Eusebio Leal Spengler, Historian of the City of Havana for more than 40 years and credited with the transformation of Old Havana from a deteriorated urban enclave into a showcase of exquisitely restored Spanish colonial architecture and urbanism, unrivaled in the Western Hemisphere, died last Friday, July 31, at age 77. The cause was pancreatic cancer.
Leal was instrumental in the designation of Old Havana as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1982, yet his period of greatest accomplishment as City Historian began later, with the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, which devastated the Cuban economy. Leal convinced Fidel Castro that the restoration of Old Havana could attract tourist dollars, and the government gave him extraordinary autonomy to do so. In 1994, with $1 million of seed money from the state, he established Habaguanex SA, a company focused on the development of tourist facilities—hotels, restaurants, stores—with the proceeds to be reinvested in more renovations—and not just for income-producing businesses, but also schools, clinics, and housing that would enable the quotidian life in the Old City to continue. (Leal repeatedly said that Havana should not turn into Venice, a city where tourists have largely displaced the local population.) Through Habaguanex—a robust capitalist enterprise embedded within the socialist system—and other programs, Leal and his office completed the restoration of over 300 historic buildings from churches, monasteries, and colonial palaces to early 20th century theaters and hotels. His office operates a center for research on materials conservation and a school to train young people in building restoration trades.
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