Dr. Eusebio Leal's face lights up when he talks about Havana. Working for the city, celebrating its 500 years, has been his reason for living. The celebration for the foundation of the Villa de San Cristóbal de La Habana is not only for the county’s capital city residents, but for all Cubans, and has summoned the efforts of many, allowing the Cuban capital to shine at its best these days.

The City Historian spoke of the lived history, of aspirations, and challenges, of continuity, and the future.- Randy Alonso: Making a reality of slogans about a Wonder City, the largest or the most beautiful city, Eusebio, involves only political will, or having the material resources? What does it take for this city to be as beautiful as we all aspire?- Eusebio Leal: When I started working, there was none of that. When Fidel arrived for the first time, he asked me, "What do you need?" And I answered, "Nothing." And he said, "How come?" And I said, "Because if I start asking, you will never come back."

Chomi was in front, and remembers it perfectly. That came from my heart.When he drafted Decree Law 143 and subsequently General President Raúl Castro signed it, being the only decree, with its logical modifications, which has been signed by two presidents in the history of Cuba, the national heritage was given extraordinary importance, huge importance.

The resources? You can have all the resources you want, but if courage is lacking, if that will is lacking, if that negotiating capacity is lacking, you must have it; if one does not know how to concede in order to win, if one does not understand how Lenin said to take two steps back, to then one forward - something that for many was almost a philosophical mystery; if it is not possible to think that what was suitable yesterday is no longer prudent, that, as in biology, in society we must adapt to the times; that in the concept of Revolution, Fidel foresees it perfectly and defines it:

It is not about changing everything so that nothing changes, which would be a change of colors, a nuance, nor act under pressure of any kind, but as a result of a creative, renewing force, when what must be a living word, does not become a slogan or etched in stone, because the word may give life, but the letter alone is dead.We have just passed the Flag Law.

The important thing was not the Law of Symbols. What’s important thing is that it be implemented.

The important thing is not that it was written, the important thing is that it is here (pointing to his head) and that it is here (pointing to his heart). It means, as Dr. Raúl Roa said in a memorable assembly: "Agree with the heart".

So it takes a great deal of heart. It is sometimes necessary to know how to step back, to recuperate strength.We have been at the mercy of fire, at the mercy of sea flooding, at the mercy of hurricanes; and there has always been that renewing will. If a tree fell, we raised it.

When that great tree-felling hurricane hit, with the support of the Armed Forces, I brought 14 large trees of which three survived, and were planted in the gardens of the Castillo de la Real Fuerza. They were trees over a 100 years old.

When trees are downed, the ax party begins. A symbolic act was needed. Get a tree; plant it; say: if it dies, I will replace it.

When the Templete tree died 50 years later, I remember that I was very sick, the announced visit of the President of the United States was approaching. And I came to the new tree planting.I remember that no one was notified and I asked: Take me to the event. I remember that I was between two people and a little hidden. I saw the moment when my very young collaborators threw dirt with their hands on the roots of the new ceiba. And I said, "This is it, this is it.

" Every generation must plant their own tree. Every generation must make its own effort, its own interpretation of the codes.Alfredo Guevara, my friend and mentor, on many occasions spoke to me about Mariategui and Gramsci, that socialism in our country, and on the continent, in Cuba, would need to be a heroic creation. Heroic it is. But sometimes you forget that it must be creation.

That is why I admire both the work of the Army General President (Raúl Castro) and the continuation of Fidel's work: The reorganization of the state, the regularization of public institutions, the Migration Law, the redistribution of land, the renegotiation of the external debt, the firm will to maintain the concept that only in unity, which was the precedent mark and spirit of Marti, could the supreme objective be achieved.So for me, the restoration has been nothing more than an excuse to work ardently for something bigger, bigger and more important, so that you, the Mesa Redonda and all our friends have worked with all your soul, for Cuba.

Not in the abstract, because Cuba is not something abstract, nor is Cuba the accident of being born here, an accidental birth. Being Cuban, as our sage Fernando Ortiz said, is more than acceptance, because it can also be by adoption, seeing Cuba as the center of the world, like Máximo Gómez, Ernesto Guevara, Juan Rius Rivera, how many more? The Indian Hatuey.

The island, the place that touches us as a space of creation, strength, renewal, new word, speech, faith, spirituality, to recognize the spirituality of the Cuban people, their characteristics, their ways of seeing the world. Deeply respect all this. This has definitely been the spirit of my life.

- Before entering, you gave me an endearing hug that touched my soul. And said, "Only those who persevere succeed." I believe that this is also the key to what you have done, to what your collaborators have done, and what is being done in the nation.

But what symbolism do you attach, speaking of nation, to the socialism you mentioned, what symbolism lies in this city, the capital of Cuba, reaching its 500th anniversary amidst so many challenges and so many threats, so many complexities that we have lived, even the danger of a nuclear war?

- They have tried to put a wall around us, it is impossible. When the white ships, cruise ships, entered, it was like the breaking of that brutal, immoral, continuous, almost domiciliary blockade, the charge imposed on Cuba. However, even when this has been was abruptly stopped, from one day to the next. I said, "It doesn't matter," the port channel is open.

The fleets entered the port of Havana for five centuries. In the first centuries, bringing the destinies of America to its docks; they faced each other in the Florida Straits, at the mouth of the Gulf of Mexico, around the Cape of the Dutch, leaving on the way to the Canary Islands, along the Atlantic route, with pirates and privateers, and yet Havana prevailed. Havana survived the fire of Sores, the brutal British siege of 1762, with her black gunners, with her brave women, with Don Luis de Velazco, atop the Castle, defending the walls of the fortress, Marquis Gonzales, defended by Pepe Antonio in Guanabacoa.

Havana is full of a beautiful history, and that history is lived, it is a story that those who do not have it can ignore. When a tremendous power, during the war, the European wars, bombed the city of Zaragoza mercilessly, one of the French officers was blindfolded and invited to enter the bombed Zaragoza, and taken to view the city from the temple of Pilar, where the blood bank was, and there the blindfold was removed and he was told: “Here is the resistance of this people.” And the story is told of the woman who lit the last fuse of the last shot.

Thus, we descend from those wandering knights and from the lords of Africa, who being princes, kings, obbas, and priests came chained as slaves; and we descend from the Indian blood that runs through our veins with pride and that still marks the name of Havana, that of Bayamo, that of Cuba.We are in the middle of the American Mediterranean, a powerful cultural fusion, which we have always wanted to be America, we have always wanted to go as liberators, never as invaders. We feel the pride of our sages, of our doctors who have saved lives and brought light in the Himalayan mountains, amid devastating earthquakes, horrible plagues in the center of the continent, amidst Ebola in Africa, challenging everything.

We are the children of Luz y Caballero, a Havana native, who said that he would forego anything but the sun of the moral world, of which Cintio spoke. We come from this lineage, we come from Marti's love, from creative love, we come from all that, and this is unchangeable.

Havana will live, celebrate its 500th anniversary, bringing together all the heritage cities of Cuba in Havana, its capital. I had the honor of speaking at the 500th Anniversary of Santiago, Puerto Príncipe, Camaguey, Trinidad, for example, but could not attend other places because it was no longer possible, but all are in my heart, that I could speak in Baracoa, the first city founded; to all of them, on this day, this is not Havana’s party, it is theirs, this is Cuba’s celebration.

- Eusebio, you have overcome tremendous challenges, personally, and also enormous obstacles throughout your life. Reaching Havana’s 500 years, November 16, 2019, here in this city, what symbolism, what meaning does this have for Eusebio Leal.- Without my training and loyalty to Christ, Martí, and Fidel, it would not have been possible to do anything beyond what my human strength or my own courage would have allowed me. I have always believed in these ethical values. (…) When you started the Mesa Reonda, and we climbed those stairs, and Fidel prepared the room to make it the scene of a great battle that went on for many years; when we accompanied him in front of the U.S. embassy, ​​rifle in hand, to say: Hail, Caesar, morituri te salutant, those who will die salute you; and we have survived; we had the honor of living at that time.

As a Liberation Army General said to his daughter, the distinguished poet Dulce María Loynaz: When one has lived during a great era or a great time, one lives prisoner forever of that moment.I live forever a prisoner of these moments. Indeed, I survived when I did not expect to, when I was ill. I was reminded that we are human beings, that life is ephemeral and that the important thing is our work. I do not aspire to anything. I do not even aspire to what they call posterity; I don't aspire to anything, I only aspire to have been useful.

And I apologize to all those who, throughout my life, in the necessary search for what I believed to be my truth, I may have offended; and for my own mistakes that I made with the youthful passion in which every man and every people seeks its own path. I believe that in the end, I found it, and that that light that I see now, there, in the darkness of the sunset, is finally the way.- I return again to a question I asked a year ago.

There is symbolism in this anniversary: the traditional walk around the new ceiba is, perhaps, a premonition of the new city that must come.

When Eusebio takes his turn that day, that night, around the ceiba, what will he wish for the city’s future, what will he be thinking?- Health and future, and that what is written there is fulfilled: Detain your step, adorn a place here.

A symbol of health, a tree: a tree that is like the tree of life, in whose shadow Cubans live. That tree is also a symbol that there can be no city without nature, this is very important for Cubans - that we still believe, fortunately, and it is true, to some extent, that a seed is thrown and a pumpkin is born in the courtyard where we least expect — one that we must, however, care for.

The city must free itself of pollution, contamination, we must save the city, care for this sea, we must take care of this land, we must take care of the gardens, the fountains, the public monumentsI know, it is easier to condemn than to educate; it is easier to remove a monument than to explain it. But that time has passed, now the important thing is to educate. And as President Miguel Díaz-Canel says, don’t leave me alone in this battle, the battle for public decency. In the Latin origin of the word, decency is behavior, it is a sense of honor, it is respect for the property of others, respect for yours and that of others, knowing that both are common property.This is what I will wish that night, like the time we took three turns. Gabriel García Márquez was there, Fidel was there, we were going around and around.

There were many prejudices, there were even some leaders who did not want to walk around the ceiba, because they said it was a kind of superstition; and then suddenly the destroyer of all superstitions entered, and entering before him was the creator of all myths, and they walked around the ceiba three times and then Fidel asked jovially: "Hey Gabo, so what?" Well, that so what? That so what? That is the answer to your question. Everything will depend on us and young people, those who may be listening, those who greet me in the streets of Havana, or as the son of a friend of mine, who said one day to Fidel, the son of Katiuska Blanco, I want to be the City Historian, and Fidel, surprised and smiling, told me: Look, there you have it. What a great joy! Whether it is him or someone else, I am convinced that we already have one

(...)- Thank you Eusebio, thank you for persevering all these years, thank you for your work, and as dear Fina said: The stones will speak for you. Thank you for this hour, thank you for having accompanied Havana to its 500 years, take her to safe harbor and keep looking to the future, which I think is most important.- The same to you.