The Cuban activist Lara Crofs (Yamilka Lafita) responded to the demolition of the bust of General Antonio Maceo in the park of the same name in Las Tunas to condemn the act with a phrase that summarizes her stance: “Maceo should not be torn down; he should be returned to Cuba”.
The white marble bust was knocked off its pedestal in the early hours of Sunday, August 10, by unidentified individuals who violently struck the sculpture, causing visible damage to several parts of its face.
The incident, which took place in the park named after the national hero, left the statue under police custody while technical and forensic investigations are conducted to identify those responsible.
Lara Crofs was straightforward in her statement: "This is not an act of protest against the dictatorship; it is VANDALISM against our own history."
The central argument of the activist is based on a historical fact: the bust was inaugurated on August 28, 1947, twelve years before the Revolution, sculpted by the Holguin artist José Virelles at the initiative of veterans of the wars of independence.
"Maceo does not belong to the Communist Party, to the government, or to any institution of power; he belongs to Cuba," he wrote.
For Lara Crofs, the piece is part of "a republican memory and a patriotic tradition that precedes the current regime," which positions it outside the symbolic inventory of the dictatorship and transforms it into a heritage for all Cubans.
The activist acknowledged the manipulation the regime exerts over national heroes, but she drew a clear line: “We must denounce the propaganda manipulation that the regime conducts with our leaders while repressing, imprisoning, and impoverishing the people, but that never turns our national symbols into legitimate targets for destruction.”
His message concludes with a distinction he deems essential for those who aspire to a free Cuba: "Rebellion does not need to destroy Maceo; it needs to prevent those in power from appropriating his legacy. Down with the dictatorship, yes. But also down with vandalism and the destruction of our historical memory."
Lara Crofs' statement carries additional weight considering that the activist herself was detained by State Security in Havana on April 18, which makes her a voice with firsthand experience of the regime’s repression.
The incident in Las Tunas is not an isolated event. Days earlier, on August 8, a bronze star was stolen from the mausoleum of Major General Calixto García in Holguín.
In July, a marble plaque dedicated to Pablo Neruda was vandalized at Loma de la Cruz, also in Holguín. And in May, the protective gate of the martyrs' mausoleum in Cárdenas, Matanzas, was looted, leaving it exposed.
The restoration of the bust in Tunero was entrusted to the artist Leonardo Fuentes Caballín, who will carry out the reintegration of the damaged parts and a conservation treatment before replacing the piece on its original pedestal, as reported by the Periódico 26, the official media outlet of Las Tunas, which described the event as "an assault on heritage and cultural identity" of the province.
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