Three months have passed since the sculpture Woman with Parasol collapsed in the pedestrian boulevard on Libertad street in Holguín, and neither government nor cultural authorities have provided public information about what will happen to the artwork or when it will be restored.
"What is her current situation and what will happen to her? Could any government or cultural authority provide us with any information?" asked the Facebook profile Holguín en fotos this Sunday.
When referring to the event, the writer from Holguin, José Poveda Cruz recalled that "the girl disappeared, the umbrella vanished, and only the base remained: that orphaned, grotesque pedestal planted in the middle of the boulevard as if it were waiting for something unknown. Staying true to the tradition of naming small urban disasters, I called it the nuisance."
While he affirmed that "manufacturing and installing a sculpture costs money, materials, time, and management," he noted that "removing the obstruction seemed like a more modest endeavor: taking out the base, leveling the floor, and allowing those who clean the boulevard to restore the shine to that small territory overtaken by neglect."
Poveda proposed to place a monument to "Concha," a popular figure in Holguin's history, on that empty pedestal.
Meanwhile, he added, "the woman with the umbrella is still missing and the obstruction remains in its place. The city lost a statue. And it unwittingly gained a monument to waiting."
The piece collapsed on the night of May 16, weeks after the Facebook page Holguín en fotos publicly alerted about its deterioration, with deep cracks, holes at the base, exposed rusty metal rods, and a dangerous tilt. The authorities ignored those warnings for weeks.
After the collapse, the sculpture was moved to the home of its creator, the sculptor known as Silvio, who was in Mexico and provided instructions remotely to remove it without causing further fragmentation.
"We removed it from its place and are on our way to leave it at Silvio's house. We will keep it there safe until they decide to restore it and install it in the appropriate location," reported the content creator and manager of the Holguín en fotos page.
What no one removed was the pedestal. The empty base has been standing in the middle of the boulevard for months, blocking pedestrian traffic, with no institution showing any signs of wanting to move it.
The collapse of the sculptural piece adds to a series of heritage abandonments documented in the city, such as the partial roof collapse of the Ismaelillo theater in May, the deterioration of five sculptures in the central Plaza de la Marqueta, the repeated theft of the sword from the statue of the hero Julio Grave de Peralta (1834-1872), the theft of one of the bronze stars from the mausoleum of Major General Calixto García (1839-1898), and the conversion of the old Holguín-Gibara railway station into a dump.
Citizens on social media expressed frustration over the official silence. Some recalled that Holguín was considered one of the cleanest and best-preserved cities in Cuba for decades, and lamented that this collective pride is fading in light of the authorities' inaction.
Others noted that the contradiction is especially striking in a city that prides itself on being the "Cuban City of Parks."
"The city lost a statue. And, without intending to, gained a monument to waiting," wrote the author.
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