A mafia gathering and a rich Cuban history
Hotel Nacional opened in Havana on December 30, 1930 and has become a symbol of Cuba for more than 80 years. The hotel’s registration book can be read as a directory of famous and influential people of the XX century: Winston Churchill, Jean-Paul Sartre, Ernest Hemingway, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Fred Astaire, Rita Hayworth, Marlon Brando, Alexander Fleming, Yuri Gagarin were mentioned here. And Frank Sinatra has repeatedly filmed number 225 for actress Ava Gardner.
It was at the Nacional in December 1946 that the leaders of the American criminal world met, which is reflected in the film The Godfather II. Negotiations between the iconic figures of the American mafia – Lucky Luciano and Meera Lansky – took place in a “luxury” room on the second floor. It is said that it was here that the “mafia accountant” Lansky doomed the famous gangster Bugsy Siegel to death.
The walls of the hotel bear traces of the turbulent history of Cuban: they have bullets from bullets fired in 1933, when Carlos Manuel de Cespedes became president of the country as a result of an armed uprising. During the Caribbean crisis of the 1960s, anti-aircraft guns were installed near the hotel to repel attacks by American aircraft. And in 1997, Fidel Castro’s opponents staged a terrorist attack on the hotel building, injuring several people.
There was no tourism in Cuba for a long time, and mostly diplomats and representatives of foreign countries stayed at the hotel. In 1990, the hotel was completely renovated, and two years later it finally began to receive tourists again. Today, anyone can stay at the hotel.
