CLICK -EL CAPITOLIO
* When the picture is fully open, hold down the left button of the mouse and move (slowly) by the image in any direction (up, down, right and left) and you’ll appreciate a lot more in the photo.
* Cuando la foto aparezca, presione el botón izquierdo del ratón y muevalo (despacio) sobre la imagen en todas direcciones (arriba, abajo, derecha o izquierda) Ud apreciará mucho más en la foto.
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El Capitolio
Come and see five decades of decay and neglect. Havana is a breathing contradiction, poor by European standards but rich in resources; happy and cheerful folks making the best of the crumbling infrastructure and basic shortages. Once opulent, now a shadow that doesn’t have much longer to go before it all falls apart. These images were taken few months after the twentieth century’s longest-ruling dictator, Fidel Castro, stepped down. La Havana, a place where about half of the cars date from before 1960. Strangely beautiful and heartbreaking at the same time, Havana is something that everyone should see.
Facts: Havana is the capital of Cuba, the heartbeat of its fourteen provinces, and the largest city in the Caribbean. With 2.1 million people, the pace of life is a lot faster here than in the rest of Cuba, so get ready to stay up late and drink some rum.
In the 50s La Havana, under a dictatorship (Fulgencio Batista) became a gambling vacation paradise for swanky gangsters and movie stars alike in the 20th century, exceeding even Las Vegas in revenues. After 1959 Fidel Castro declared another dictatorship and Cuba became a communist state.
Next up, missile crisis! Cold War tensions, Russian nuclear-armed missiles ninety miles off the coast of Florida, and Kennedy on the phone with Kruschev talking about whether or not to destroy life on earth as we know it.
Fidel Castro has stepped down as the country’s leader, and the United States continues its embargo on Cuba today, astonished that the little country has survived the collapse of the Soviet Union and subsequent loss of subsidies. Cuba has made up the difference in their budget by promoting tourism to the world, and if these panoramas don’t explain why, you’ve got your eyes closed.
Sources:FrancescoFrancalli/Overview of La Havana/TheCubanHistory.com
Paseo del Prado frente al capitolio y edificio en Teniente Rey/The Cuban History/Arnoldo Varona, Editor