A Spanish delegation, headed by the ambassador to Cuba, Ángel Martín Pecci, deposited a floral offering this Monday in front of the Saratoga hotel in memory of the 46 fatalities of the explosion in that Havana tourist facility on May 6.
The ambassador was accompanied by the captain of the Spanish Navy training ship Juan Sebastián de Elcano, docked since Thursday in HavanaManuel García Ruiz, and a delegation of Spanish organizations on the Island.
The offering was deposited in the Fountain of India, in the Fraternity Park, in front of the remains of the sinister hotel. In that place, thousands of Cubans participated last Friday in a vigil to pay tribute to the deceased.
Among the fatalities due to the tragic accident is the Spanish tourist Cristina López-Cerón Ugarte whose ashes are already in her native province of Lugo (north). Her partner – of the same nationality – is hospitalized, but without risk of losing his life.
With this act, the school ship ends its four-day stay in Havana – its thirteenth in Cuba – in which it carried out diplomatic and military activities with conferences and open-door sessions.
Upon arriving in the country last Thursday, its captain expressed “to the Cuban people and the Cuban Government” Spain’s sorrow for those who died in the hotel explosion.
A gas leak caused – according to investigations still under way – the strong explosion in the emblematic Saratoga, in Old Havana, which has so far left 46 dead and almost a hundred injured, 12 of whom are still in the hospital.
