This weekend it was easy to find your way around the Havana coastline from the spotlight that the Spanish Embassy in the Cuban capital has become these days. Illuminated with the colors of the Ukrainian flag, in solidarity with that country and in rejection of the Russian invasion, the imposing building stood out in the middle of streets with hardly any public lighting.
The initial image, posted on the embassy’s Twitter account, is far from the one seen this Sunday night where only a couple of windows were colored blue. However, the gesture goes straight to the eyes of the Cuban Executive, which has maintained a position of harmony with the Kremlin. The Government of the Island has abstained in at least two votes in the United Nations rejecting the Russian incursion into Ukrainian territory and the official media maintain that it is a “special military operation” to “denazify” that European country.
Other European embassies and consulates have also shown their support for the Ukrainians and their president, Volodymyr Zelensky, by placing the blue and yellow flag in their outdoor areas. In the case of the Spanish headquarters, it is not the first time that it uses the light system on its façade to celebrate or remember some event, such as when, close to October 12 and in view of its national holiday, they adorn the walls art nouveau with the tonalities of its ensign.
Passers-by have not missed the new decoration to ironize about the darkness that reigns around the enormous building, located on an enviable corner, overlooking the entrance to the bay and the Morro lighthouse. “Only the embassies and hotels are illuminated, the rest in this city are shadows,” a Havana resident complained this Sunday. There have also been those who regret not having seen the colors of the Cuban flag in the building, in solidarity with the popular protests of last July 11 or in demand for the release of those detained on those days.
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