# Reina Letizia and Liz Cuesta, wife of the Cuban president, tour Old Havana

**Date:** 11/14/2019

Queen Letizia and Liz Cuesta, wife of Cuban president Miguel Díaz-Canel, toured areas of the historic district of Old Havana, as part of the agenda for the first official visit of Spanish monarchs to the Caribbean island.

On a walking tour, the Queen and Cuesta visited the Convent of San Francisco, in Havana, built in the sixteenth century, where they were able to appreciate the restored cloisters, as highlighted by several Spanish media outlets covering the historic visit taking place on the 500th anniversary of the Cuban capital.

The brief tour focused on Cuban youth and their impact on the restoration of the city of Havana through the work of the Gaspar Melchor de Jovellanos School-Workshop, responsible for training young people over 18 years old in the arts of restoration and conservation of Cuban heritage.

Doña Letizia entered Old Havana through Plaza San Francisco de Asís. Inside the Convent and Basilica of the same name awaited Lis Cuesta Peraza, wife of the President of the Republic of Cuba, Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, and representatives of the Office of the Historian of the City of Havana.

Followed by members of the Spanish diplomatic corps accredited to Cuba, and the numerous national and international press, who since their arrival in the country have been closely following the steps of both leaders, the group toured Oficios Street to the corner of Teniente Rey to begin a visit to the headquarters of the School Workshop, founded in 1992. The center is named after the writer, jurist and Spanish enlightened politician, Gaspar Melchor de Jovellanos, and its founding and expansion to other cities in the country has been made possible thanks to Spanish international cooperation.

Juan Carlos Pérez Botello, Director of the School, introduced Doña Letizia to the interior of the building where a group of students displayed restoration work on plasterwork, one of the specialties of the program. An audiovisual material about the founding and social purpose of the school was projected for the audience.

Melchor de Jovellanos since its opening on April 6, 1992, receives young people between 17 and 25 years old interested in student and work engagement of this type, through public calls.

The next stop was Plaza Vieja. There the Spanish Queen learned from the Deputy Director of the Office of the Historian of the City of Havana, Perla Rosales, and Magda Resik, Director of Communications, about the history of the space, its previous and current uses, and the intensive restoration work undertaken there by the institution directed by Doctor Eusebio Leal Spengler to restore the city's public and social spaces.

Returning along Teniente Rey Street, the group entered the South Cloister of the Minor Basilica and Convent of San Francisco de Asís. The director of the center, Leisbel Cespón Castro, showed the visit the final result of the building after a major intervention that extended over several years. Today that section houses permanent and temporary exhibition rooms in dialogue with the collections of the Museum of Sacred Art, housed in the religious institution of origin.

In the Concert Hall that completes the North Cloister of the building, the Camerata Romeu and its director, Zenaida Romeu, awaited, who after 26 years maintain their headquarters inside the building. The brief concert included works by authors from the nineteenth century Cuban period and Ernesto Lecuona, one of the most recognized composers of our country.

Doña Letizia Ortiz, Queen of Spain, before concluding her official visit of this day, was photographed together with a group of young people from the School Workshop and workers from the Spanish Agency for International Cooperation (AECID), who since 2019 have supported the "Inclusive Havana" project, which prioritizes mobility through the Historic Center for people with disabilities and other vulnerable sectors, with a universal accessibility approach for all people.