Sancti Spíritus/The explosive and vibrant parties of Guayos, in Sancti Spíritus, began early this Saturday with a roar that no one expected. An explosion in the fireworks area left six people injured, two of them in critical condition. The accident occurred around five in the morning, just when the La Loma neighborhood was preparing to light the first round of mortars, a traditional symbol of Sancti Spiritus parrandas.
According to the official version published by the newspaper Escambraythe injured – all men between 30 and 50 years old – were transferred to the Camilo Cienfuegos Provincial Hospital, in the capital of Sancti Spiritus. Two of them remain in critical condition and two others are reported as serious. The authorities assure that the hospital “has the necessary resources” for their care, although local sources affirm that the medical center faces frequent shortages of medications, gloves and healing materials.
The Guayos parrandas, a centuries-old tradition that each year pits the neighborhoods of La Loma and El Carmen against each other in a competition of floats, lights and fireworks, had returned with a vengeance after the restrictions imposed by the pandemic. However, behind the popular enthusiasm old shadows persist, such as the lack of controls, the use of obsolete materials and the general precariousness of the country.
Other similar accidents have marred traditional celebrations in different municipalities in the center of the Island.
The recent explosion in the Villa Clara municipality of Camajuaní, which occurred at the beginning of November, still resonates among the inhabitants of the central region of the Island. The explosion occurred in an industrial warehouse in the Santa Teresa-Los Chivos neighborhood and generated a fire that devastated the premises and damaged at least seven nearby homes. Although the authorities ruled out human losses, the incident caused a strong impact among the neighbors, who described a detonation “as if a bomb had fallen.” The first official versions pointed to pyrotechnic materials, but witnesses assured that lithium batteries and oxygen tanks were also stored at the site, a highly explosive combination.
The Camajuaní case, still under investigation, exposed the fragility of industrial and security controls in Cuba. The lack of effective regulation, the use of recycled materials and the inadequate storage of dangerous substances are common practices in many areas of the country. While the official media tried to minimize the event, the testimonies collected by this newspaper revealed the fear of a population that lives surrounded by risks and without guarantees of protection. The explosion became an alert, although less than two weeks later it was repeated again.
In recent years, other similar accidents have marred traditional celebrations in different municipalities in the center of the Island. In 2018, an explosion at the Remedios (Villa Clara) parties left more than 30 injured, including a dozen minors. In that case, official investigations blamed “human error,” but the full results were never published.
