MEXICO CITY.- Michel Rodríguez Román, who was performing Active Military Service in Fire Command number three, has been confirmed as the second fatal victim of the Super Tanker Base incident. The 20-year-old lived in the Santa Cruz del Norte municipality, in Mayabeque.
The information was published on social networks by the official journalist José Luis Guzmán and later replicated by his colleague Francisnet Díaz Rondón. Both communicators wrote: “At only 20 years old he becomes a hero, adding to the list of our glorious martyrs.” The communicators refer to possible posthumous tributes. However, they did not question the responsibility of the state and its institutions in exposing unprepared youth to a catastrophe of this magnitude.
An argument that Facebook users have highlighted in the comments of Díaz Rondón’s publication. “Inexperienced guys putting out oil flames with water, when you know it’s a death sentence. Not even 20,000 reincarnations together will serve to pay for the damage they have done to the Cuban people,” wrote Yoan Vega. In that same post you can read other opinions that coincide in the same claim: “It is a crime to send a child with zero experience to a catastrophe of such magnitude. They sent him to die, and as a future mother I am very hurt and outraged, “concluded Thalía Cangas.
So far the official media have not confirmed the news. Similarly, the Cuban government has avoided notifying the identities of the people who remain missing. Nor have they communicated the ages of these and if they are young recruits or experienced firefighters.
Among the disappeared, the presence of Leo Alejandro Doval del Prado, a 19-year-old recruit, has been confirmed. About him his aunt Yunia Doval has said: “my nephew was just a boy who was doing military service, the training they gave him as a firefighter was only 15 days. The only fire he had ever seen in his life was the one on the stove when his mother cooked. They should NEVER have sent him for that task, if the professionals can’t handle that, imagine an inexperienced 19-year-old boy who was just waiting to finish his service to start his medical career.
According to what has transpired on social networks, Fabián Naranjo Nuñez, who was fulfilling the Military Service in the Fire Command of the Varadero Airport “Juan Gualberto Gómez”, would also be missing.
According to the national defense law, in Decree-Law 224, male citizens between the ages of seventeen and twenty-eight must complete Active Military Service for a period of two years. In the case of those who obtained university places, this period is reduced by half, but it is still forced. Military service has been mandatory in Cuba since June 1963, in response, according to the government, to a possible US invasion that has never occurred. The mandatory nature of the Cuban Military Service was protected in the 2019 Constitution, which prohibited the use of conscientious objection to evade compliance. Not joining the SMA or not obeying orders can be punished with jail time.
Although the Cuban state does not make information transparent in this regard, reports of deaths in the SMA are systematic. At the end of July, CubaNet published an inrecipient database where we recorded the deaths of young people while serving the Service.
Yesterday, the Cuban authorities had confirmed death of Juan Carlos Santana, with more than a decade of experience working in the Special Fire Protection Command of the Camilo Cienfuegos Refinery. So far two deaths have been reported from the incident, while 15 people are still missing.
Receive information from CubaNet on your cell phone through WhatsApp. Send us a message with the word “CUBA” on the phone +1 (786) 316-2072, You can also subscribe to our electronic newsletter by giving click here.
