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Cuban actor Luis Alberto García criticized the cultural authorities, urging them to restore the El Sauce Cultural Center, which he described as being in a deplorable state.
"If 'culture is the first thing that needs to be saved,' I challenge the Ministry of Culture of Cuba and Artex to restore the El Sauce cultural complex and manage to revive it to what it once was, when we had true officials concerned with creating and promoting culture," wrote the actor.
García, who accompanied his complaint with several photos that confirm the poor condition of the place, emphasized that “the stage hasn’t been one for years, the lights are not lights, the sound is not sound, and the food offerings are often out of reach for the people.”
"Regarding respect for artists, paying them on time as it should be, it's better if I don't say anything," he noted.
Next, the popular actor proposed “fewer parades, fewer ‘made-up conferences’, fewer ‘televised visits and cultural events of questionable quality’, fewer ‘talks’ full of figures like Hassán Pérez and more results for ‘the everyday people’, who are regular customers of this site.”
García, who is one of the most significant actors of the past few decades in Cuba, did not miss the opportunity to call for “fewer slaps,” referring to the slap that the Minister of Culture, Alpidio Alonso Grau, gave to a young man during a peaceful protest in front of the Ministry in Havana on January 27, 2021.
“Indifference often causes more harm than that ‘cultural colonization’ which takes up so much of their energy. Not everything is Trump's fault,” he concluded.
In the comments section of his post, a group of internet users agreed with him; others expanded on the list of the decline of cultural institutions, mentioning several theaters that remain closed, including El Mella and iconic places from the 90s, such as the nightclub El Comodoro.
There were also those who, despite agreeing with him, warn that Cuba is an entire country in ruins where even the hospitals lack a minimum of decency.
"Luis Alberto is not wrong, but if people are malnourished and pharmacies are empty, now medicines are coming in—those few that arrive, every two months, and every day we fall further behind. What can we ask for then? I'm just saying... There are vital needs for life that are not being met. Right now, the central-eastern provinces experience 20 to 22 hours a day without electricity. What’s the point of continuing to enumerate the misfortunes?" a woman questioned.
"We are in a dollarization, there is no time for that"; "Don't dream of things that won't be resolved. The whole country is destroyed," concluded two other commentators.
For years, the El Sauce Cultural Center has been a prominent recreational spot in Havana, located approximately one hundred meters from the Palacio de Convenciones and near hotels such as Palco, Miramar, Quinta Avenida, and Comodoro.
For years, this venue has hosted live performances by renowned Cuban artists. Luis Alberto García and Frank Delgado themselves have been running a project in that space on Sundays called "The Machine of Melancholy."
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