CUBA-CULTURE: Old Havana’s Not for Tourists Only

By Dalia Acosta Reprint | | Print |

Dalia Acosta

HAVANA, Aug 28 1996 (IPS) - Scorned for decades by most upwardly mobile citizens, the neighbourhood of Old Havana is now becoming one of the most attractive parts of this Cuban capital.

Declared part of the “Patrimony of Humanity” by UNESCO, this historic district is emerging its ruins, presenting an image of an “almost new” centre: painted walls, shiny windows, clean streets.

The rubble which once made Old Havana resemble a city in war, the walls worn out by time, and the inertia of its inhabitants, have slowly begun to disappear. The area seems to be recovering its soul.

“They have been restoring castles, plazas, and palaces here for several years, but this is the first time that they are repairing my house,” says Nicanor Gomez, who lives on Obispo, a pedestrian artery which was Havana’s main street until the 1930s.

The repairs on Nicanor’s building are part of a programmeme to reopen a large commercial area shut down as a result of the economic crisis that has been affecting the island since the beginning of the decade.

This project is part of a much larger programme that involves investing profits obtained from tourism in the preservation of historical sites and the overall improvement of the community.

“We have been able to erase the feeling that the historical district was for tourists and not for the people who live here,” says Eusebio Leal, a city historian who heads up the whole renovation project for the old district.

The changes began in 1993. A decree of the Council of State granted the Office of the Historian the official status of “cultural institution” thus allowing it to raise its own funds.

The institution subsequently went from total economic dependence on the government to an income of 4.5 million dollars in 1994. Last year, this rose to 11 million dollars. Projecttions for 1996: 18 million, with a profit of 50 cents for each dollar invested.

With part of those funds, the Office of the Historian has embarked on the project of restoring 12 large buildings, including housing complexes and day care centres. It also repaired schools and provided resources for the establishment of health centres.

According to Leal, jobs created by his office are reserved for people who live in the historic district. In addition, some 600 children take classes in the museums, and in the past year more than 8,000 senior citizens have received some form of nutritional or medical assistance.

“They invite me, and I always go. They take us to interesting exhibits, they give us a good breakfast and we always bring home basic supplies,” says Aurora Cordero, a 70-year-old retiree who is one of the enthusiastic participants of the activities organized by the Office of the Historian.

The next plan is to restore the valuable building of the old Belen convent and open the area’s first senior citizen’s residence. A maternal-infant centre and a geriatric ward will also be built.

“For the first time, the urban development of the oldest part of the capital will not be guided by hypothetical planning, but rather by norms and actions in strict coordination with real plans,” says architect Patricia Rodriguez.

Rodriguez, technical coordinator of the master plan for the historic centre, believes that Old Havana — with a population density of 333 inhabitants per square hectare — is perfectly manageable.

“Old Havana itself is a tremendous asset, and the displacement of its population is not an alternative. Reorganization is,” said Rodriguez, who also points out that five hectares in the historical district have potential for building.

A population and housing census conducted in 1995 revealed a population of 71,658 in the area declared Patrimony of Humanity, 3,000 of which live in buildings threatened by collapse.

With a total area of 214 hectares, the historic centre of Havana has some 4,000 buildings. Of the number some 900 are considered valuable from an historical or architectural point of view. The status of cultural patrimony, however, was granted to the entire area.

The most common problems are the lack of maintenance, deficiencies in water, gas, and sewage systems, and the lack of private bathroom facilities. Even so, most people say that they wouldn’t live anywhere else.

According to census data which is still being processed and to which IPS gained access, 68 percent of the residents of Old Havana wish to remain in the historic district, and 80 percent — including a large part of those who do want to leave — are willing to work on the restoration projects.

Rodriguez acknowledges that Old Havana has become an attractive place to live and that, in fact, city authorities have had to curb the settlement of illegal migrants from other parts of the country.

The historic district attracts 80 percent of the tourists that arrive on the island each year. It therefore also attracts people from the more marginal sectors that live off sales to tourists.

Sex, locally produced medicines, adulterated cigars, and even parakeets can be purchased illegally on the streets of the historic district, a phenomenon that, according to Leal, can only be eliminated if community development goes hand in hand with the development of tourism.

“Develop tourism, yes. But a contained tourism,” proposes Fernando Pulin Moreno, director of the master plan in representation Spanish Agency of Ibero-American Cooperation.

For this Spanish architect and the Cuban specialists at the Office of the Historian, it is clear that well-conducted tourist activities are the most important source of financing for the rehabilitation of the historic district. In fact, there are already plans to open 21 hotels and 19 guest houses in the next five years.

According to the plans, the challenge is to prevent an indiscriminate expansion of tourism that repeats the experience of other historic centres, and ends up keeping an important part of the historical and cultural patrimony and displacing the residents.

“The historic centre is restored, above all, for its residents,” says Leal, adding that the Old Havana project is guided by a cultural criterion and a respect for history which will always prevail, even if that means that the restoration will cost more money.