HAVANA - Wooden props support the ceiling of Cuban pensioner Filiberto Suarez’ apartment in Havana as his building, like so many others in the Caribbean island nation, crumbles due to a punishing tropical climate and years of neglect.
When it rains, water seeps through the ceiling of the second story, two bedroom apartment where Suarez, 75, lives. But he still prefers it to the alternatives he says he was offered by local authorities: a communal shelter or an attic room. In 2018, the government launched a 10-year plan called “Revolution is to Build” aiming to solve the deficit of around 929,695 houses in the country of 11 million by repairing 402,120 and building 527,575.
Some have sought to highlight the dangers posed by collapsing buildings with a campaign on social media, after the deaths of three girls crushed by a falling balcony in Havana in January cast a new spotlight on the issue.After the late Fidel Castro’s 1959 leftist revolution, the state confiscated many of Cuba’s grand historic buildings and distributed them to poor and middle-class families who over the years have often divided them into ever-smaller units.
The decay is all the more poignant in Havana, which celebrated its 500th anniversary last year. The city’s eclectic mix of colonial, neoclassical, baroque and Art Deco buildings are considered among the architectural jewels of Latin America.
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