Residents of the “Giron” Building Fear for Their Lives / Ernesto Garcia Diaz

Photo: Library of Congress
Photo: Library of Congress

From the “socialist era,” the building cracks before the astonished gaze of people and the terror of those who live there.

HAVANA, Cuba — The Girón building, on Havana’s Malecon between E and F Streets, in Vedado, is on the point of collapse from its cracked structure. Built in the sixties and opened at the beginning of the seventies, it was designed by Eastern European specialists under the brutalist archetype with feet cast in concrete and steel, with the idea that most of the workers of the Girón Bus plant would live there. Its construction used the sliding mold technique for the first time in Cuba.

FOTOS-PAÑOS-DE-LAS-ESCALERAS-REVENTADOS-225x300This apartment building for families has two blocks of 18 stories with 66 apartments each; two elevators and six passageways every three levels.

For years it has suffered from cracks and leaks, but the Housing Authorities and responsible agencies take into account the obvious concerns of its neighbors, fearful of loosing their lives one day from above.

Since its opening, the building has not been maintained and repaired as its years require, aggravated by receiving the blasts of salt, being located so close to the sea.

Cubanet, 3 February 2014, Ernesto Garcia Diaz