By the buildings of Obispo 202 and Cuba 653, in Old Havana, 65 years of Revolution do not seem to have passed. Neat, with smooth walls and new paint, recently rehabilitated thanks to Saudi money, they contrast with the surrounding buildings, always on the brink of collapse.
The restoration works were inaugurated last Saturday with the presence of the Havana authorities, on the occasion of the 504th anniversary of the founding of the city, and the official press reported with the usual fanfare.
According to Tribuna de La Habana, after the reconstruction, carried out by the Office of the Historian of the City of Havana with the help of the Saudi Fund for Development (FSD), the 11 renovated homes of Cuba 653 – the former Palacio del Marqués – were delivered. of the Royal Proclamation – and the other 13 of Obispo 202 “to families who were in complicated accommodation situations.”
It does not seem, however, that the apartments, “renovated and very comfortable”, in the words of the local newspaper, are inhabited by vulnerable people. “These families are very, very chosen, forget it,” said this Wednesday a neighbor in the area, who has observed the movement of entries and exits. Armed with walkie-talkies, Security agents are in charge of controlling access to both properties.
Inside, everything is luxury, immaculate walls and silence. “Do you think that these houses are given to someone who does not repeat ‘Long live Fidel’?” the woman rhetorically questioned, who snuck this newspaper into Cuba 653 taking advantage of the negligence of her caregivers. “This is not for ordinary people.”
As he mentioned Havana Tribune, The FSD has also financed the Aquarium of the Historic Center, also run by the Office of the Historian, which, until it was depleted by the Armed Forces, became a power within the power under the command of the now deceased Eusebio Leal.
What the official newspaper did not say is that the same fund was the one that financed the pharaonic work of the Fidel Castro Ruz Center, opened in El Vedado at the end of 2021. Then, a source from the Havana Historian’s Office confessed to 14 intervention: “The credit was supposed to be for housing, but they took a part for the Center and the Capitol as well.”
Indeed, in 2017 the Saudi Fund for Development granted a loan of 26.6 million dollars to Cuba for the Rehabilitation and Construction of Social Works Program of the Office of the Historian of the City of Havana, officially destined to solve the pressing housing problem in the capital.
Without official information, until now this newspaper was able to find out that among the works built with the FSD was the Práctico del Puerto building, another with views of the Plaza de Armas, the Castillo de la Fuerza and the bay of Havana.
Of the original residents of Práctico del Puerto, evicted when the restoration works began, only one returned, Francisco Muñoz. The rest of the apartments, with a spectacular view of the Bay of Havana, went, the residents of the neighborhood say, to workers from the Ministry of Health.
Muñoz told 14ymedio at the end of 2021 that he was able to return to his original house because he spent “eight years living here in front without moving, inside a container” and thanks to Eusebio Leal, with whom he worked for twelve years when he was head of works at the Historian’s Office. “Even a soldier once came to take me out and he defended me with the law in his hand,” he said then. Of the rest of the neighbors, he said: “There were people here who went to the shelter and could not return, I have news that there is still a couple that is sheltered.”
The FSD, which began operating in 1975 and whose main task is to finance projects for developing countries, has approved loans to Cuba for projects related to the rehabilitation of hydraulic networks (122 million dollars in 2016), to improve the sewerage of the city of Camagüey (40 million dollars in 2014), to recover the hydraulic networks in Havana (30 million in 2013) or to acquire medical equipment for maternal care centers (in 2010).
Furthermore, and in exchange for more than 10,000 dollars a month for each one, although they only receive a stipend of 1,000 dollars, the Island exports 120 doctors a year to the Arab nation under an agreement signed in 2013.
Last October, Ricardo Cabrisas, vice prime minister and minister of Foreign Trade and Foreign Investment, made a working visit to Saudi Arabia, to “review” the state of bilateral relations, the Prensa Latina agency reported. Clearly, they continue with the same vigor.
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