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Havana, Cuba. The Basque-Navarrese Charitable Association (Euskal Ongintza Elkartea) was created in 1877 by Basques residing in Cuba in hopes of getting together, promoting their culture and exercising solidarity and mutual support among them.  Over the years it has experienced numerous vicissitudes and more recently went through an identity and performance crisis according to club sources.

In mid-2012, the club renovated its board and since then the new team, lead by Renato Garcia Egusquiza, is working to “revitalize its internal and social life, to accommodate new members, promote knowledge and dissemination of the Basque culture, and be an active visible part of the relationship between the Basque Country and Cuba.

Current Board of Directors includes:

• President: Renato García Egusquiza
• First Vice-president: Daniel Aranguren Echevarria
• Second Vice-president: María Margarita Lotina Martín
• Secretary: Marta Bárbara Egusquiza Díaz
• Vice-secretary: Esperanza Molina Salgade
• Treasurer: Nancy Granado González
• Vice- Treasurer: Regla Ortiz Aguilera
• First Director: Elena Ardanza Zulueta
• Second Director: Luis Tejero Márquez
• Third Director: Milagros Sansebastian Armas
• Fourth Director: María Luisa Salsamendi Miranda
• Fifth Director: Marta Acebedo Badias
• Sixth Director: Miguel Ángel López de Castro Palacios
• Seventh Director: Mario García Ibarra
• Eighth Director: María Mercedes Menéndez Lotin

Attracting new members

The club currently has 370 members and among its main objectives for the near future is to increase its membership and convert itself into “a reference not only for young Cubans descended from Basques, but also for the growing colony of Basques and Basque groups residing in this country.”

In order to do that, they have encouraged the participation of youth in its activities and has expanded the role that women play, support cultural interaction between the Basque Country and the knowledge and dissemination of Basque culture with the knowledge and dissemination of Cuban culture, maintain and expand its historic archive as a heritage shared by two peoples, while reactivating its internal social life in a way that is as open and public as possible.

In search of a locale

One of the key projects for the future of the center is to obtain a permanent headquarters and in this sense provide for two variants, according to the law: the lease of state-owned space, or direct purchase by members, and through donations to the Association as a capital asset. "In any of its variants on the one hand this will require a significant financial effort, but also the explicit support of the Basque authorities before their corresponding Cuban authorities, in the sense that such an initiative is approved and is of maximum interest,” center sources say.

On the other hand, the club has begun various initiatives to reactivate and energize, supported by various work committees, especially in the area of youth, recreation and sport, humanitarian aid, attention to senior citizens, relationships and information.

Organized activities include an introduction to the Basque language, and its culture, that is ongoing since September of 2012, with an enrollment of 10 students.  The club also supports the celebration of regular get-togethers so that members can share, get acquainted and keep informed of happenings in the Basque Country, such as cultural exchange activities that support a relationship between the Basque Country and Cuba and a better mutual understanding: conferences, book presentations and films, recitals of all kinds…

Finally the Cuban Basque club has another future project, the gradual recovery of sports facilities (such as Jai Alai Fronton Concordia in Center Havana, of which the association is a minor shareholder), gastronomic and others with a strong historic interest that were conceited through purely Basque efforts and that are actually in a precarious state. 

If you would like to contact the Basque-Navarre Charitable Association- Asociación Vasco Navarra de Beneficencia/(Ongintzako Euskal Elkartea)/ Habana, Cuba Euskal Etxea its address follows:

- Temporary Address: Paseo de Marti (Prado) No. 309 esquina a Virtudes. La Habana Vieja, La Habana, Cuba

E.mail: avnb@enet.cu

- Telephone at temporary site : +(537) 862-3626