The Model* and the Republic / Rebeca Monzo

Many have officially cursed the once booming Republic, now so tainted For the new generations, born with the Revolution, it is like talking about a love gone bad. Or they act like it never existed.

Whenever I can, I recommend to everyone around me, that they visit the model of Havana. There they will appreciate the advantages of having been a young, although frustrated, Republic, that with its defects, but also with its innumerable virtues, was a prodigal of modernity and an example for America. They will notice that there is a lot to be proud of, when they approach it.

Standing in front of it, and facing North, to the right they can see, colored brown, the constructions built during the colonial period; in the center, extending widely to the left and covering almost the entirety, is the color ivory which represents the Republic. While splashed here and there within that great conglomeration, there are some white points, which represent constructions of the Revolutionary period.

And in this color appears the Amejeiras Brothers Hospital, which was nearly completed by 1959, and would have been the National Bank of Cuba, whose vaults remain in the basement of what is now a medical building. And it’s the same with the Civic Plaza, now called the Plaza of the Revolution, which was also nearly finished, lacking only a few architectural details on some of the buildings.

It’s enough to visit the place where this model is housed, which without it being the intention of those who created it, represents the great lie of so much distorted history.

*Translator’s Note: The model Rebeca is referring to here is an architectural model of the City of Havana.

June 10 2011