IDENTIDADES 1 ENGLISH IDENTIDADES 7 ENGLISH | Page 16

The Need for the Private Sector to
Commit to Contemporary Society
Yusimí Rodríguez
Journalist
Havana, Cuba
guiar Street, in the Santo Ángel
neighborhood of Old Havana, is a
small alley that doesn’t seem to be
part of this municipality, where sometimes
even tourist spots are dirty and the streets
are busted up. Yet, good taste, refinement
and prosperity above all, are the rule there. It
has rows of cafés and private establishments
with outdoor tables, attractive decor, and
signs with tempting (and expensive) offers
inside. If you are in Old Havana and ask
where Aguiar is, you might hear the following answer: “Oh, the alley where the Café de
Artistas is.” But, what you most certainly

A

hear is: “Hairdressers’ Alley,” the shortest
name with which it has been baptized most
recently. How did the alley get this name?
Thanks to a man who seems to be anything
but a hairdresser. “In Spain, I said I was a
hairdresser at a Patrimonio event, but the
audience heard pelotero (baseball player).”
The fact is that Gilberto Valladares (or Papito, as he is known) does not look like what
many may think a male hairdresser stereotypically looks like. He is not dressed fashionably (although his hair is died blond,
even before many men dared to); neither
does he make effeminate gestures.

At the end of the alley there is a beauty parlor that is really a living museum, a school
where the trade can be learned free of
charge. Before participating in a number of

national and international regarding Patrimonio, among other things, Papito started
off with one chair, hair dressing implements,
and a dream: “First, I wanted to show that

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