Bronx Museum Funds $2.5M José Martí Statue for Havana's Paseo del Prado

The Bronx Museum of Art is spearheading a $2.5 million project to install a bronze sculpture of José Martí on Havana's Paseo del Prado in 2017. The statue is a copy of a 1958 work by Anna Hyatt Huntington currently located in New York's Central Park. The initiative, promoted by the 'Friends of the José Martí Sculpture Project,' is still fundraising, with the transfer date yet to be determined. The project also includes an educational program about Martí in both the US and Cuba. While Cuban authorities, including the Municipality of Havana, have welcomed the gift and offered a prime location, the initiative has sparked controversy in the US. Critics, including curator Elvis Fuentes, argue the conservative aesthetic lacks artistic value and is out of step with contemporary Cuba. The project coincides with the thaw in US-Cuba relations under President Barack Obama, which began in 2014, led to embassy reopenings in 2015, and continued into spring 2016. Some view the statue as a step backward for Cuban artists and a waste of public funds.