As if it were an apocalyptic set, the dilapidated Riomar building, located in the Havana neighborhood of Miramar, is another example of a Cuba that is falling apart.
Despite the significant deterioration of what was once an impressive 11-story building with 201 apartments, several families are barely surviving in the dilapidated apartments of the building.
A recent video from the YouTube channel JSant TV interviewed several residents, people who for various reasons ended up on the streets and have tried to make Riomar their home, some even for over five years.
Having turned into an exotic setting for music videos, the Riomar survives among graffiti, debris, and even family photos of those who once inhabited it.
The building dates back to 1957 and was a project by architect Cristóbal Martínez Márquez. Its first owner was the Mercantile Company Miramar S.A. Horizontal Property.
It was an elegant building, with a lobby, reception, mailboxes, a telephone board, party rooms, two swimming pools, six elevators, and a parking space for each of the apartments.
This continued until 1960 when the Urban Reform Law was approved in Cuba. Many property owners left the country and lost their apartments.
Unlike what happened in other similar properties, those apartments were never given to ordinary Cubans; instead, they were intended to house the so-called "foreign technicians" who arrived on the island over several decades to perform various functions.
In 2001, the former company Cubalse made an attempt to restore it for offices, a project that did not materialize due to the scale of the investment.
And there the Riomar has remained for more than two decades, among ruins, as another silent and sad witness of the Cuba that once was.
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