They Demolished Their House by Mistake / Leonardo Calvo Cardenas

IMG_3774HAVANA, Cuba, September 23, 2013, Andy www.cubanet.org.- Andy Joel Cabrales and Thais Maylen Franco, in an act of desperation, with their two young children on Friday afternoon, positioned themselves in front of the Provincial Court of Havana headquarters to demand a solution to the tragedy they are living.

Ten days ago they inhabited a house in good condition at 315 Muralla Street, between Compostela and Habana in Old Havana, when workers from the Municipal Housing Directorate arrived to demolish a building. And they mistakenly destroyed the bordering house.

Since then, this family of ten people, including children of seven, one, and a baby five days old, all suffering from bronchial asthma, lives among the ruins of what was once their home, now in danger of total collapse.

Given the repeated demands of the victims, housing officials claim that they have no answer for the case. And in the provincial government offices they were limited to “orienting” them requesting a hearing at the Department of Population Assistance, which does not guarantee any solution.

In their desperation, the victims have turned to the Communist Party Central Committee, also with no response. The family reported that no health authority has been concerned about the health conditions of the children, or the young mother, still in quarantine from her recent cesarean.

Several citizens who supported the protest were arrested outside the Capitol building. The municipal director of housing, local government officials and Communist Party verbally committed to solve the case.

Human rights activists, lawyers and independent journalists will follow up on the unfortunate event.

By Leonardo Calvo Cardenas, montesinos3788@gmail.com

From Cubanet: More pictures here.

22 September 2013