Havana Cuba. – Several residents of the Santos Suárez neighborhood in the Diez de Octubre municipality, whose homes are located on the ground floor of a building in danger of collapsing, denounce the ineffectiveness of the Cuban authorities to resolve the situation and prevent the total collapse of the building , in critical constructive state.
According to Paula Fonbellida Betancourt, the situation dates back to 2005, the date on which the first partial collapse of the building occurred, in which no fatalities were reported thanks to the help of a neighbor who rescued the owner of the damaged apartment.
“An elderly lady lived there and the neighbor from behind was able to get her out. About a year ago there was a wall that was falling off and we made the complaint; we had to make many visits to the SECONS company [Servicio Especializado de la Construcción] because we were afraid that it would fall and damage my home,” explains Paula, before specifying that the construction company knocked down the wall and then propped up part of the building with wooden beams.
Likewise, the interviewee recounts that, after visiting the property and assessing the situation, the community architect informed her that there was no danger of collapse as long as the structure of the building did not split in the center, something with which they did not agree. the residents of the building.
“I don’t think it’s quite like that; if the building is sinking, something happens because it is already broken and the top plate has detached from the apartment next to it. That is why I am afraid that a landslide will occur here in my house”, Paula details.
The woman had to send her granddaughter, with her baby, to reside in another place for fear that “the worst” would happen.
Since September 2021, according to a document issued by SECONS to which he had access CubaNet, there is a demolition order for the upper part of the building. However, to date the work has not been carried out.
“We have called. my husband has gone [a varias instituciones estatales] and nobody has given him an answer about this. That is there depressingly, with tremendous danger. At times we feel how the pieces fall [de concreto]”, he points.
The Cuban also indicated that the authorities handed over houses to those who lived in the upper part of the building. However, the apartments were illegally occupied.
“They gave housing to all the people who lived up there, except for one family that did not want to leave. Then ‘illegals’ came to live there who have already been there for between 10 and 12 years. They can’t throw them out on the street, so now we also have to find a place to put them,” he says.
Paula asked the authorities to take an urgent measure to preserve the lives of the residents of the building, whose situation, she said, is known by the municipal and provincial authorities.
“Everyone is aware of this: the Government of Diez de Octubre, the Party, the Provincial Assembly of People’s Power, the municipal and provincial directorates of living place… What we ask is that someone act before there is a landslide and human lives are lost”, he insists.
According to Reina Tania Fernández Pérez, another resident of the building, the authorities never offered the option of leaving the place to those who reside on the ground floor, as they did with the residents of the upper part of the building.
“Those below us were given no option, no materials to repair or anything. We have been repairing by our own means, but there are parts where we cannot do anything, because with houses up we cannot fix the roof”.
“[Las autoridades competentes] they have been propping up, it is the only thing they have done and the last time we went to Housing they told us that they did not have a budget to demolish, that they could not do anything”, said Reina Tania.
As the interviewee recalls, the residents of the building went to the newspaper Granmato Canal Habana and to the newspaper Tribune of Havana to raise their situation and gain visibility before the corresponding authorities, which they have not achieved so far.
“We have traveled all the possible places that we have been able to access. We have arrived and raised the situation in all, but nothing, in the end there is no solution. When the problem reaches the Government and the Housing Directorate of Diez de Octubre, everything stops there”, he laments.
“I live with my heart in my throat, thinking that the roof is going to come down and it’s going to kill me,” he ends up confessing.
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