14ymedio, Havana, February 10, 2024 — Brent Sikkema and his alleged killer met through a help-wanted ad. The American art dealer needed someone to look after his house in Havana’s Kohly neighborhood. Around twenty candidates responded to the job listing that Sikkema posted on the island’s best-known online classified ad site. Among them was Alejandro Triana Prévez, who got the job. He is now being detained in Brazil and has confessed to the murder of his former employer.
Sikkema, who was killed on January 14 in Rio de Janeiro, left behind a trail of property and disputes on the island. Trying to follow the art dealer’s footsteps around Havana at times feels like walking around in circles, or like trying to read a fuzzy x-ray of the small local art world.
Sikkema pioneered travel to Cuba when it was a destination off limits to American tourists, ultimately establishing a base of operations on the island. Back in the 1990s, he began creating a network of contacts who benefited from his love of the Caribbean, of art and of young men. After his murder, many of those he had favored chose to remain silent.
“He helped several people leave the island when the situation became difficult but, once overseas, some continued to live off the financial aid that he provided them”
“He helped several people leave the island when the situation became difficult. Some continued to live off the financial aid that he provided them even after they had left” says one of those who benefitted from the art dealer’s deep pockets and open wallet. “Several are Cuban like me. Almost all are young, attractive, have dark complexions and are involved, in one way or another, with the arts or acting. He lent us a hand.”
Bruno, as he prefers to be called for this article in order to protect his privacy, describes what he calls Sikkema’s modus operandi. “He really liked men who were athletic, dark-skinned and young, very young. I met him at a party that was being given at the house of a well-known Cuban movie actor. It was where the ’high society’ of the art world and Americans with money rubbed shoulders.”
Several other such encounters gave Bruno a glimpse into Sikkema’s life in Cuba. “He got one of his first Cuban lovers, Carlos R. M., out of the country. First, he bought him a house in Vedado, on I Street, between 9th and 11th streets. But once [Carlos] decided to emigrate, they put it in the name of an uncle who really didn’t live in it. The man is very old and he only shows up on the deed.”
Due to legal restrictions on the ability of non-resident foreigners to acquire property on the island, the search for reliable front men to act as owners of his real estate purchases was a constant concern during Sikkema’s time in Cuba. On several occasions, he made the wrong bet. Bruno even believes that disputes over some of the properties may have contributed to Sikkema’s murder. “There was a lot of money at stake,” he says.
Bruno reports that the mansion — with its garden, stately portal, semicircular arches and solid columns that welcome the visitors — “is now being used as a warehouse for things that Brent had not yet placed in the other houses.” After Carlos R. M. moved to the United States, Julio César P. M., the director of one of the most prestigious art schools in Havana, looked after it for a time.
“Everybody wanted in on the action because he was known to be generous, though it was also known that he had HIV and had infected several of his lovers”
A network of young people with ties to the island’s the art scene wove itself around the gallery owner. “Everybody wanted in on the action because he was known to be generous. It was also known that he had HIV and had infected several of his lovers, though he did help them a lot. He paid for apartments in Havana, Panama, Mexico City and New York,” says Bruno
Young artists suddenly found their work being shown at exhibitions in the Big Apple. Painters who came out of nowhere were included in prestigious gallery catalogues. People working at Cuban institutions went from living in flimsy houses to living in palaces in desirable areas. All were recipients of the broad swath of gifts, perks and ai
