The Police and State Security agents were the first to arrive, this Saturday, in the vicinity of the Saratoga hotel. Exactly one year ago an explosion –attributed to the mishandling of liquefied gas– left the emblematic establishment in ruins and claimed the lives of 47 people. However, the relatives of the victims, who also came this morning to pay homage, are still awaiting the results of the investigation that the Government promised them.
Almost at eleven in the morning – the same time that, on May 6, 2022, the incident took place – the relatives gathered in front of the hotel, in Havana’s Parque de la Fraternidad, had to endure the traffic of the patrols and the movement of the policemen. The flowers they brought contrasted with the crowns deposited by various official institutions around the Fuente de la India, very close to the hotel.
Members of the Union of Young Communists, local officials and members of the Red Cross became to portray around the monument. The official press, however, has preferred to be discreet with the tribute and, so far, has only published one report cubadebatea brief note in the local Havana newspaper and a cable –reproduced by other media– from Prensa Latina.
Intimidated by the authorities and camping out on the grass, the relatives of the victims could not remember the deceased in peace. Nervous and swarming from the Fraternity park to the street, they did not lack the supervision of some agent who indicated where it was forbidden to walk.
At 10:50 a.m. on May 6, 2022, Havanans heard a loud explosion near the Capitol and saw the column of smoke rise. Of the Saratoga, which was scheduled to reopen a few days later, only the top floor remained, rickety on the weakened structure.
23 hotel workers, neighbors and pedestrians, as well as two minors and a Spanish citizen visiting the island perished in the tragedy. In addition to the hotel, a Baptist church, a school, the historic Martí theater and other surrounding buildings were damaged.
After the rescue efforts, the authorities promised to launch a thorough investigation into the causes and indicated that it had been caused by the incorrect handling of liquefied gas from a truck to the hotel cistern.
The official press offered detailed coverage of the rescue efforts, but was slow to identify and put a face to the victims. 14ymedio At that time, he collected a large amount of information and drew up, from direct sources and social networks, a profile of each of the deceased.
The flowers they brought contrasted with the crowns deposited by various official institutions around the Fuente de la India, very close to the hotel.
In October 2022, this newspaper also reported the seven-year prison sentence of Adel de la Torre Hernández, one of the rescue workers who risked his life during the evacuation, for having participated in the protests on July 11, 2021.
Until now, no details of the investigation into what happened have been provided and both the relatives and Cuban public opinion are still waiting to learn the details of the tragic event, those responsible and the measures taken to prevent it from happening again.
The Saratoga hotel, inaugurated in 1880, was one of the most important in the capital until 2016, when the military of the Gaesa monopoly, then led by Raúl Castro’s former son-in-law, Luis Alberto Rodríguez López-Calleja, seized the facilities.
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