So far, the number remains at six deaths in San Antonio del Sur and one in Imías, but both places are incommunicado
14ymedio, Madrid, 23 October 2024 — Hurricane Oscar left Cuba 24 hours ago, but anguish continues in San Antonio del Sur, Imías and, to a lesser extent, Baracoa, where almost all communication is cut off. The damage to the roads prevents access to the three populations of Guantana, and there is no telephone signal, so the concern of relatives and friends does not cease. The authorities have counted seven deaths so far, but the conviction is growing that there may be more visible in the photos and people who have not yet been located.
“Of the people who have gone to Imías, does anyone know anything about the community of Guajacal, which was not evacuated? I do not see Government photos uploaded from there,” said a user on Facebook. “From Yacabo,” “from San Ignacio…” doubts about the smaller communities of Imías accumulate, and the phone connection is scarce. “Part of Cajobabo has a signal and also internet. Let them send you news from there,” someone replied.
“Part of Cajobabo has a signal and also internet. Let them send you news from there”
Officially, the victims of San Antonio del Sur are Liz Anyi Elías Labañino, 5 years old; Iriannis Labañino Domínguez, 31; Francisco Columbié Matos, 92; Esmérido Noa Fiffe, 86; Antolino Áreas Domínguez, 83; and Alexander Savón Matos, 42. In addition, there is one deceased in Imías whose identity is still unknown.
Baracoa’s local television, Primada Visión, also reported the transfer by helicopter of a child in serious condition. There are many photographs of hospitals such as the Agostinho Neto and the pediatric Pedro Agustín Pérez with the injured who have been able to be rescued, but there are great difficulties in reaching the area.
According to the Minister of Transport, Eduardo Rodríguez Dávila, yesterday afternoon a huge sinkhole was detected on the road in front of the hospital in Acopio, which caused a road closure before Imías, leaving this population without access – in Baracoa and Maisí, for example. In addition, in Macambo and La Farola there were “big landslides” and damage to the San Antonio-Puriales road, whose bridge had one of its supports undermined.
“I got to San Antonio and couldn’t continue traveling. There are serious problems with the roads. We still don’t know all the damage,” reported Jesús Pérez Alonso, director of the Provincial Road Center.
Early this Wednesday morning, Radio Guantánamo indicated that the work on the road to San Antonio and Imías continued, while in Baracoa and Maisí the situation was somewhat better. One person who was able to reach Imías, on Tuesday afternoon, was Yoel Pérez García, first secretary of the People’s Communist Party (PCC) in Guantánamo, who arrived on foot because of the impossibility of doing it any other way. His individual feat was taken advantage of by the ruling party, which extended the achievement to the past and present PCC. “Fidel Castro showed us the legacy that President Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez continues,” praised Solvisión.
In a night appearance, Díaz-Canel admitted the seriousness of what is happening in Guantánamo: “The situation is very complex,” he said. So far, at least 1,183 total collapses and 1,048 partial roof collapses have been confirmed, in addition to 51 total house collapses.
The Army also began to arrive this Tuesday in helicopters, and 493 rescues have been carried out in flooded areas, according to the deputy director of the Operations Department of the National Civil Defense General Staff, Eduardo Cross. He added that 4,865 people are in evacuation centers and 443 in the homes of family and friends.
The population, however, considers that everything has been insufficient because the residents of the area were surprised by a change in the trajectory of the hurricane due to the lack of electricity and communications since Friday. “Those people were without electricity, like the whole country,” says a man in Havana. “On Sunday I was left without a way to charge my phone, but the last I saw from the NOAA (US National Hurricane Center), the hurricane was category 1 and entered closer to Holguín. On Monday when I had battery power again the hurricane had changed its route.”
The multitude of photographs showing destroyed and flooded roads reveal the impossibility of accessing the most affected localities at the moment, but there is a lot of indignation on social networks due to the lack of air equipment, which could have reduced the damage and, predictably, the deaths that are still unknown. “I wonder, is there only one helicopter in Cuba and can it take only one ride a day? Those of us who are mainly outside Imías and have families there are desperate,” a user from Guantánamo asked.
Others used nostalgia, not to charge against the regime, but against the current government: “Does anyone remember when Fidel almost lost his life in an amphibian in the middle of a hurricane? Of course, surely many. That’s why he was and will always be our only and undefeated leader. If Fidel existed, he would have already arrived with rescue forces in Imias. No one doubts it.”
Meanwhile, the electricity in these areas is still inadequate. Guantánamo is connected by microsystems, and the circuits are rotated as much as possible. A break in the optical fiber also prevents telephone and Internet communication, and telephone and electrical poles have fallen, which complicates other vital services.
Translated by Regina Anavy
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