14ymedio, Natalia López Moya, Havana, 14 December 2023 — A quick touch with the index finger and middle finger on the shoulder is the key to knowing that the building known as Fama y Aplausos (Fame and Applause), on the corner of Infanta and Manglar in Havana, is the home of important official spokespeople who handed out national awards of various categories to figures who stood out during the ideological offensive at the beginning of this century: the Battle of Ideas.
“This is no longer what it was, nor does it look like it did when I moved here,” a plastic artist who has lived in the place since its inauguration and prefers anonymity tells 14ymedio. “Not only has the entire building deteriorated, the area, which was always a little controversial because of the neighborhoods nearby, has become very dangerous. At night no one goes out or receives visitors. They lift weights.”
A tour of the surroundings is enough to see the mountains of filth, the streets full of potholes, the peeling walls and the dirty perimeter wall with cracks. On a corner, a poster with an image of José Martí highlights one of his phrases: “This is a virtuous time and you have to melt into it.” A few meters from the exterior gardens of the building, there are only mud and weeds left.
The nearby Pan-American store that even attracted residents of other neighborhoods for its “good assortment” is now a place that only sells products for the so-called ’released module’ — that is food and other items sold outside the ration system — as 14ymedio was able to verify this Wednesday. A bored custodian still remains in Fama y Aplausos, a remnant of the old team that guarded the place.
But the current description is far from what the 20-story building looked like two decades ago. Immaculate corridors, elevators that were quickly repaired when they broke, a reception area on the ground floor that made the visitor give chapter and verse about the person he was visiting, lights on the outside and an immaculate white paint on the facade stoked the curiosity of nearby neighbors.
Randy Alonso, director of Cubadebate, and Rosa Miriam Elizalde, main spokesperson for the media war against the independent press, were among the beneficiaries of an apartment in the building. They were chosen to receive the award for flattering, putting on makeup and lying. Of those “illustrious” inhabitants there are hardly any left, because they passed “to a better life” and now enjoy independent houses in more select neighborhoods.
Among the current residents, of course, there are figure