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Residents of Matanzas lamented the destruction of the historic building that housed a charity and a primary school.
The building, located on San Carlos Street in the center of the city, is in a state of ruin, according to the images shown in the Facebook group Matanzas en Fotos.
Many former students of the school shared their memories of the place and lamented its current state of disrepair.
"In this beautiful school, I studied throughout my childhood, during elementary school. It was a stunning place, I remember the snack kiosk and the hallway leading to the classrooms, I recall the slide and Pedro, the photographer, growing lettuce, cabbage, and other vegetables. I remember we would play ball during snack time, and on Saturdays, there were activities in the school theater, the auditorium, which I believe has now been converted into a cinema. That school may be crumbling, but in my heart, it remains alive and shining, as a commentator said."
Another clarified that the property was formerly the charity house of Matanzas and that when the twinning with the towns of Spain occurred, donations were received for its restoration.
"Such great sadness, what destruction without a war, poor Matanzas, poor Cuba," lamented another.
A resident recalled that as a child, "we always played hide and seek in there at Lenin, always hiding from the principal. We would go play basketball or eat mangoes and take avocados, running around the yard and jumping over the wall."
"Nowadays, I believe they turned it into a shelter, and the other part is slowly being destroyed in small pieces thanks to communism," he complained.
"That's Lenin School. I didn't study there, but I'm familiar with it from seeing it. It's a beautiful building that has been deteriorating just like the rest of Cuba. The decay in the buildings reflects neglect and indifference, just like the human deterioration caused by the misery of this country; everything is falling apart," said another.
Schools in ruins
In a country engulfed in a crisis on all fronts, many schools have turned into ruins, much to the sorrow of their former students.
Last year, it was revealed that an old pedagogical school in Cuba that is now in ruins has sparked sadness among its former students and teachers, who feel distressed seeing what remains of a facility where they experienced joyful times.
This refers to the Camila Henríquez Ureña Pedagogical Branch, located in the municipality of Caimito, Artemisa, where the first groups of the Manuel Ascunce Domenech Pedagogical Detachment were trained, and today it is completely abandoned.
Also, the Cuban creator @ledyhr92 lamented last year that “every part” of her former school “was worse than the previous one.”
“I didn't know if I wanted to leave or scream,” she said as she wandered through what used to be her school in Santa Clara. Thirteen years later, she returned to Fajardo, and what she found was ruins: weeds covering the hallways, broken floorboards, collapsed ceilings, and classrooms consumed by neglect.
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