14ymedio, Juan Izquierdo, Havana, 8 November 2024 — Cubans have become accustomed to the buzz of the old Mi-17 helicopters of the Armed Forces in the last weeks of the cyclone. This Friday, with Cuban Television teams on board, several took photos that allow us to calibrate – with great detail and from above – the havoc caused by Hurricane Rafael in the Cuban west.
In one of the Mi-17 helicopters of Soviet manufacture and, judging by the images, with several years of use, five experts from the Electric Union (UNE) flew over Artemisa, Mayabeque and Pinar del Río to evaluate the state of the downed power lines. Embedded with the military, the technicians took note of a series of complex breakdowns.
“How long will it take to repair? It cannot be specified,” said the head of UNE Lines, Onassis Trujillo, alluding to six destroyed high-voltage towers near Guanajay. According to him, the Army itself is supervising the repairs, and the head of the Political Directorate of the Armed Forces, General Víctor Rojo – an expert pilot who carried out missions in Africa – and the leader of the Western Army, Ernest Feijóo, arrived at the foot of the towers.
The helicopter continued its journey over the base of Energás, in Jaruco, which the regime doesn’t generally show in published images. The base tower emitted a powerful flare, a sign that it has fuel. It is intended to link Jaruco with the thermal power plant of Santa Cruz del Norte to create a microsystem, or “island,” of current for Mayabeque, according to the report.
The most impressive images among those recorded aboard the H-165 are those of the town of Mariel, with destroyed roofs and abundant pools of water. They also flew over the Máximo Gómez power station and the Turkish patana (floating power plant) Ela Sultan, whose presence in Mariel – although well known by the independent press – had not been verified through maritime tracking applications. The wind had knocked down ten wooden poles.
The journalist and spokesman for the regime, Lázaro Manuel Alonso, also boarded an Air Force helicopter this Friday. The pilots commented, according to his report, that gusts of wind were very dangerous for the old Cuban helicopters. Judging by the images, Alonso was in a Mi-17 H-166 helicopter.
One of the helicopters in this fleet, the H-115, crashed last April in Santiago de Cuba, killing its three crew members.
In Bauta, Mariel, Güira de Melena, Alquízar, Guanajay, Caimito and Artemisa, the damage was serious. Next to some fallen trees and roofs that “flew” there was an irrigation plane that had lost its wings. “But the most devastating footprint is in agriculture,” Alonso explains, and the images speak for themselves.
Cuban Television has not spared praise for the Armed Forces. In the Havana municipality of Cerro, several high-ranking officials of the Ministry of the Interior allowed themselves to be filmed, shovel in hand and in ordinary clothing – not work uniforms – to demonstrate their “commitment” to recovery. “We have been here since six in the morning,” Lieutenant Colonel Alexei Hernández proudly commented. Neighbors wearing Che Guevara and Fidel T-shirts praised the “great cleanup that the Minint (Ministry of the Interior) is doing.”
The Special Troops of Villa Clara, known as the Black Wasps, showed the cameras their modern equipment for rescue and recovery. Helmets, gloves, flashlights and new uniforms (unlike those used by soldiers or military service recruits), shovels, backpacks and life jackets, in addition to Dongfeng Chinese trucks are among the squad’s supplies. Each soldier also has a radio, portable antenna and headphones.
But the Army, reported 5 de Septiembre, has orders not only to quantify the hurricane damage and support the recovery work. They are also there to “strengthen surveillance and patrol the territory,” along with the Ministry of the Interior. The “combatants” are in charge of “control of the public road” and “other actions” to maintain calm despite the discontent of the victims.
We must protect, they say, “the resources of the State” and the “conquests of the Revolution,” a phrase that leaves no doubt: if there are protests, the same forces that operate the helicopter will be able to wield weapons.
Translated by Regina Anavy
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