The content creator Alexis Oliva Gea, under his project GuanaboVibes, documented the state of abandonment of the property known as Solymar or Vista al Mar, an old private house located in Boca Ciega, Playas del Este.
The house was confiscated by the Cuban regime in the 1960s and currently remains empty, with its white walls and intact floors standing as the only witnesses to its history.
The building was originally a residential chalet expropriated under the Urban Reform Law (Law No. 665), enacted on October 14, 1960, which affected approximately 105,000 property owners across Cuba without effective compensation.
Over the decades, the property served multiple purposes for the State: it was a children's center, the headquarters for the economic management of the state-owned company Rumbos, and finally, an international cuisine restaurant focused on tourism.
Vista al Mar was the name of that international tourism restaurant, recalled Kathrine Mountgommery in the comments of the video, adding that she herself worked there.
Gerardo Gutiérrez Bravo confirmed: "It was called Vista al Mar and for a time it was the economic direction of Rumbos."
Marta Alonso Orta provided another detail about the history of the property: "A long time ago, it was a children's circle." The building has three floors and had a backyard park for children that was later transformed into a concrete patio.
Today, none of that remains standing. Oliva Gea described the place as "a house-restaurant that was an icon of Boca Ciega, now abandoned but still with white walls and intact floors that hold memories."
The case of this restaurant is not isolated
Boca Ciega went from being a vacation paradise to a ghost town with dozens of properties confiscated in the 1960s that the State never maintained or returned. The area is home to over 100 completely empty houses, primarily chalets built for tourist rental.
Another example is El Dorado, a recreational complex in Boca Ciega documented in total ruins since June 2025, featuring empty pools, invasive vegetation, and signs of vandalism.
The pattern repeats along the entire coastal strip, where historical gems fall into ruins amid the indifference of the State.
What angers those who follow these reports the most is the contradiction between the neglect of these properties and the housing crisis that the Cuban population is experiencing.
"How sad, with so many people without housing out there, I myself have five children and have been living in a shelter for 10 years," Deyanira Villavicencio reported in the comments.
Hildita Fernández Vila, who lived in Guanabo since 1959 and emigrated in 1980, noted that such marked deterioration did not exist when she left. Mike Barasoain was more direct: "They turned everything into garbage... sad but true... Forbidden to forget."
In Playas del Este, the cost of renting a shade in Boca Ciega already exceeds the average Cuban salary, while incredible sites are being lost without any intervention from the authorities.
Nancy Bravo summed up the feelings of many with a phrase: "Soon, nothing will rise in Boca Ciega."
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