Havana is named one of world’s 7 wonder cities
Last Sunday (Dec. 7) in Dubai, within the initiative New7WondersCities, Havana was chosen as one of the world’s seven most remarkable cities because “it represents the global diversity of urban society,” according to Bernard Weber, president of the organizing foundation.
The other cities sharing that distinction, according to a communiqué for that organization, are La Paz (Bolivia), Beirut (Lebanon), Doha (Saudi Arabia), Durban (South Africa), Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) and Vigan (the Philippines).
Among the 14 finalists were Barcelona, Mexico City and Quito. All of them were eliminated.
Weber, a renowned Swiss filmmaker and millionaire, said that the selection was made from “more than 1,200 candidates from 220 different countries” in a context where, “for the first time in the history of humanity, more than half the population of our planet lives in cities.”
From those 1,200 hopefuls, a panel of experts chose the 28 finalists who, through a direct ballot, were reduced to 21 and later to 14, which, on the night of Sunday (Dec. 7), struggled to find a place among the winners.
The results were based on a recount of votes in the campaign for election, which ended at 17 hours GMT (14 hours in Cuba) Sunday.
The New 7 Wonder Cities of the World is the third vote generated by New7Wonders, which previously selected the seven most outstanding monuments and seven most impressive nature sites on the planet.
The election is based on a system that Weber called a “global democratic exercise,” carried out by a wide range of devices and numerous platforms.
Voters also cast their ballots via postcards sent to the organization’s headquarters in Dubai.
The founder and president of New7Wonders stressed the support “of everyone who helped to promote the campaign of New7WondersCities since its creation in 2011.”
He congratulated “each of those cities [that] joined the New7Wonders of Nature and the New7Wonders of the World to become part of the global memory of humanity forever.”
New7Wonders defines itself as an organization devoted to “the creation of a global memory through the use of energy by means of the technologies of communication and the means of social communication.”
(Taken from Cubadebate)
(Photos: Roberto Ruiz Espinosa / By: Alma de Cuba)
