By Alejandra Garcia on September 13, 2022, from Havana
Eusebio Leal, photo: Bill Hackwell
Cuba has much to thank Eusebio Leal, who was, until his death, one of the men who most traveled, studied, and loved our country. Wherever he scratched, life from the past reappeared: from the most emblematic work of architecture of Old Havana to the most humble of the surrounding community buildings.
The Capitol in its golden hues, the Gran Teatro de La Habana with the famed ballet dancer Alicia Alonso, to the Prado walkway, which our national hero José Martí used to walk in past centuries, are just some of the many heritage sites that regained their splendor thanks to Leal’s persistence. The island remembers him this week with special nostalgia, as this September 11, 2022, marked the 80th anniversary of his birth.
Poetess Fina García Marruz once said of the man who loved Havana more than he loved himself: “In his humble sacrifice, in the tenacious dedication of his hours, in the Promethean vehemence with which he loves Havana, Eusebio Leal will always be wherever his mark can be found. Men may forget him, but the stones never will.”
And Havana doesn’t forget him. Many activities have been taking place in the city in honor of the man who “everything I did in the course of my life was in the service of my country. I gave my life in that pursuit,” as he said during an interview in 2016.
One of the most endearing events took place last Sunday, where a compilation of interviews with the historian was presented before friends and colleagues, who witnessed his lifelong dedication to the preservation and promotion of Havana’s patrimony.
During the homage, renowned singer-songwriter Silvio Rodriguez assured that working with intelligence, passion, and rebellion is the best way to pay homage to Leal, as well as to defend the truth.
“We don’t forget the call he made to us when he said, ‘We must believe deeply in solidarity, that every poor person on earth is our brother. Cuba wants its freedom to extend a generous hand to all the peoples of the world,'” Rodriguez explained.
In an article published in La Jornada a couple of years ago, the Cuban journalist Rosa Miriam Elizalde recounted how even before he was named Historian of the City of Havana, Eusebio Leal defended the complexity of the urban organism, with its growth processes that have the vigor and fragility of trees. “Its artificial alterations of pruning or grafting must be done with the knowledge and caution of a gardener.”
“A supporter of the dense, unpredictable and heterogeneous city, which mixes old and new constructions, neighbors and newcomers, children playing and dogs barking, vehicles and pedestrians in a permanently renewed urban choreography,” Elizalde added, “he and his collaborators confronted those who tried to demolish the colonial city to replace them with towers, concrete blocks, and highways.” And it will stay that way.
Leal died on July 31, 2020 and received posthumous tribute at the National Capitol five months later due to the COVID-19, which did not allow Cuba to perform the funeral honors on the date of his death.
This is the second birthday that passes without the physical presence of the man who never tried to turn the city into a museum. Instead, his aim was to turn Havana into a historically and architecturally beloved place that has given work to more than 14,000 people and housing to 11,000 families. Without him, the old city would have been another, or none at all.
Source: Resumen Latinoamericano – US