On March 1, 2018, following 8 years of painstaking restoration, tourists were once again able to enter Cuba’s beautiful Capitol building.
If it looks familiar, that’s because it was modeled after the U.S. Capitol. Living as I (Storm) do in the Washington, DC area, it was a surprising site when I turned a corner in Havana and saw it for the first time. I was in town meeting with the folks who were in charge of revitalizing Old Havana, and restoring the Rio Almendares.
It was built during the bloody, repressive, right-wing administration of Cuban President Fulgencio Batista. At that point in time, the Cuban economy was primarily tourism-based. Much of that industry involved gambling, which was almost completely controlled by Meyer Lansky‘s Miami-based crime family, which included Bugsy Siegel, who helped create Las Vegas, and who was one of the founders of Murder, Inc.
Salón de Pasos Perdidos (Hall of Lost Steps) in 2007. Photo by Brian Snelson via Wikipedia.
This created a tight link between the Cuban and North American economies, since most of the tourists were from the U.S., Mexico and Canada. So, it was no surprise when the U.S. rejected the olive branch offered by Fidel Castro during the 6-year Cuban Revolution.
Castro admired the U.S., but hated Bautista. When the U.S. took Bautista’s side in the fight, we forced Castro to accept help from the only available source: the Soviet Union. This led to the humiliation of the Bay of Pigs invasion, and to brink of global nuclear war during the Cuban Missile Crisis.
But the point is that Cuba loved the U.S., which is why they modeled their Capitol after ours. This was, of course, prior to the decades of post-revolutionary economic repression by the U.S., led by politicians who didn’t believe the American way of life was strong enough to withstand having a socialistic neighbor.
It’s not an exact copy. El Capitolio was constructed some 103 years after ours, and is the dome is actually 12 feet taller than than that of the U.S. Capitol. The layour is quite different, due to adaptations made for the very different climate. The floor plan emphasizes natural cooling by ocean breezes, wo it’s far more open than the DC design.
The Capitol most recently housed Cuba’s Science and Technology Ministry. The restoration was initiated in 2010 by Havana City Historian Eusebio Leal (who has a copy of The Restoration Economy in his office).
One last bit of restorative work continues, which is expected to end in November of 2019, but the building is now open once again, and able to be enjoyed by visitors.
Featured photo of El Capitolio by Nigel Pacquette via Wikipedia is prior to restoration.
See Reuters article by Nelson Acosta and Sarah Marsh with post-restoration photos.