• Submitted by: manso
• Society
• 11 / 29 / 2010

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Retrofitting buildings to be topic of speech at college. Posted: November 29, 2010 - 12:02am. By ANTHONY DeMATTEO. A St. Augustine group is continuing its 10-year effort to strengthen the Oldest City's bonds with the people of Cuba.

A contingent from Cuba, including several historians from Havana, will speak at 7 p.m. Dec. 6 in the Flagler Room in Flagler College's main building, said Len Weeks, a director of the St. Augustine-Baracoa Friendship Association. Flagler College is co-sponsoring the program.

The event is free to the public. Weeks said the Cuban group will speak in part, about a retrofitting of buildings in the Latin American country.

Near the eastern tip of Cuba, Baracoa is the country's oldest city and its first capital founded in 1511. By comparison, St. Augustine was founded by the Spanish in 1565.

According to the Friendship association's website, the nonprofit organization seeks to "promote and foster a spirit of friendship with the citizens of Baracoa and in particular, with small, independent groups and associations of handicapped and/or disadvantaged people in the town of Baracoa, Cuba."

Weeks said the Cuban people are dedicated to improving their country.

"They are doing remarkable restoration work, especially in Havana," Weeks said. "They are retrofitting old buildings into boutique hotels, housing for the Cuban people and retail shops. It's really interesting, the way they've gone about retrofitting."

Weeks said when the group speaks at Flagler College, local residents can benefit from a personal connection with the visitors and gain insight into what is happening in Cuba.

He said the group will also include a photographer and a photo presentation of some of Cuba's restoration. Weeks was St. Augustine's mayor in 2000 when he first traveled to Cuba.

"There was a little bit of a controversial start because of Cuba's political situation," he said. "But we have taken all kinds of relief materials to the people there."

Among many charitable works, Weeks said the 10-year-old Friendship Association helped sponsor the efforts of a Baracoa woman leading an effort to turn a toxic dump in nearby Guantanamo into a recycling plant.

"She won a CNN award for her work," Weeks said of the woman.

Cathy Brown, a St. Augustine resident and excutive director of the Council on Aging, travelled to Cuba with a Friendship Association contingent several years ago.

Brown said St. Augustine residents will learn about the ties that bind Cuba and the Oldest City at the Dec. 6 event.

"During the British occupation (1763-1784), many residents of St. Augustine fled for Cuba and settled there," Brown said. "It is important that the public come and learn."

Brown also pointed to restoration efforts in Cuba.

"They are amazingly resourceful people," Brown said of Cubans. "Cuba, as poor as it is, has really made a concerted effort of restoration. Visiting Cuba is like going back in time."

The association has traveled to Baracoa several times in the past decade for humanitarian purposes.

Weeks said the group was scheduled to visit St. Augustine in October, but visa delays pushed the date back. He said the Cuban group will spend a weekend in the Oldest City.


Source: http://staugustine.com/news/local-news/2010-11-28/cuban-group-visit