepit and unattractive nowadays, but years ago, it irradiated life and energy:
The cross street, San Lazaro, runs all the way down from Unversidad de La Habana, visible at the center back, deep into the heart of the city. Over the years, the street has witnessed countless student demonstrations and, before Castro, was often battered by political turmoil.
Infanta itself was once a gorgeous showcase of specialized stores, bakeries, movie theaters, and restaurants. Today, very little is left, though. I heard the movie theater of the same name was "rebuilt" a few years ago and remains the only one afloat!
Back then, the process of "naming" the city and its surroundings had just begun. Thus, due to the governor's ordinance, this area was dubbed "El Vedado", the reserve or forbidden zone. Somehow the name stubbornly beat time and even survived the name-changing mania of the revolutionary era.
Today, El Vedado is just a pale image of what it once was. There is nothing left of the legendary splendor that attracted the whole world to the city, let alone caobas and acanas.
I thought it wouldn't be necessary to upload any recent pictures of the city today. It is not my intention to visually compare the past and the present. Of the present itself we all have plenty as, if I may say, reference, don't we?
I am just trying to fantasize about what it could have been had we taken care of the past. Sure, it would be different today notwithstanding. But it wouldn't be broken!
For the new man, just a reminder: this was Havana back in 1938!
w.dominguez
Note: Most of the pictures above can be found at the Library of Congress and Wikimedia Commons.
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