As rumor had it, Eusebio Leal, director of the Office of the Historian of Havana, modeled his efforts to revitalize public spaces in Old Havana on the practices of Colonial Williamsburg by hiring and costuming local residents in the styles of Cuba’s colonial era. The problem, however, as many foreign visitors noted, was that the “styles of Cuba’s colonial era” seemed designed to white-wash, silence, or simply ignore the historical reality that defined every aspect of life in Cuba: the brutality and ubiquity of slavery. Worse yet, when asked, many local female residents hired to wander around the plazas while wearing colorful head scarves and flouncy dresses often responded to the question, Who are you supposed to be? by stating flatly: “Esclavas” or slaves. My friend and colleague, Dr. Manuel Barcia, of the University of Leeds, who then worked in Leal’s Office, told me what they were supposed to say instead: “nineteenth-century market women”. Es difícil saber quién tiene más razón [It’s hard to tell who is more correct], he scoffed. Plaza of the Cathedral, Old Havana, 1998.
