Hydraulic Resources damages emblematic mural by artist Leandro Soto in the Prado of Cienfuegos

An emblematic mural by the recently deceased visual artist Leandro Soto, located in the Prado de Cienfuegos, was damaged by the state Hydraulic Resources company.

The Cienfuegos writer and playwright Atilio Caballero denounced, in a Facebook post where he included images, the irreparable damage caused to the wall on which he is painting the mural.

“Today, Tuesday, August 16, 2022, 11:40 am. Status of the mural donated to the city by Leandro Soto. 'Intervened' by hydraulic works. And the creator will no longer be able to restore it. Cienfuegos, Cultural Heritage City of Humanity”,the writer commented sarcastically.

As a result of Atilio Caballero's complaint, many users have lamented the damage to the heritage of Cienfuegos and the affront to the recently deceased artist that the unscrupulous action of this state company represents.

“A destroyed jewel, what a disaster, a lot of sadness and a great insult to Leandro's memory,” said musician Enrique González Pérez.

“It's an inquisition, brother. And everything seems so logically set up to be undone, without the concern of some guys with a certain political and even cultural power,” lamented the Las Tunas writer Carlos Esquivel.

Cienfuegos resident Ibys Espinosa Requesens explained that, for a week, they have been hammering that wall “with treachery and premeditation.”

“It seems like they were waiting for Leandro to die to break it. The worst thing is that the works are not finished yet. In a couple of months I already visualized the white lime wall with a huge sign saying 'The country is moving forward and that hurts them', with a dark shadow in the background in the area of the pipe, he added.

In 2017, the official newspaperSeptember 5, had reported on a restoration undertaken by local plastic artists to the important mural, located on the central corner of Prado and San Fernando, which this medium described as an “icon of Cienfuegos”.

Leandro Soto Ortíz, one of the most important exponents of the renewal of Cuban plastic art in the eighties,He died on July 3, in California, United States, at the age of 66, a victim of cancer.

In an interview recovered shortly after his death, Soto recalled his formative years in Cienfuegos, the climate of the city in those years, andHe spoke of his beloved city in the terms of “my favorite place.”.

“Creating in Cienfuegos at that time was very special: in the city you could feel the traces of many things that had happened through it (what they call the Gray Five Years), of artists who had lived and done their work in the city,” he commented. .

In recent years, complaints about damage to the nation's cultural heritage committed by state companies during repairs or construction renovations are increasingly common in Cuba.

In 2020, it was highly criticized by Havana residentsthe renovation undertaken in the park on G and 3rd streets, in Vedado, which was stripped of its grass and trees to make way for a reprehensible and sloppy bathroom of concrete pavers.

A year earlier, the legendary granite sidewalk with works by important Cuban artists that runs along the entire Havana Rampawas damaged by the work of workers from the Electric Company.