Cuban Television reports missing roofs, containers dragged by the gale and factories flooded by the rains in the ZEDM
14ymedio, Havana, November 8, 2024 — The most important economic enclave on the Island, the Mariel Special Development Zone (ZEDM), was also devastated after Hurricane Rafael passed through the province of Artemisa, where it is located. In an unusual report about a place that it prefers to keep out of the media, the regime superficially offered some data on the magnitude of the damage: missing roofs, containers dragged by the gale and factories flooded by the rains, as shown on Cuban Television.
The devastation is described by reporters as “considerable.” “The greatest damage is to roofs, walls and facades of facilities such as the Guajaibón photovoltaic solar park and the Suchel TBV detergent factory, both of the Vietnamese Thai group.”
The Thai Binh Global Trading Corporation began operations in Cuba 26 years ago and was one of the first to export clothing, footwear, consumer goods, food and construction materials to Latin America. In 2018 it partnered with the Cuban Industrias Nexus S.A, which is part of the Light Industry Business Group, and just a couple of years ago they installed the mixed detergent factory in Mariel.
Thai Binh is one of the few partners of the Island that decided to settle in the ZEDM and produce and market its products from Cuban territory. After Rafael’s passage, however, things do not look good for the company. According to a worker of Vietnamese origin, the winds first “took away a part of the raw material warehouse and a piece of the finished products warehouse, in addition to the roof.”
Also interviewed by the news, Tu Tranh, president of the Thai Binh Group, described other damage to the factory. “The diaper factory in front of the detergent factory was also damaged. We are putting all our effort into recovering these two facilities within 14 days.”
The cigarette factory Brascuba S.A, a joint venture between the Brazilian Souza Cruz and TabaCuba, also suffered significant damage to roofs and warehouses. “It had one of the most severe effects; the damage is located in the boiler’s machinery, roof and chimney,” explains the media. The images give an account of the disaster: not only the engine rooms remain wet and uncovered, but the metal sheets that make up the roof were also torn off, falling both on the ground and on top of other factories and warehouses.
Robinson Tamayo González, co-president of the Cuban side, explained that “the cigarette production workshop where all the production machines are located were mainly uncovered. Almost 40% of the roof came off with the strong winds. Of course, all the machines got wet.” The manager added that the finished product, “400 million cigarettes,” are in good condition and “can be delivered for consumption to the population.” His words were accompanied by images of a worker shoveling what appears to be wet shredded tobacco and throwing it from a ladder onto the ground outside the factory.
Tamayo was optimistic, although he recognized that Brascuba has “hard” days ahead for “damage assessment and work on the recovery of mechanical and electronic machine parts.” But, he added: “We’re going to pick ourselves up.”
The news program warned that there are also effects on the infrastructure of the Electric Union, including “high voltage networks that feed the area.” Although he stressed that Esicuba, an international insurance company – responsible for “insuring the business sector and its economic assets,” according to its website – and “in charge of compensating the facilities” of the ZEDM, is already in the process of quantifying the damage.
For the moment, according to José Leonardo Sosa, deputy director of the container terminal, the facilities will be reorganized to “maintain the operational vitality of the terminal in a first stage.” The “resuscitation” of the container yard will also begin “as soon as possible” to deliver goods and containers.
In the released images of Mariel you can see what Cubans have not seen in the streets after Rafael’s passage: not only installations being repaired as quickly as possible, but also a multitude of workers, machinery and -clearly seen in the video – a tanker with the scarce fuel.
The report, just over three minutes, leaves no time for the viewer to become familiar with Mariel or with the dozens of foreign companies that carry out operations in the terminal. About Richmeat, for example, a Mexican meat company installed in the ZEDM, the regime maintains the usual secrecy.
The commitment to attract investments to the Island in general has not gone well in recent weeks
The commitment to attract investments to the Island in general has not gone well in recent weeks. Not only was the main port destroyed, but the Havana International Fair (Fihav), with which the regime tries to honor itself annually with new economic partners, also had to be suspended after Hurricane Rafael’s passage, which caused structural damage to the Expocuba fairgrounds where the event takes place.
As Oscar Pérez-Oliva Fraga, head of the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Foreign Investment, explained to the participants – more than 700 from 63 countries – “never before had a decision of this magnitude had to be made” despite the fact that the event is held in the hurricane season. He also added that the Organizing Committee will move the date of completion to another season of the year, although this time it was possible to save the exhibitors’ material, and “so far no damage to those articles has been found.”
Founded in January 1989, the fairgrounds have more than 600,000 square meters of extension and dozens of pavilions, among which is the central area, of gigantic proportions. But the materials with which it was built were designed for temporary installations.
The space, barely visited during the rest of the year, used to be filled during the summer months with people eager for a recreational offer that would allow them to escape the bustling city. Now, with the extinction of public transport, the disappearance of fuel and the scarce recreational offerings, only a few still approach Expocuba.
Translated by Regina Anavy
____________
COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORK: The 14ymedio team is committed to practicing serious journalism that reflects Cuba’s reality in all its depth. Thank you for joining us on this long journey. We invite you to continue supporting us by becoming a member of 14ymedio now. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.
