14ymedio, Nelson García, Havana, October 19, 2023 — Cuba’s ruins have one thing in common: slogans with large letters painted on pieces of walls. In the case of the old Lebredo maternity hospital, located in the Havana municipality of Arroyo Naranjo, the message – a dig at former U.S. President George Bush – ends with irony: “There is no aggression that Cuba cannot stand.”
What did keep standing, the neighbors say, is the solid structure of the building, founded in 1936, which today recalls a gigantic multi-storey hive surrounded by grasslands. “The Government came a few years ago with a crane, and no matter how much effort they put in to knock it down, it still resisted,”Tomás, 67, tells this newspaper. “In the end they gave up.”
“The idea was to demolish the hospital and build a retirement villa for the military,” says Julián, age 42 and the son of Tomás. Both live near the Lebredo and have witnessed its decline since 2000, when Public Health vacated the facilities. “All the equipment and machines of the former hospital were taken to Julio Trigo, who lives not far from here,” he adds.
After twenty years, the place is desolate. The perimeter of the building is full of debris and garbage. “It’s the landfill of Havana,” says Tomás, who explains that because it is on the outskirts of the city, the space is an ideal place to unload large amounts of trash and waste without anyone being interested in the hygiene of the area or the dangers of the ruin.
“The Lebredo is still an area of collapse,” he warns, pointing to a fragment of a wall on which someone wrote, with triumphant blue characters: “Long live May 1: Everyone to the Plaza!”
A statement from the activist Agustín Figueroa – who worked as a doctor in the Lebredo during the Special Period – points out that, after th