‘Presentes’ for Cojimar (+Español)

The natives pride themselves in saying, “A Cojimero always.” And the people from Cojimar become Cojimeros. 

There’s Mabel, who came from Holguín, worked in tourism while she bought a house with a beautiful patio behind the Torreón de Cojimar, a national monument and World Heritage Site inaugurated in 1649. Mabel is now a tenant and a barista and in addition she directs the Local Development Project Mural Painting in homage to the writer Ernest Hemingway. Who can deny her the title as a Cojimera?

That’s why at the Center for Demographic Studies (CEDEM) of the University of Havana created the project “Presente for Cojimar: natives and migrants” —because you can emigrate from Cojimar to Vedado, Trinidad or Miami, but one never leaves Cojimar.

Cojimar is a town located about 7 km east of Havana. It is part of the municipality of Habana del Este and has a population of approximately 20,000 inhabitants. We do not know how many more are scattered around the country or the world.

This fishing town is linked to the legend of Ernest Hemingway and his influence still resonates today. Cojimar still preserves the author’s imprint and offers a rich cultural tradition, but it has great environmental challenges related to the restoration and conservation of its natural environment. These include the degradation of the Cojimar River and the accumulation of waste on El Cachón Beach that is generated upstream and carried by the current. Various community and local development projects are attempting to restore the environment, recycle waste to make useful objects, educate children and adults in environmental protection, and rescue its natural and constructed heritage.

Cojimar is today a tourist destination for its beauty, tradition, rental houses and restaurants. But, above all, it is a space for contemplating the sea and its tranquility, but still close and accessible to the hustle and bustle of the city.

July is the month of traditional celebrations in Cojimar, especially the Fishing of the Needlefish and the Procession of the Virgin of Carmen, patron saint of Cojimar. On the 16th, the procession of residents and visitors leave from the Hermitage, built in 1879, and now a living image of yesteryear. On July 20th, there is held an activity for the environment, with voluntary collection of debris and raw materials on El Cachón beach and the Fishing Base, which involves schools and the community. And on the 21st every year they celebrate Hemingway’s birthday and the anniversary of the creation of the Glorieta, with an allegorical bust of the writer. Fishermen come there, place a floral offering and other festivities are celebrated in his honor. The Daiquiri Festival is based at the iconic restaurant La Terraza, where Hemingway and Gregorio, the skipper of his yacht the Pilar, would eat and drink when they returned from the sea.

Presentes por Cojimar (+English)

Maritza is a lifelong Cojimar resident, a physicist by training, now the owner of, ISLA S.R.L., a small company dedicated, among other things, to providing environmental services, landscaping and gardening, and electrical installations. With ISLA and the support of the Cuban Network of Solidarity Economy and Corporate Social Responsibility (ESORSE), and the School of Social Economy of Andalusia, the project aims to enable an ecological classroom for the environmental education of children and young people. It is powered by solar panels, which also serves as a charging point for mobile phones, bicycles and electric motorcycles in the town.

To finance the creation of the ecological classroom and equip it with audiovisual and other equipment, the School of Social Economy, a crowdfunding project, conceived the idea, “Building Sustainable Communities in Cuba: Together for Cojimar,” which raised more than 13,000 euros in just 40 days.

“At the School of Social Economy we not only seek to contribute to the restoration of ecological balance in Cojimar, but also to ensure that local communities and natural systems are mutually benefited from transformative actions,” said José Ariza, director of the School of Social Economy.

Active community participation is essential to the success of the project. The classroom will not only be a space for learning about environmental issues, but also for recreational events with an ecological focus. In addition, the preservation of popular traditions and the connection with a local identity will be promoted. Social transformation is essential to building a more conscious community committed to sustainability.

Another innovation of the ‘Presentes for Cojimar’ project was the creation of a Solidarity Economic Circuit (CES), a tool that integrates consumption, marketing, production, financing, technological, and human development processes, as a way of promoting economically viable, ecologically sustainable, and socially fair development for the good living of all. The CES organization requires the creation of collaborative networks between solidarity actors and the reorganization of economic flows that cross a territory or a network.

The Cojimar CES is made up of Maritza and her son Jose Manuel, a young geographer and videographer, both of whom are part of ISLA S.R.L.; Mabel, a tenant of Casa Mabel Cojimar, and owner of the Mural Painting project in Tribute to Hemingway; Clara, also a tenant and manager of the beautiful environmental education project with girls and boys, Azul Marino; Elizabeth, from the El Cachón Intensive Garden that grows vegetables, aromatics and fruit trees; Justo, another farmer and wine producer; and Ángel, owner of the El Cojimero Restaurant. It is considered by the Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment “a prototype model to be developed based on the proposed protection of the environment: use of renewable energy, waste treatment, reduction of emissions and discharges, adaptation and mitigation of climate change, preservation of biodiversity, recycling and circular economy.”

But, above all, it is an alliance of producers, consumers, community activists, advised by professors from the University of Havana, based on collective benefit and local development. As an example of social responsibility, it contributes to the Gregorio Valdez Cruz polyclinic and the Casa de los Abuelos. The Circuit donated much-needed cleaning and hygiene materials to the latter, that was purchased by its members. During a volunteering day, ISLA used its electric tricycle – donated by the project – to transport medicines and other supplies from the Public Health warehouse in Alamar to the Cojimar polyclinic.

With the aim of promoting local tourism, the Yalla Tur travel agency was enlisted to bring tourist groups to Cojimar so that they can enjoy its many benefits. The first group from the United States that visited the projects, which were of great interest to them, watched children making crafts from recovered plastics, and drank coconut water at the Huerto El Cachón while they were told about permaculture, participated in a beach clean-up with schoolchildren, and had fresh fish for lunch at El Cojimero. The positive evaluation of the visitors with the places visited guarantees other visits with this tour operator. It also brings benefits for local businesses and the projects themselves, and enhances the image of Cojimar as a different and attractive tourist destination.

The main objective of the project Presentes por Cojimar: natives and migrants is to develop links between migrants and their families or friends, their significant places in the community, and their feelings of belonging to Cojimar through the realization of activities that contribute to territorial identity, environmental protection and the development of the town. There is still much to do in this regard. The project is just beginning.

Progress has been made on objectives such as supporting the environmental and economic-productive rescue of the mouth of the Cojimar River and El Cachón beach, creating the Productive Economic Circuit, taking the first steps to build the Ecological Classroom, promoting tourism and international collaboration, and promoting social communication in support of the project and its objectives on social networks such as Facebook and Instagram.

So far, the Project supports locals who carry out their actions in favor of the encounter with the construction of well-being in their lives. Every day they are inspired by a better Cojimar, with the effort of everyone, natives and migrants, those from here and everywhere, united in physical distance by the closeness that means sharing their pride for that place that yearns for them and awaits them. Its doors are open to the hearts that feel and desire it, from yesterday and today, tomorrow and always.

Rafael Betancourt economist, university professor. Email: rbetancourt3114@gmail.com
Leave a comment