A life-sized bronze of singer and song writer, John Lennon, sits on a bench in a park bearing his name in the Vedado, a suburb in the western part of Havana. The statue’s creator, José Villa, was nearly jailed over the piece, Castro himself so enraged over the glorification of someone he understood to represent all that was decadent in capitalist societies. The music of Lennon and the Beatles had been banned in Cuba from their first release, but Castro’s attitude changed when the artist convinced him to listen to the messages of peace so evident in Lennon’s work. The statue was dedicated in December of 2000 and Lennon’s songs, as well as the music of the Beatles, have since been a regular part of state radio and have become an important feature in Castro’s "Revolution of the Mind."
The line, "Some people say I’m a dreamer," from Lennon’s hit single, "Imagine," is carved in Spanish in a marble slab at the statue’s feet, and the figure normally includes a pair of his signature wire-rimmed glasses. The glasses have been stolen and replaced several times since the dedication, and a police officer is stationed in the park around the clock to guard against pranksters. Nevertheless, a few days before this photo was taken, the glasses disappeared yet again in the short time it took the officer to use a nearby restroom in the four a.m. darkness.