The Parque Lennon occupies a large area in contrary to some other parks scattered throughout the city, where the Cubans make their morning gymnastics in the fresh air. The park was built in memory of the Mario Garcia Menocal y Deop, the third President of Cuba (1913-1921), and it was called Parque Menocal until 1990s, when a multitudinous concert was held there, as tribute to John Lennon (1940-1980), the English rock musician, singer, songwriter and composer, the member of the English rock band The Beatles. This was the first homage to Lennon, and it was organized by some musicians, including Gerardo Alfonso, Carlos Varela, Santiago Feliú, Pepe Piñerio, Pablo Menendez, Dagoberto Pedroja, Silvio Rodriguez, a group of filmmakers, writers, painters, et.al. For years the park was known unofficially as John Lennon Park, being a popular meeting place for young people that sometimes gave minor concerts.

Although John Lennon never came to Cuba, the songs of the Beatles were very popular in Cuba in 1960s. However, the world perspective and the lifestyle that the music band was promulgating, even though the group was emphasizing peace on all occasions, was acknowledged to conflict with the revolutionary atmosphere in Cuba that considered the labor the highest value. Thus, the music band was banned in Cuba in 1964, by giving justification of protecting the youth from the influence of the degenerating American thoughts and ideological divisionism. The ban lasted until a song of the Beatles was played in a radio program in 1966.

In 2000 the park witnessed the erection of the statue of John Lennon that was personally unveiled by Fidel Castro with the phrases:” What makes him great in my eyes is his thinking, his ideas. I share his dreams completely.” The ceremony, participated by some songwriters like Silvio Rodriguez, Carlos Varela, Gerardo Alfonso and Santiago Feliú, occurred on the day of the 20th anniversary of the murder of John Lennon (8 December). At the same time, a documentary about the popularity of John Lennon in Havana, prepared by Roberto Chile Pérez, was screened throughout the week, a concert in honor of Lennon was organized and the book with the title of Sergeant Pepper Came to Cuba in a Yellow Submarine, by Ernesto Juan Castellanos, was released. At this date the name of the park has been changed to Parque Lennon officially.

John Lennon’s political dissidence from the US and his vocal opposition to its foreign policy led the regime in Cuba to change his attitude to him. John Lennon had declined to be the Member of the Order of the British Empire to protest the Great Britain’s support in the involvement of US in Vietnam War. He was US resident, but he was under the surveillance of FBI that didn’t disregard anything to deport him from the US. The harassment of the US on the musician in his last years of life led the regime in Cuba to consider John Lennon the victim of the US that had to be supported by the revolutionaries.

The life-size bronze statue of John Lennon in the south part of the park is the work of the famous Cuban sculptor José Ramón Villa Soberón that is known particularly for his public sculptures in Havana, such as the statues of Ernest Hemingway (in Floridita bar), Mother Teresa of Calcutta (in Jardín Madre Teresa de Calcutta), Che Guevara (in Palacio Central de Pioneros Ernesto Che Guevara, Parque Lenin) and El Caballero de Paris in Plaza de San Francisco.

John Lennon is represented sitting on the right end of a bench with crossed legs and looking to his left side in a relaxed pose. It seems that an empty place is created at her left side for anybody that wants to be with him. The bench rests on the large marble slab, and in front of his right foot, there is an Spanish inscription from his song Imagine, written with his own handwriting: “Dirás que soy un soñador/Pero no soy el único (You may say that I'm a dreamer/But I'm not the only one)”. His round-lens glasses that were a recognizable signature of his period of political activism, were stolen by souvenir hunters or broken by vandals several times. Consequently, during the day a security guard (a retired local) waits for the statue and removes the glasses at the end of his watch at night.  On the backrest of the bronze bench you will see the shield of Havana. The polished sites of the statue and the bench say a lot about the interest, shown to the musician that sits peaceful on the bench.

The statue weighs more than two tons.

Even though the park is known by the statue of the musician John Lennon, there is also the bust of another personality, the bust of Freemason Fernando Suárez Núñez (1982-1946). Fernando Suárez Núñez was the founder of the Red Cross in Cuba and the AJEF (Asociación de Jóvenes Esperanza de la Fraternidad (Association of Youth Hope of the Fraternity) in Havana that was established to spread the freemasonry among the youth in the US and Latin America. In 3 years, the association reached about 5.000 members. Fernando Suárez Núñez received the highest Masonic title at the age of 53 years.