A girl who was playing among the ruins of a miniature castle died when the structure collapsed
14ymedio, Pedro Espinosa, Alamar (Havana), May 18, 2024 — Were it not for the fact that all Havana residents know what they are, one might think the ramps at El Golfito – once an important recreational center in Alamar – was an archaeological site. The work that a government construction crew has been carrying out for several weeks is very similar to what Indiana Jones’ colleagues would do: dusting, rebuilding, plowing and removing overgrown vegetation after many years of neglect.
When a veteran journalist with “Tribune de la Habana” wrote a column last year complaining about the deterioration of El Golfito, it immediately called attention to the situation. He posed a question to officials, asking if — even for a country in crisis — money could not be allocated to communal spaces. “Would it cost so much to fix these recreational centers that would allow the public to have a more active cultural life?” he wondered. “The answer is yes.”
The good economic news that the columnist was hoping for seems to have arrived. Rolando, one of the construction workers on the site, describes El Golfito and its miniature golf course as “a community project” that will be reopen “at the beginning of the summer.”
It was time, Rolando believes, that something was done with that area, where the ruins of El Golfito are just one of many
“Entry will be 200 pesos for those over 12 years old and free for the little ones. The entire offer will be in pesos,” says the man. In the surroundings of El Golfito – where the ramps can already be seen and the holes have been cleared – there will be “a cafe, a snack bar, swings, a seesaw and we are planting plants.”
It was time, Rolando believes, that something was done with that area, where the ruins of El Golfito are just one of many. Abandonment has been costly. “Several years ago,” he says, “a little girl who was playing in one of the ’little castles’ died because the structure collapsed.” Rolando does not know the details of the case, but one of his colleagues, who overhears the conversation, reprimands him: “You are talking too much.”
Rolando’s partner follows his scolding with an argument in support of the brigade: “Look what we’re doing,” he says, pointing to the grass and the fence they are putting up around the perimeter of the small field. At the moment, there is little progress and the place still looks like an excavation.
Beyond El Golfito, still in Cojímar, next to the beach, several ruined structures with a futuristic appearance still rise. These are old circular kiosks, now dilapidated, where food and soft drinks were previously sold to bathers. “I remember the cafe, the sellers of cold cuts, peanuts, the palm frond umbrellas, the filler sand that this piece of reef received every year to make our lives more bearable,” the official journalist reported longingly in her article.
Another invasion, that of trash dumps, has been affecting the health of those who live by the sea for several years. Bottles, plastic bags, pieces of clothing and all kinds of rubbish now take the place of the sun loungers and umbrellas of yesteryear. Of the bathers, no trace. Cojímar and Alamar, two names that evoked a sunny Havana of beaches, have ended up as “salty” as the fisherman whose failure Hemingway recounted.
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