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SPECIAL REPORTS
- Tuesday
30 November 2004
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ARTS
WEEKLY/CUBA:
The Ever New Old Havana
Dalia
Acosta
HAVANA, (IPS) - For anyone,
whether they are foreign
nationals, people who live on
the other side of Cuba, or
natives and residents of the
capital,taking a walk through
Old Havana these days is like
discovering a new city.
New museums, concert halls,
small shops, cafés, pubs and
hostels, bearing the cultural
mark of the historic centre of
the Cuban capital, come
springing up day after day
between the renovated walls of
buildings that had until
recently been lying in ruins.
Cropping up nearby are a centre
for women with high-risk
pregnancies, housing for the
elderly, and a rehabilitation
centre for children with
degenerative diseases of the
central nervous system.
According to Eusebio Leal, the
head of Havana's Office of the
City Historian, the programme
for renovating the old city is
based on the view that "social
and community development should
go hand in hand with the
restoration project.
"There have been previous
failures, even in wealthy
countries, where restoration has
led to the depopulation of the
city, transforming an inhabited
city into a commercial area,"
said Leal.
But the project that has
involved years of efforts to
salvage and rebuild Old Havana
-- which was added to the United
Nations Educational, Scientific
and Cultural Organisation
(UNESCO) list of Heritage of
Humanity sites in 1982 -- "is
well-planned", said the official
in an interview published in the
weekly Tribuna de La Habana.
A study conducted this year by
the Economic Commission for
Latin America and the Caribbean
(ECLAC) and the Cuban National
Institute for Economic Research
(INIE) described the project for
restoring Havana's historic
centre as "a model of social and
economic integration".
The study underlined the
political will to carry forward
a sustainable project, the
existence of a working strategy,
and the application of a
decentralised model of public
and economic administration.
Life changed for the better for
local residents in 1993, when
the Council of State, the
highest governmental organ in
Cuba, granted the Office of the
City Historian special legal
status to run the stores,
restaurants and other tourism
facilities in Old Havana.
Sources from that Office
indicate that between 1994 and
2002, the old city brought in
earnings of around 120 million
dollars, as well as 12 million
dollars in taxes. The main
source of income is tourism.
Approximately 45 percent of the
funds were reinvested in
productive projects in the area,
35 percent went towards social
programmes promoted by the
Office and the local government,
and 20 percent went into the
state coffers.
In that period, 76 cultural
heritage restoration projects
were completed, while 14 hotels
offering a total of 413 rooms,
another 79 facilities for
tourists, including cafés and
shops, 11 real estate companies,
and 3,092 housing units were
built or renovated.
Experts estimate that around
8,300 new jobs have been created
in the area for residents of Old
Havana and neighbouring
municipalities.
A census carried out in Old
Havana in 2001 identified
housing as one of the most
pressing social problems in the
area, because more than 45
percent of the houses and
apartments did not meet minimal
conditions.
Just over half of the almost
67,000 people living in 21,005
housing units in the area are
women, and 16.5 percent are 60
or older, in line with national
demographics.
To help meet the needs of the
elderly, the Office of the City
Historian opened a geriatrics
centre and is building special
housing, with international
support.
The idea, according to the
ECLAC-INIE study, is to build a
number of small individual
housing units complemented by
others that are used
collectively,with the aim of
improving the quality of life of
senior citizens.
"Several times I have thought of
moving to another part of the
city but I always stayed," said
Magda Rodríguez, a 27-year-old
lawyer who says she is always
wary of the possibility of "the
corridor crumbling or the
kitchen wall collapsing."
Rodríguez said she dreams of the
moment when she can move to
transitional housing set up for
families whose own homes are
being refurbished.
The 2001 census did not find a
close correlation between the
type of housing and the
intention to stay, but reported
instead that what prevails is
"the sense of belonging to a
place." Rodríguez, like 67.7
percent of the people in the
census, said she would not trade
her "Old Havana for anything in
the world".
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