Robaina's

Robaina's
Robaina's plantation

Saturday 21 March 2020

Statues and Monuments of Havana (March 2020)




José Julián Martí Pérez (January 28, 1853 – May 19, 1895) was a Cuban poet, philosopher, essayist, journalist, translator, professor, and publisher, who is considered a Cuban national hero because of his role in the liberation of his country, and he was an important figure in Latin American literature. He was very politically active, and is considered an important revolutionary philosopher and political theorist. Through his writings and political activity, he became a symbol of Cuba's bid for independence from Spain in the 19th century, and is referred to as the "Apostle of Cuban Independence."From adolescence, he dedicated his life to the promotion of liberty, political independence for Cuba, and intellectual independence for all Spanish Americans; his death was used as a cry for Cuban independence from Spain by both the Cuban revolutionaries and those Cubans previously reluctant to start a revolt. This statue is in Parque Central in Old Havana.


Julio Antonio Mella McPartland (25 March 1903 – 10 January 1929) was an activist and is known as one of the founders of the "internationalized" Cuban Communist Party, in 1925 by leaders of the party in Moscow, Soviet Union.[1] After becoming a political activist, Mella had studied law in the University of Havana but was expelled in 1925. He was working against the government of Gerardo Machado, who became a dictator of Cuba. Mella left the country, reaching Central America. He traveled north to Mexico City, where he worked with other exiles and communist supporters against the Machado government. He was assassinated in 1929, but historians still disagree on the parties behind his death. The 21st-century Cuban government regards Mella as a communist hero and martyr. Some historians believe that Mella was a victim of the Stalin-Trotsky struggle, which played out internationally. Former leader Leon Trotsky was exiled from the Soviet Union in 1929, ultimately settling in Mexico City. He was assassinated there in 1940. This Memorial is on Calle San Lazaro directly in front of the University.


Jose Marti Memorial (Plaza de La Revolucion)


Mariana Grajales Cuello (July 12, 1815 – November 23, 1893) is a Cuban icon of the women's struggle and the fight for an independent Cuba free from slavery. This statue is on Calle 23 between C & D.


José Miguel Gómez y Gómez (July 6, 1858 – June 13, 1921) was a Cuban who was one of the leaders of the rebel forces in the Cuban War of Independence and President of Cuba from 1909 to 1913. This monument is on G street or also known as Avenida de Los Presidentes.



Santiago Ramón y Cajal (1 May 1852 – 17 October 1934) was a Spanish neuroscientist and pathologist, specializing in neuroanatomy, particularly the histology of the central nervous system. He and Camillo Golgi received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1906, with Ramón y Cajal thereby becoming the first person of Spanish origin to win a scientific Nobel Prize. His original investigations of the microscopic structure of the brain made him a pioneer of modern neuroscience. Hundreds of his drawings illustrating the delicate arborizations ("tree growing") of brain cells are still in use for educational and training purposes.


Carlos Manuel de Céspedes del Castillo (April 18, 1819, Bayamo, Spanish Cuba – February 27, 1874, San Lorenzo, Spanish Cuba) was a Cuban revolutionary hero. Cespedes, who was a plantation owner in Cuba, freed his slaves and made the declaration of Cuban independence in 1868 which started the Ten Years' War (1868–78), which ultimately led to Cuban independence. Because of his actions during the Independence War, he is known in Cuba as the "Father of the Fatherland".


Jose Marti


Martin Luther King Jr. (January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was an American Christian minister and activist who became the most visible spokesperson and leader in the Civil Rights Movement from 1955 until his assassination in 1968. King is best known for advancing civil rights through nonviolence and civil disobedience, inspired by his Christian beliefs and the nonviolent activism of Mahatma Gandhi.This memorial is at the corner of Calle 23 & F.


At the main university entrance (shown above) there is a bronze statue of Alma Mater (meaning the "Nourishing mother" in Latin) that was created in 1919 by artist Mario Korbel. The model for the statue's face was lovely 16-year-old Feliciana "Chana" Villalón, the daughter of José Ramón Villalón y Sánchez, a professor of analytical mathematics at the University.


Jose Marti, this bust is near the Malecon on Misiones.


Camilo Cienfuegos Gorriarán (6 February 1932 – 28 October 1959) was a Cuban revolutionary born in Havana. Along with Fidel Castro, Che Guevara, Juan Almeida Bosque, and Raúl Castro, he was a member of the 1956 Granma expedition, which launched Fidel Castro's armed insurgency against the government of Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista. He became one of Castro's top guerilla commanders, known as the "Hero of Yaguajay" after winning a key battle of the Cuban Revolution. He was appointed head of Cuba's armed forces shortly after the victory of Castro's rebel army in 1959. He was presumed dead when a small plane he was traveling in disappeared during a night flight from Camagüey to Havana later that year. This bust is located on Linea.


José Eloy Alfaro Delgado (June 25, 1842 – January 28, 1912) was an Ecuadorian politician who served as the President of Ecuador from 1895 to 1901 and from 1906 to 1911. Alfaro became one of the strongest opponents of pro-Catholic conservative President Gabriel Garcia Moreno (1821–1875) and was known as the Viejo Luchador ("Old Warrior") for playing a central role in the Liberal Revolution of 1895 and having fought conservatism for almost 30 years. This statue is along the Avenida de Los Presidentes.


Fernando Suárez Núñez (May 7, 1882  Havana - January 24, 1946 Havana) was born into a poor family.  Even though he did not have the necessary resources to give himself a complete education, he did obtain a great culture and became a blacksmith. He received a great deal of praise for his works and obtained many commissions and titles. He was initiated into Cuban Freemasonry at the age of 18 and after an illustrious carrier, at the age of 53, he receives  the title of the Order with a Gold Plate and the title of Great Ajef.


Hồ Chí Minh (19 May 1890 – 2 September 1969), born Nguyễn Sinh Cung, also known as ("Uncle Ho") or simply Bác, was a North Vietnamese revolutionary and politician. He served as Prime Minister of North Vietnam from 1945 to 1955 and then its President from 1945 to 1969. Ideologically a Marxist-Leninist, he served as Chairman and First Secretary of the Workers' Party of Vietnam. This bust is along Calle 26 in Nuevo Vedado in what is called the Hồ Chí Minh park.


Lt. General José Antonio de la Caridad Maceo y Grajales (June 14, 1845 – December 7, 1896) was second-in-command of the Cuban Army of Independence. Fellow Cubans gave Maceo the nickname “The Bronze Titan" (Spanish: El Titán de Bronce), nickname that he earned after being wounded several times in battle. Spaniards referred to Maceo as the "Greater Lion" (El León mayor). Maceo was one of the most noteworthy guerrilla leaders in 19th century Latin America, comparable to José Antonio Páez of Venezuela in military acumen. This station is situated along the Malecon in front of the Hermanos Ameijeiras Hospital.


Rubén Martínez Villena was a Cuban writer and revolutionary leader, born on December 20, 1899 in Alquízar, in the La Habana province. He died as a result of tuberculosis in Havana in June 1934. This bust sits in one of the University buildings.


Francisco de Albear y Fernández de Lara (January 11, 1816, Havana – October 22, 1887, Havana) was a Spanish engineer from Cuba. This statue is in a small park or square Parque Albear at the corner of Obispo & Monserrate.


Patrice Émery Lumumba (2 July 1925 – 17 January 1961) was a Congolese politician & independence leader who served as the first Prime Minister of the independent Democratic Republic of the Congo (then Republic of the Congo) from June until September 1960. He played a significant role in the transformation of the Congo from a colony of Belgium into an independent republic. Ideologically an African nationalist and Pan-Africanist, he led the Congolese National Movement (MNC) party from 1958 until his assassination. This bust sits in the Parque de los Próceres Africanos (Playa) Havana.


Morúa Delgado, a distinguished writer and orator, became a leader in the 19th century anti-slavery movement. He was born in 1856 in Matanzas Cuba, to Ines Delgado and Francisco Morúa. Ines was a native-born African woman brought to Cuba as a slave, and Francisco was an immigrant from Spain. This bust sits on the Capitolio grounds.


Friedrich Wilhelm Heinrich Alexander von Humboldt (14 September 1769 – 6 May 1859) was a Prussian polymath, geographer, naturalist, explorer, and proponent of Romantic philosophy and science. He was the younger brother of the Prussian minister, philosopher, and linguist Wilhelm von Humboldt (1767–1835). Humboldt's quantitative work on botanical geography laid the foundation for the field of biogeography. Humboldt's advocacy of long-term systematic geophysical measurement laid the foundation for modern geomagnetic and meteorological monitoring.Between 1799 and 1804, Humboldt travelled extensively in the Americas.


Máximo Gómez y Báez (November 18, 1836 – June 17, 1905) was a Dominican Major General in Cuba's Ten Years' War (1868–1878) against Spain. He was also Cuba's military commander in that country's War of Independence (1895–1898). This statue sits near the end on Prado by Havana Bay.


José Quintín Bandera Betancourt (ca. 1834 – 1906), was a military leader of the Cuban insurrection against the Spanish during the Cuban War of Independence. In 1906, Bandera, led an army of insurgents toward Havana, and was killed near Punta Brava, a village close to Havana. This statue is in front of the Palacio de la Rumba de La Habana in Parque de Trillo, Centro Havana.


Andrés Eloy Blanco Meaño (6 August 1896 – 21 May 1955) was an important Venezuelan poet and politician. He was a member of the Generación del 28, and one of the founders of Acción Democrática (AD). He was Minister of Foreign Affairs of Venezuela from 15 February 1948 until 24 November 1948. This bust is located on Linea.


Carlos Azcárate Rosell (February 16, 1899, Havana - August 23, 1946, Havana) was a jurist and politician. Descendant of a family of distinguished lawyers, he graduated from Law in 1921 . He opposed the Machado dictatorship by linking up with various revolutionary oppositional organizations. This bust is located on Linea.


Juan Gualberto Gómez Ferrer (July 12, 1854 – March 5, 1933) was an Afro-Cuban revolutionary leader in the Cuban War of Independence against Spain. He was a "close collaborator of José Martí's, and alongside him helped plan the uprising and unite the island's black population behind the rebellion. He was an activist for independence and a journalist who worked on & later founded several pivotal anti-royalist & pro-racial equality newspapers. He authored numerous works on liberty & racial justice in Latin America as well. This bust is on the Capitolio grounds.


Published in two parts, in 1605 and 1615, Don Quixote is the most influential work of literature from the Spanish Golden Age and the entire Spanish literary canon. A founding work of Western literature, it is often labeled "the first modern novel" and is sometimes considered the best literary work ever written. This statue is located at the corner of Calle J & 23.


Omar Efraín Torrijos Herrera (February 13, 1929 – July 31, 1981) was the Commander of the Panamanian National Guard and the de facto dictator of Panama from 1968 to 1981. Torrijos was never officially the president of Panama, but instead held titles including "Leader of the Panamanian Revolution" and "Chief of Government." Torrijos took power in a coup d'état and instituted a number of social reforms. This statue is located on the Avenida de Los Presidentes.


Oliver Reginald Kaizana Tambo (27 October 1917 – 24 April 1993), also known as O. R. Tambo, was a South African anti-apartheid politician and revolutionary who served as President of the African National Congress (ANC) from 1967 to 1991. This bust sits in the Parque de los Próceres Africanos (Playa) Havana.


Carlos de la Torre y Huerta (May 15, 1858, Matanzas -  February 19, 1950, Havana) was a Cuban naturalist. He was the president of House of Representatives from November 1903 to April 1904.


Louis Pasteur (December 27, 1822 – September 28, 1895) was a French biologist, microbiologist and chemist renowned for his discoveries of the principles of vaccination, microbial fermentation and pasteurization. He is remembered for his remarkable breakthroughs in the causes and prevention of diseases, and his discoveries have saved many lives ever since. He reduced mortality from puerperal fever, and created the first vaccines for rabies and anthrax. This bust is on Calle Linea.


John Winston Ono Lennon (9 October 1940 – 8 December 1980) was an English singer, songwriter and peace activist who gained worldwide fame as the founder, co-lead vocalist, and rhythm guitarist of the Beatles. His music was banned for decades after the Revolution. Today he has a statue and a park named after him. This bench-statue is in that park between 15-17 & 6-8 streets.


Ernest Miller Hemingway (July 21, 1899 – July 2, 1961) was an American journalist, novelist, short-story writer, and sportsman. Hemingway produced most of his work between the mid-1920s and the mid-1950s, and he won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1954. Many of his works are considered classics of American literature. Hemingway maintained permanent residences in Key West, Florida (in the 1930s) and Cuba (in the 1940s and 1950s). In early 1939, Hemingway crossed to Cuba in his boat to live in the Hotel Ambos Mundos in Havana. 

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