This Tuesday, January 7, the Ministry of the Revolutionary Armed Forces (MINFAR) reported on their social networks about explosions in a facility where war material is stored in the town of Melones, Rafael Freyre municipality, Holguín province.
That same day, it emerged that hundreds of people living in the surrounding area had been evacuated, but there was no mention of victims. It was on Wednesday when MINFAR announced that 13 people were missing. The information was limited to a list with the names of the missing (two with the rank of major, two second non-commissioned officers; and nine, identified as “soldiers” who were serving the Military service).
The brief note only added that his relatives had been informed and investigative actions at the scene of the incident continued. Since then, the competent authorities have barely offered information on how the search efforts are progressing.
“They have not searched at any time. They told the relatives that they could not do it because they could cause more explosions and they could not risk more lives, and they had to wait 72 hours,” he told CubaNet Jesús Antonio, uncle of recruit Liander José García Oliva, 19 years old.
“Yesterday [miércoles] They went to the parents’ house and reported that there was no chance of life, that if anyone was alive they would have already tried to leave. It hurts me because they were left for dead without looking for them.”
Although there has been no official communication in this regard, other relatives and friends confirmed to this medium that the authorities denied that they could still be alive, and that they are not even trying to recover the bodies.
“They told my cousin yesterday [miércoles] that they were not going to look for more. “No one told him how he was going to bury his child,” he assured CubaNet a relative of Leinier Jorge Sánchez, 18 years old.
This Thursday, the official newspaper Granma published an article to highlight the evacuation work carried out and the courage of soldiers and officials in being close to explosive zones. In the article they omitted whether they had attempted rescue tasks, and what the experts believed about the condition of the missing people.
Faced with official inertia, Jesús Antonio, Liander José’s uncle, went to social networks to ask for help: “I feel that those children are still alive, but nothing is being done to save them. They are leaving them to the fate of God because we know that they have not made an attempt to look for them,” he wrote in a Facebook group in his community.
“What hurts the most is that they had the courage to risk them all, but now none of them want to risk themselves for those children who were forced to do the dirty work that was not theirs to do,” said Jesús.
“All parents, close and distant relatives should join together and make them stop lying and do what they have to do, which is to give their lives to try to save the unfortunate people who were forced to be there. I join in 100% and give my life for that of my nephew and for everyone who is here,” he concluded.
