The brand new statue of Eusebio Leal, inaugurated with pomp this Monday in front of the Museum of the City, the former palace of the Captains General in Old Havana, by the president-designate himself, Miguel Díaz-Canel, is only approached by national tourists, the the only ones that recognize in the bronze the historian of the Cuban capital.
The gesture of the sculpture, the work of José Villa Soberón and Gabriel Cisneros Báez, which represents the deceased historian in real size, walking with documents in hand and “live step”, according to described the official press, lends itself to passersby leaning on it and taking selfies. He also begins to be the target of jokes and memes.
Leal became known at the national level through a program that was broadcast on Cuban official television for years under the title of Walk Havana, a phrase that has now passed into popular slang to describe the daily hustle and bustle in search of basic products that often takes city residents from one municipality to another.
Leal became known at the national level through a program that was broadcast on Cuban official television for years under the title of ‘Andar La Habana’, a phrase that has now passed into popular slang to describe the daily hustle and bustle in search of products. basic
The place where the figure has been placed could not be more significant. Leal extensively described the wooden street located in front of the palace, the Plaza de Armas, which stands before the door of the building, and the Templete that a few meters away marks the founding site of the Villa de San Cristóbal de La Habana 502 years ago .
But above all, because Leal was always a great admirer of European royal houses. When King Juan Carlos I visited the Island in 1999, to participate in the Ibero-American Summit, the historian guided him to the throne that the Spanish royal settlements had been waiting for five centuries, but the monarch declined to sit.
Years before, in a select group of friends, Leal had summed up his admiration for power in one sentence: “I am a monarchist and Fidel is my king”, a premise that he followed all his life, in which he enjoyed official privileges but also had to fight against bureaucracy and prohibitions to promote the restoration process in the historic center of the city.
In addition to his political predilections, this Wednesday there were not many who took a photo with the recently inaugurated statue and most of those who did so were Cubans, before the curious gaze of the tourists who, with self-confidence and without a mask, strolled through the place. Attentive to every cell phone that came out of a pocket were the plainclothes police, fearful that some activist would come to the sculpture to make a sovereign rudeness.
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