Eusebio Leal Spengler was born on September 11, 1942, in Havana, Cuba. He was a historian, essayist, researcher, and Cuban intellectual known for his title as the Historian of the City, which he held until his death in Havana on July 31, 2020.
Leal, a self-taught individual, completed the sixth grade while working in the municipal government and was taken under the wing of Emilio Roig de Leuchsenring, his predecessor as the Historian of Havana, who guided him in his vocation as a historian. He pursued a Bachelor’s degree in History at the Faculty of Philosophy and History of the University of Havana from 1974 to 1979, after having prepared for the proficiency exams without having officially attained any other level of schooling.
He held the academic degrees of Doctor of Historical Sciences from the University of Havana, Master of Archaeological Sciences from the same university, and Master in Studies on Latin America, the Caribbean, and Cuba. Additionally, he was the City Historian and Director of the World Heritage Restoration Program.
In his long career, he held more than 20 positions in various institutions both within and outside of Cuba, such as the Royal Spanish Academy of History, the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando, the Mexican Academy of Language, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He was a member of several associations, held various chairs, and served as a full and guest professor at several universities in Cuba and Latin America. Additionally, he was a Deputy to the National Assembly of Cuba, Honorary President of the National Union of Historians of Cuba (UNHIC), and President of the Commission of Monuments of the City of Havana.
He has been awarded more than forty international prizes and decorations and has been honored with an honorary doctorate from over 10 universities worldwide.
He wrote essays, prefaces, and articles on the History of Cuba, topics related to the Americas, restoration, and Museology, which have been published both in Cuba and abroad. He is the author of pamphlets and books, including: Returning in Time; Stop the Walking; Verba Volant; Fiñes; Carlos Manuel de Céspedes. The Lost Diary, Aeterna Sapientia, and The Light on the Mirror.
For the Cuban people, Leal was a beloved and admired figure for being the one responsible for the recovery of Old Havana, transforming a marginalized and decaying area into one of the most emblematic Historic Centers in America, as well as one of the most popular tourist attractions in Havana. Thanks to the ambitious project he led to restore churches, fortresses, palaces, hotels, museums, residential buildings, shops, and other historical structures, the Historic Center of Havana was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1982.
He was the Director of the Tourism Company Habaguanex S.A., managing a broad network of hotel and non-hotel (gastronomy and commerce) services established on January 6, 1994, by the Office of the Historian of the City. Today, it includes over 300 establishments, including restaurants, shops, markets, cafes, and 16 hotels and hostels, offering a total of 546 rooms across various categories. Ironically, on July 31, 2016, exactly four years before Eusebio's death, Habaguanex came under the control of the military conglomerate GAESA, belonging to the Revolutionary Armed Forces (FAR), "to achieve a more efficient function," according to General Division Leonardo Ramón Andollo Valdés, who announced the new assignment in the absence of Eusebio, who was loyal to his Havana but did not attend. This sudden change of leadership caused quite a stir among Cubans.
Leal hosted the television program "Andar La Habana" for years, which made him popular throughout the island, where he showcased a corner of the city every day from a historical and architectural perspective.
In November 2019, despite its significant deterioration, he accompanied the King and Queen of Spain, Felipe VI and Letizia, on their tour of the historic center of Havana and was honored by the monarch with the Grand Cross of the Royal and Distinguished Spanish Order of Charles III.
His most recent public appearance was on June 16, 2020, to bid farewell to the vedette Rosita Fornés.
