MADRID, Spain.- Little more than two months after the explosion of the Hotel Saratoga, in Havana, which occurred on May 6, the property is propped up and surrounded by a fence.
Just a few days after SinisterÁngel Vilaragut Montes de Oca, first deputy minister of construction, declared to the magazine Bohemia: “With what we have up to this minute, it is possible to restore the building. Without a doubt, there is a group of affected places that we have not yet managed to gain access to.”
In the midst of the economic and housing crisis that the country is going through, Montes de Oca insisted: “Until today, the building is recoverable”; although it implies a high expenditure of resources that were not planned.
Also in mid-May, when search and rescue efforts were still being carried out for the victims, the official press announced that upon completion of these tasks, the National Company for Applied Research would monitor the installation from sensors located in different places. Just as he specified that the emptying of the pool, located on the top floor of the hotel, would be carried out in stages and the structures that presented deformation would be dismantled.
The explosion not only left the Saratoga semi-destroyed, mainly its facade and the side, which were completely knocked down to the third floor by the impact, but also caused damage to 17 of the adjoining buildings, of which the Office of the Historian of the The City of Havana took care of four of them: the Martí Theater, the National Capitol, the Yoruba Cultural Association and the El Calvario Baptist Church.
After the incident, one of the first actions of the Office in the emblematic Martí theater was to clean up the debris and recover what could be reused, for which they dismantled the carpentry and classified the misplaced fittings and bars.
The Cuban architect Vladimir Calderón Frías, in statements to CubaNet, he explained that although the Saratoga had been repaired before the explosion, it was not sufficiently reinforced due to its age.
Regarding the impact on neighboring buildings, the specialist pointed out the immense risk involved in the construction of hotels for tourism in areas such as Old Havana.
The accident at the Hotel Saratoga left a balance of 99 people injured and 47 dead (25 men and 22 women).
Most of the victims were hotel workers who were carrying out renovation work for its reopening, which was scheduled for May 10, 2022, after two years closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The last person who remained hospitalized was discharged on June 28.
Among the deceased was the Spanish tourist Cristina López-Cerón who was visiting Cuba to celebrate the recently completed 30 years of her boyfriend, César Román.
Although the Cuban authorities indicated that the explosion was due to a gas leak, so far there is no official report on the causes that caused the incident.
The Saratoga Hotel was built in 1880 and originally functioned as a warehouse.
Located on the Paseo del Prado in Havana, in front of the Fuente de la India, it was inaugurated as a hotel in 1933. In 2005, it underwent a major restoration carried out by the Office of the City Historian, on the occasion of the 486th anniversary of the founding of San Cristóbal de La Habana.
It reopened as a luxurious five-star hotel, with 96 rooms, three bars, two restaurants and a business center. Later, a spa and gym with high-end equipment were included.
International personalities such as the queen of pop, Madonna, the American singer Beyoncé and her husband, the rapper Jay-Z, had stayed in the building.
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