CubaPLUS Magazine

Located on a central street in the Cerro municipality, in Havana, rises the notorious architecture of the Latin American Stadium, a real emblem or monument in the world of Cuban sports and baseball, It is also the venue for cultural and mass events. No one can ignore, even from afar, the depth of its massive stands, its information board and lights, when it fulfills its role.

Many times crowded with a happy legion of fans of the sport of balls and bats, to put it in some way, those properties have vibrated for the stridency and clamor of groups of very fervent fans noisily sheltered there. With a capacity for 55,000 spectators, the Latinoamericano has a field, whose dimensions are 325 feet in the gardens left and right and 400 in the center.

A fence of about 4 meters high protects the central area. It is the headquarters of the National Baseball Commission, while the team Industriales, which represents the capital's residents, consider it their natural home, which knows how to share properly with all of Cuba the Cuban hospitality. It was inaugurated in 1946, under the name of Grand Stadium of Havana, and with 77 years on its pillars, it continues to be the most important installation of its kind in the country, a condition evident from the beginning. It has been restored and modernized on several occasions, the last for its 75th birthday in 2021.

The name Latin American Stadium was given to it in 1961, when the practice of professionalism in Cuban baseball was suppressed. The surrounding neighborhood and town often refer to it simply like the Latino, a name that has also been given to the Popular Council neighborhood that makes life viable in said urbanization. Around 1971 it was the subject of remodeling, that expanded the garden and the extension of the bleacher area.

But it was in 1999 when a capital repair was made, in order to get it ready for the game with the Baltimore Orioles of the United States. This process made it possible to pad the fences, something that had to avoid possible injuries to players. So many years in office in a populous area of the capital, have allowed it to become almost with a life of its own in the city.

There are even people who have become mythical entities due to their presence in the future of such a site. One of them was the popular and dear Armandito the Dyer, tireless and enthusiastic entertainer of the Havana team to the sound of a handmade cornet. Today, when he is no longer physically there, he iis always remembered. That's how the Latin American Stadium is, the colossus that never sleeps and also lives, even when the famous National Series is not taking place, it has a leading role at the beginning of the seasons.