Eusebio will always be in the soul of his people

December 18, 2020

Until the National Capitol, filmmaker Fernando Pérez also arrived to say goodbye to the eternal Historian. By the way, he spoke with Habana Radio about his impressions of Doctor Eusebio Leal Spengler.

What is the importance that the Historian leaves to the new generations?
Eusebio Leal's legacy is very large and comprehensive. I believe that one of the most important characteristics of his legacy is that Eusebio was self-taught. I remember when I read his biography, I was very moved because it was truly a path of self-improvement, but always growing in love for Cuba and interest in our history. But above all, looking at our city and our country from diversity, understanding difference. I believe that open, effusive Havana, that plural Cuba was in Eusebio's spirit and is part of all of us.

I decided to come today because it is a very important moment, and because this place, the Capitol, is restored by his vision, by everything he saw and others did not see. I felt it was a very special moment of spiritual communication, to communicate with him in silence and tell him yes, that Havana is still here and it will be that Havana that he dreamed of throughout the years.

What is the legacy, on a spiritual level, that Leal left in you?
On a spiritual level, Eusebio was a wise man, he was all spirituality, like Martí. He never put forward any decision that was not based or channeled precisely in a poetic vision of life. Martí also had that poetic vision, not only because he wrote verses, but because he saw life from spirituality.

I remember once I was walking through Old Havana and I saw him, I didn't approach him but I followed him. He was just another person, he entered all places, he got lost and spoke with anyone, the most common of all passersby and he stopped in front of a museum that had become a primary school classroom and the children were there, respecting what was museumworthy. That is spirituality, that is seeing what others did not see. That is the Eusebio that is still in the streets of our city.

From cinema, what is the best tribute that can be paid to Eusebio?
Not just from cinema, from all the arts, the best tribute that could be paid to him is precisely to make committed art, but committed from diversity, from the complexity of our history and our present and from that future that I foresee as complex, but that many young people are supporting, asking for, feeling, modeling and prefiguring. I believe that among those young people there will surely be a new Eusebio who will continue his work.

How do you remember Eusebio in your personal encounters, interviews...?
I remember Eusebio as an ordinary Cuban. I didn't have many interviews or participations in public events, I never shared them with him. I shared them, for example, when my first time as assistant director in A Cuban Fight Against Demons, I went to see him: he was the Historian of the City and suddenly I found someone who spoke to me as an equal. And we spoke to each other with respect. Immediately there was communication.
If there is so much people out there it is because Eusebio never stopped being one more among them from his wisdom, he didn't mark a difference, he never looked down; he was always in the soul of his people.