• Documentos
  • Archivo
sábado, 28 enero, 2023
Sin resultados
Ver todos los resultados
NOTICIAS POR TELEGRAM
CubaNet
  • INICIO
  • DESTACADOS
    José Martí
    Destacados

    Martí, símbolos y síntomas de una sociedad 

    sábado, 28 de enero, 2023 8:00 am
    Juicio, Cuba, Deuda
    Destacados

    Otro juicio manipulado por los castristas

    viernes, 27 de enero, 2023 9:44 am
    Destacados

    Ecos de la reciente Cumbre de la CELAC

    viernes, 27 de enero, 2023 8:38 am
    Destacados

    “Escribí en Facebook mi testamento para que supieran dónde hallarnos si moríamos”

    viernes, 27 de enero, 2023 8:00 am
  • ÚLTIMAS NOTICIAS
  • CULTURA
    Focsa, edificios, Cuba ingeniería
    Cultura

    El Focsa, inicio de los edificios altos habaneros

    sábado, 28 de enero, 2023 8:28 am
    “Hasta encontrarte”, nueva serie de William Levy con Telemundo
    Cultura

    “Hasta encontrarte”, nueva serie de William Levy con Telemundo

    sábado, 28 de enero, 2023 8:16 am
    Cultura

    Artista feminista cubana Alejandra Glez estrenará performance en el Museo Thyssen de Madrid

    sábado, 28 de enero, 2023 6:28 am
    Cultura

    “El manisero”, Moisés Simons esbozó su letra en una servilleta

    sábado, 28 de enero, 2023 5:39 am
  • OPINIÓN
    José Martí
    Destacados

    Martí, símbolos y síntomas de una sociedad 

    sábado, 28 de enero, 2023 8:00 am
    José Martí
    Opinión

    Martí en tiempos de desequilibrio… en Cuba

    sábado, 28 de enero, 2023 3:00 am
    Destacados

    Otro juicio manipulado por los castristas

    viernes, 27 de enero, 2023 9:44 am
    Destacados

    Ecos de la reciente Cumbre de la CELAC

    viernes, 27 de enero, 2023 8:38 am
  • REPORTAJES
    Punto Cero: ruina y abandono en el búnker de Fidel Castro
    Destacados

    Punto Cero: ruina y abandono en el búnker de Fidel Castro

    lunes, 21 de noviembre, 2022 8:00 am
    Cuba
    Destacados

    Muerto López-Calleja, Accor cede y Blue Diamond se anota más hoteles en Cuba

    miércoles, 20 de julio, 2022 8:00 am
    Destacados

    El negocio de las tiendas online: quién está detrás de Supermarket23

    lunes, 30 de mayo, 2022 1:00 pm
    Destacados

    ¿Cuán seguras son las instalaciones hoteleras en Cuba? 

    viernes, 27 de mayo, 2022 8:00 am
  • VIDEOS
  • NOSOTROS
  • INICIO
  • DESTACADOS
    José Martí
    Destacados

    Martí, símbolos y síntomas de una sociedad 

    sábado, 28 de enero, 2023 8:00 am
    Juicio, Cuba, Deuda
    Destacados

    Otro juicio manipulado por los castristas

    viernes, 27 de enero, 2023 9:44 am
    Destacados

    Ecos de la reciente Cumbre de la CELAC

    viernes, 27 de enero, 2023 8:38 am
    Destacados

    “Escribí en Facebook mi testamento para que supieran dónde hallarnos si moríamos”

    viernes, 27 de enero, 2023 8:00 am
  • ÚLTIMAS NOTICIAS
  • CULTURA
    Focsa, edificios, Cuba ingeniería
    Cultura

    El Focsa, inicio de los edificios altos habaneros

    sábado, 28 de enero, 2023 8:28 am
    “Hasta encontrarte”, nueva serie de William Levy con Telemundo
    Cultura

    “Hasta encontrarte”, nueva serie de William Levy con Telemundo

    sábado, 28 de enero, 2023 8:16 am
    Cultura

    Artista feminista cubana Alejandra Glez estrenará performance en el Museo Thyssen de Madrid

    sábado, 28 de enero, 2023 6:28 am
    Cultura

    “El manisero”, Moisés Simons esbozó su letra en una servilleta

    sábado, 28 de enero, 2023 5:39 am
  • OPINIÓN
    José Martí
    Destacados

    Martí, símbolos y síntomas de una sociedad 

    sábado, 28 de enero, 2023 8:00 am
    José Martí
    Opinión

    Martí en tiempos de desequilibrio… en Cuba

    sábado, 28 de enero, 2023 3:00 am
    Destacados

    Otro juicio manipulado por los castristas

    viernes, 27 de enero, 2023 9:44 am
    Destacados

    Ecos de la reciente Cumbre de la CELAC

    viernes, 27 de enero, 2023 8:38 am
  • REPORTAJES
    Punto Cero: ruina y abandono en el búnker de Fidel Castro
    Destacados

    Punto Cero: ruina y abandono en el búnker de Fidel Castro

    lunes, 21 de noviembre, 2022 8:00 am
    Cuba
    Destacados

    Muerto López-Calleja, Accor cede y Blue Diamond se anota más hoteles en Cuba

    miércoles, 20 de julio, 2022 8:00 am
    Destacados

    El negocio de las tiendas online: quién está detrás de Supermarket23

    lunes, 30 de mayo, 2022 1:00 pm
    Destacados

    ¿Cuán seguras son las instalaciones hoteleras en Cuba? 

    viernes, 27 de mayo, 2022 8:00 am
  • VIDEOS
  • NOSOTROS
Sin resultados
Ver todos los resultados
CubaNet
Sin resultados
Ver todos los resultados

Happiness Can Be Found in San Isidro, Not in Marianao

Colors aside, the San Isidro neighborhood looks gloomy and quiet, like any other corner in a country that is dying.

Ana LeónAna León
martes, 25 de octubre, 2022 4:31 pm
en English
La felicidad está en San Isidro, no en Marianao

Una calle del barrio de San Isidro (Foto: Ana León)

FacebookTwitterWhatsApp
image_pdf
Cubanet Donaciones

HAVANA, Cuba. – The British magazine Time Out has included the San Isidro neighborhood in Old Havana among the 25 “coolest” neighborhoods around the world. To reach such a conclusion, the magazine gathered the opinions of thousands of individuals across the world, “as well as the opinions of editors and local journalists who write about the best places found at each destination.” The factors that determine that a specific neighborhood will be featured in that listing include the leisure and entertainment offers, innovative spaces and a city’s effort to make of these spots an attractive gathering place for locals and tourists alike.

Once again, we residents of Havana are left speechless with having extraordinary places within our geography; places that we visit frequently – even on a daily basis- and yet we have not noticed their swing or the innovation that makes them so unique and attractive. It is our fault, of course, for thinking about the other 24 neighborhoods on the list that we so much wish to visit even though we have never heard about them before.

Last July, two fellow Cubans astonished us with their statements about Marianao, so rich and plentiful –according to them- that some of us were left very confused, even worried about the mental health of the interviewees.

It soon became evident that the interview was trolling the state press. But the Time Out listing is for real, so much so that the shock of seeing the San Isidro neighborhood on par with twenty-plus communities located in prosperous and cosmopolitan cities made us go walking around San Isidro for the umpteenth time, but paying more attention.

If something must be said about the San Isidro neighborhood today it’s how clean it is when compared to other marginal neighborhoods in Havana, and the number of murals whose colors try to hide the many dilapidated buildings, propped-up balconies, the shortages and poverty everywhere. What Time Out magazine is praising today is exactly the part of the neighborhood that was left out of the Master Plan of the Office of the City Historian when, in 1997, the San Isidro People’s Council was split into two smaller neighborhoods: Belén and the new San Isidro, still affected by recent events linked to the San Isidro Movement, repression and political control.

Murales en el barrio de San Isidro (Fotos: CubaNet)

Colors aside, the San Isidro neighborhood looks gloomy and quiet, like any other corner in a country that is dying. Young people spend hours just sitting on their doorsteps, allowing themselves to be defeated by boredom, lost inside the screens of their mobile phones. The “Casa de Titón y Mirta”, a cinema cultural center, is featuring a series of Cuban films that most people have seen a thousand times. Many private businesses have disappeared due to the absence of tourists, inflation, and the constant assault on real and lasting progress.

A barter and reselling economy earns an individual just enough to eat, but not for even the cheapest drink in the few bars that remain open, and empty. According to two individuals who agreed to talk to Cubanet anonymously, at night things are more or less the same.

“There’s nothing here for anyone. Many people have left the country, others are in prison, others are out there trying to make ends meet, it’s the same everywhere,” a resigned lady stated. She agrees with “bringing back to life” the neighborhood, but she knows the reasons why the government has suddenly taken an interest in the neighborhood.

Esquina del barrio de San Isidro (Foto: CubaNet)

The reason lies in that the San Isidro neighborhood became known inside and outside of Cuba thanks to the peaceful protests of artists like Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara and Maykel Osorbo, two young Cuban men who remain in prison under charges trumped-up by State Security police. This is the truth that Time Out magazine will never feature next to the “dark salsa-dancing places”, or the famous bar that glorifies the name of an early 20th century pimp, or the speakers blasting the music that’s in vogue on every street corner.

That’s how the San Isidro neighborhood has been described by those that consider it among the coolest neighborhoods in the world, in spite of the fact that the “joy to live” flees terrified from San Isidro due to the never-ending crisis; in spite of bars having no cold beer due to the blackouts; and in spite of the fact that the definition of “art mecca” doesn’t make the grade, as happens every time they try to hide reality with exaggerated statements. Markets and produce shops have been decorated to distract the visitor and to avoid that he or she wants to know what items are sold to the people in those raddled and defaced shops, as dark and empty as the revolution that never was.

Panadería y bodega en el barrio de San Isidro (Fotos: CubaNet)

Actor Jorge Perugorría could not be left out of this narrative as promotor of the bohemian and “chic” environment that, allegedly, distinguishes this traditionally poor neighborhood. However, beyond his interest in turning a formerly “tolerance zone” into an outdoor art gallery, the beloved Diego from the film “Fresa y Chocolate” (Strawberry and Chocolate), has been a key component of the Cuban regime’s plam to erase from the collective memory everything about the San Isidro Movement and the hunger strike that some of its members went on to demand freedom of expression and artistic freedom.

“I feel very sorry for that young man. He is in prison, and out here everything remains the same. Nobody cares. Those who can, leave, and those who can’t leave just keep their routine and don’t get involved (…). For nothing, that boy is in jail for nothing,” says a much older man about Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, while emphasizing that the artists sacrificed himself in vain, because “our people live in fear and without shame (…) we have lost all shame,” he concludes and starts walking away down Paula Street, where José Martí, one of our founding fathers, was born, toward Port’s Avenue by the harbor in Havana.

ARTÍCULO DE OPINIÓN
Las opiniones expresadas en este artículo son de exclusiva responsabilidad de quien las emite y no necesariamente representan la opinión de CubaNet.

Recibe la información de CubaNet en tu celular a través de WhatsApp. Envíanos un mensaje con la palabra “CUBA” al teléfono +1 (786) 316-2072, también puedes suscribirte a nuestro boletín electrónico dando click aquí.

Recibe la información de CubaNet en tu celular a través de Telegram. Solo únete dando click aquí.

ETIQUETAS: HavanaMarianaoSan isidroTime Out Magazine
Ana León

Ana León

Anay Remón García. La Habana, 1983. Graduada de Historia del Arte por la Universidad de La Habana. Durante cuatro años fue profesora en la Facultad de Artes y Letras. Trabajó como gestora cultural en dos ediciones consecutivas del Premio Casa Víctor Hugo de la Oficina del Historiador de La Habana. Ha publicado ensayos en las revistas especializadas Temas, Clave y Arte Cubano. Desde 2015 escribe para CubaNet bajo el pseudónimo de Ana León. Desde 2018 el régimen cubano no le permite viajar fuera del país, como represalia por su trabajo periodístico. Su página de Facebook es https://www.facebook.com/analeonperiodista

ARTÍCULOS RELACIONADOS

Turistas, Cuba, visados, turismo, régimen
English

Cuban Regime Hopes to Welcome 3.5 Million Tourists in 2023

viernes, 20 de enero, 2023 3:35 pm
turismo, Cuba
English

The New York Times Recommends Traveling to Cuba without Mentioning the Dictatorship

viernes, 20 de enero, 2023 3:20 pm
Cuba, formulario, viajeros
English

Digital Application Form Will Be Required of All Travelers Entering Cuba

viernes, 13 de enero, 2023 1:31 pm
Cuba, COVID-19, MINSAP
English

“COVID-19 Has Not Disappeared” Alerts the Ministry of Public Health as Cases Rise

viernes, 13 de enero, 2023 1:22 pm
Cuba, Tasa sanitaria
English

Starting January 23rd, the Cuban Regime Will Require a Digital Application Form from Individuals Entering Cuba

viernes, 13 de enero, 2023 1:14 pm
Cuba Sabe
English

Cuba Sabe, without Bread or Casabe

viernes, 13 de enero, 2023 9:10 am
Sin Muela

DONACIONES

SIGUIENTE
Razones de Cuba, Facebook

Facebook elimina la página de “Razones de Cuba” y el perfil del youtuber Guerrero Cubano

Facebook Twitter Instagram Youtube
CubaNet

SOBRE NOSOTROS

Fundada en 1994, CubaNet es un medio de prensa digital sin fines de lucro, dedicado a promover la prensa alternativa en Cuba e informar sobre la realidad de la isla.

SUSCRIPCIÓN A BOLETÍN

Recibe la información de CubaNet a través de Telegram.


TELEGRAM

© 2021 CubaNet | Decano del periodismo digital en Cuba. Aviso de privacidad.

Sin resultados
Ver todos los resultados
  • INICIO
  • DESTACADOS
  • ÚLTIMAS NOTICIAS
  • CULTURA
  • OPINIÓN
  • REPORTAJES
  • VIDEOS
  • NOSOTROS

© 2021 CubaNet | Decano del periodismo digital en Cuba. Aviso de privacidad.

Este sitio web utiliza cookies. Al continuar navegando está dando su consentimiento para su uso. Visite nuestra Política de privacidad y cookies .