A resident of Bayamo reported the state of decay and risk of collapse of the Torre de San Juan Evangelista, in El Rastro de los Héroes, one of the most emblematic historical sites in that territory declared "Monument City."
Juan Luis Vasallo Palomo, who posts on social media under the name "El Quijote Bayamés", recorded the route in front of the structure located at the corner of Amado Esteve street and Martín street, where it can be seen that the building has been supported for years without any intervention from the authorities to restore it.
"Are they ever going to fix that?", asked Vasallo Palomo at the beginning of the video, with evident frustration at the state of the place.
The site is one of the most historically rich in all of Cuba: The Tower of San Juan Evangelista served as the portal to the first open-air cemetery in the country, inaugurated in 1798, and houses the image of Francisco Vicente Aguilera, a Bayamés hero who was the vice president of the Republic in Arms during the Ten Years' War.
"This used to be an open-field cemetery. I believe it was the first in Cuba and possibly in Latin America as well," noted the video's author.
"This was the entrance to the old cemetery and is one of the oldest architectural structures here in the city of Bayamo, but it is at risk of collapse," he added.
Aguilera, born in Bayamo on June 23, 1821, was one of the richest men in the East: in 1868 his fortune amounted to over two million pesos, which he fully donated to the independence cause.
José Martí described him as "the heroic millionaire, the untarnished gentleman, the father of the republic."
In the same tour, Vasallo Palomo also mentions the monument to José Joaquín Palma, 19th-century poet from Bayamo born in 1844 and the author of the lyrics to the National Anthem of Guatemala, another figure of the city's cultural identity.
The deterioration of El Rastro de los Héroes is not an isolated case, but rather part of a pattern of neglect of the Cuban historical heritage that is seen throughout the country due to a lack of budget and state investment.
In November 2024, the roof of the Museum of Art of Matanzas collapsed. The Colón Cemetery in Havana, designated a National Monument since 1987, suffers from widespread deterioration, thefts, and looting.
Multiple national monuments remain without maintenance while restoration plans are announced but rarely implemented.
Bayamo, the capital of the Granma province, was the site of the first cry for independence and the heroic burning of the city in 1869 to prevent it from falling into Spanish hands, making it one of the most profound symbols of Cuban history.
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