On the well-known Avenue A of the Old Town of the Panamanian capital, a street has been named since this Friday after the historian Eusebio Leal Spengler (1942-2020), considered the man who “saved” Old Havana.
The commemorative plaque includes a phrase uttered by Leal on one of his visits to the site: “Panama has the richest Old Town in America, due to its Spanish, French and Caribbean influence,” said a dispatch from the agency Latin Press.
The opening ceremony was attended by the Cuban ambassador to Panama, Víctor Cairo, and the vice president of the foundation for the preservation of the historical heritage of Panama, Alberto “Beto” Tuñón, a close friend of the Cuban intellectual and vice president of the Foundation for the Preservation of the Historical Heritage of Panama, an institution that works on the conservation of the Old Town of the capital and other historical sites.
Memories of friendship and legacy
Tuñón recalled anecdotes about his relationship with Leal, whom he described as a diligent researcher and a profound human being. At the ceremony he read a poem titled “Havana, el Son y Eusebio Leal”, written hours before as a personal tribute.
The Panamanian executive also evoked Leal’s concern for historical heritage beyond Cuba. He narrated how, on one of his visits, the historian was interested in the discovery of a machete in a house where the Cuban independence general Antonio Maceo had lived during his participation in the construction of the Panama Canal railroad, at the end of the 19th century.
The initiative to name the street with the name Leal was a joint effort between the authorities of the San Felipe district and the Martiana Association of Cuban Residents in Panama. For the organizers, the gesture symbolizes the validity of the historian’s legacy and his commitment to cultural preservation, he highlighted. P.L..
Ambassador Cairo, who concludes his mission in Panama to assume responsibilities in Brazil, highlighted the honor of taking with him the friendship and affection of Panamanians. “What better day and occasion than this, when thanks to the commitment of many to the cultural and historical relations of brotherhood and solidarity between both peoples, a street bears the name of the universal Cuban,” he stated.
The event was attended by personalities such as Mario Kennedy, representative of the San Felipe district. The Wind Instruments group performed a danzón and a habanera, in a festive atmosphere that combined Cuban and Panamanian tradition.
The ceremony sought to highlight the cultural dimension of Leal, who always defended music, poetry and the arts as an essential part of the people’s heritage.
Loyal, immeasurable
Born in Havana on September 11, 1942 in the middle of a working class family, Eusebio Leal Spengler, self-taught and a gasoline dispatcher in his early youth, was director of the City Museum and the Office of the Historian of Havana, from where he promoted the renovation and reconstruction of important buildings, such as the Palace of the Captains General, current headquarters of the museum.
In 1981, the government of Fidel Castro entrusted him with the responsibility of conducting the works of the Historic Center of Havana, declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1982 thanks largely to his academic and political efforts.
His passionate work earned him recognition as the man who “saved” Old Havana, by rescuing its colonial architecture and revitalizing the community and cultural life of the city through an innovative scheme that avoided bureaucracy and reinvested part of the profits obtained from tourism in a work of social benefit that everyone recognizes today.
Already ill, his last efforts were concentrated on the rehabilitation of the imposing National Capitol, built in 1929, and one of the jewels of Cuban and Latin American architecture, with its dome plated in 24-karat Russian gold that can be seen resplendently from much of the city.
A militant Catholic, Doctor in Historical Sciences and Master in Archaeological Sciences, Leal was also a traveling ambassador for the United Nations and received multiple international distinctions for his work in defense of cultural heritage. His remains rest in the Mother Teresa Garden of Calcutta, at the back of the Minor Basilica of the Convent of San Francisco de Asís, in Old Havana.
