The works visible this June at the historic Cine Payret, located at the corner of Paseo del Prado and San José in Havana, have reignited public discontent toward the Cuban regime's plans to turn the space into a luxury hotel, with Cubans expressing a slogan on social media that encapsulates their frustration: “Not one more hotel”.
The building has been closed to the public for over 15 years, having been shut down in 2008 due to functional deterioration and lack of maintenance. Since then, it has remained wrapped in scaffolding with no date set for its reopening as a movie theater.
Behind the project is GAESA, the business conglomerate of the Cuban Armed Forces, which is driving the construction of the Manzana Payret tourist complex with the participation of the French construction company Bouygues-Bâtiment and an estimated investment of over 300 million dollars.
The plan includes a five-star hotel with approximately 300 rooms, built on the site where the Kid Chocolate multipurpose hall once operated, located in the same block as the cinema, which has already been demolished to make way for the project.
Citizen rejection is not new. In September 2022, when the progress of the construction became apparent, Cubans expressed their outrage on social media with phrases like "they took down the Payret cinema with its sign and everything." In February 2023, a crane removed the iconic cinema sign, an act that many interpreted as the definitive end of the establishment.
Indignation is also fueled by the contradiction between hotel expansion and the crisis faced by Cubans: according to the Minister of Tourism Manuel Marrero, Cuba already has more than 393 hotels and over 72,000 rooms in state facilities.
El Payret is not just any building. Founded by the Catalan immigrant Joaquín Payret in 1877, it was a pioneer in the transition from theater to cinema in Cuba, reaching 2,000 seats and being considered the largest cinema in Havana. In 1953, it screened the first CinemaScope film seen on the island, featuring an 18-meter screen. By 1958, Havana had more cinemas than New York, and the Payret was the jewel of that cultural industry.
Its walls witnessed figures such as Sarah Bernhardt, Anna Pavlova, Rita Montaner, and Rosita Fornés. In its foyer, the sculpture "La Ilusión" and the bas-reliefs of the nine Greek muses, works by the Cuban sculptor Rita Longa, were located.
In 2017, media described the interior of the building as "a jumble of metal scraps, debris, ransacked seats, and rats," evidence of the neglect to which the regime had subjected the property for years.
When the controversy erupted in January 2019, the then-historian of Havana, Eusebio Leal, tried to ease tensions by assuring that "the Payret will continue to be a cinema for Cubans" and that the hotel would contribute to its restoration. Leal passed away in 2020, leaving the cultural heritage of Havana without a key institutional defender, and the construction of the tourist complex resumed in February 2022.
GAESA has already transformed the environment of Parque Central with the Gran Hotel Manzana Kempinski and the Hotel Packard, consolidating a pattern of hotel expansion in the historic center of Havana that progresses at the expense of cultural heritage and amidst an unprecedented economic crisis for the population.
"The transformation of a cultural icon into a luxury hotel is not just an architectural loss; it represents the erasure of our memory. Therefore, discussing the Payret is not merely an expression of nostalgia: it is an act of resistance," summarized a viral social media post that captures the sentiment of those who once queued in front of its marquee.
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