Couples who wish to marry in Manzanillo, Granma, must do so starting next Tuesday at a state-run computer facility: the Joven Club de Computación "Manzanillo 1."
The venue, located at the corner of Villuendas and Batería streets, will be the new site for formalizing civil marriages in that city, replacing the traditional Marriage Palace.
The palace's lawyer, Estela Mompié Ramírez, confirmed the transfer to the local official press without explaining the reasons for the move or providing a specific timeline for a return. She merely described the measure as "temporary" and clarified that the Joven Club will assist those interested from Tuesday to Friday, between 8:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m.
The chief registrar of the Palace, with over 30 years in the position, highlighted the symbolic loss that comes with the relocation: "I have married several generations of grandparents, parents, and children. The residents of Manzanillo have a culture of getting married at the Palace, which is why they 'chase' me. Here at the institution, we carry out around fifty official unions each month," she revealed to the official journalist Roberto Mesa Matos Manzanillo.
That decades-old tradition will be interrupted—without a date for return—at a computer store, while the government does not provide a public explanation regarding the situation of the original building.
Several internet users in the post expressed regret over the change of venue and suggested that the deterioration of the Marriage Palace might be a possible reason for the decision, although this has not been confirmed.
The deterioration of these facilities is a widespread phenomenon throughout Cuba, reflecting the State's inability to maintain its institutional heritage.
In Sancti Spíritus, the Palace was closed for nearly two years due to severe deterioration and in September it was handed over to a private mipyme for its rehabilitation. In Holguín, the Provincial Real Estate Management Company opened a bidding process to transfer the management of the Palace on Maceo Street to private actors.
In Havana, the Palacio de El Vedado fell into ruins due to years of neglect, until an Italian entrepreneur leased the mansion and initiated its restoration with personal funds. A section of the building continues to serve the public for weddings.
The irony of the case of Manzanillo is that the provisional solution is not exactly a suitable space either: the Joven Club de Computación are facing their own crisis of obsolescence, with insufficient maintenance and frequent power outages.
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