CDMX, Mexico. – At the end of September, Hurricane Ian devastated the western part of Cuba and completely destroyed the home of Zunay Pérez and Alfonso Montano. A few days later, with nowhere to live, they both took their four children and occupied the medical office in La Coloma, in Pinar del Río. Since then the authorities have tried evict four times.
The last time was last Thursday, when they took a police patrol to take the family out. If the forced eviction stopped, it was because those close to Alfonso and Zunay began filming and threatened the authorities to upload the video to social networks, to show how a woman and her four small children were evicted in Cuba.
“We are tired of talking to everyone, but they only give excuses. They ask us to understand that the situation in the country is bad… the same smooth talk as always. In short, they can’t finish the house anymore, but they still want to get them out of the only roof they have, ”he explained to CubaNet Yarisleidy Montano, Alfonso’s sister.
“It is an agony what they are experiencing and with the stress of being taken out. The children are very upset by the situation. The Government fills its mouth saying that in Cuba there is no eviction, but everything is a lie,” adds the aunt of the children of seven months and five, seven and 10 years.
Why are they in the office?
As specified by the family members consulted, the two parents and their children did not enter the office by force. When they arrived at the facility, the family doctor was cleaning. Zunay, with her smallest baby in her arms (then less than three months old), asked him to shelter them and the doctor accepted.
Five months have passed since then and they continue to live in the office because their house is still under construction and they cannot find the materials to finish it. In the doctor’s office they share the space with the doctor who goes and gives his consultations, while Zunay remains inside the small building. She fears that if she goes out they will take the opportunity to take out her few belongings.
“My brother earns just over 2,000 pesos and Zunay cannot work because of the baby. Those children don’t know what a toy is, a new clothes, some trinkets. They live with a lot of poverty and there is no help from the State”, clarifies Yarisleidy.
For his part, Montano assures that the only one who has supported them is the president of the Popular Council. “She has opposed their eviction, but the director of the local polyclinic has come with men to get them out. I don’t know where the humanity of those doctors is, who are willing to leave four children on the street, and the Police supporting them”, adds Zunay’s sister-in-law.
The biggest damages caused by Hurricane Ian in Pinar del Río were in the housing sector. According to official statistics, 107,117 homes were totally or partially affected. That of this family, despite being classified as a priority case, is still on hold.
At the end of November, also in Pinar del Río, the authorities they tried to evict to a Cuban 19 years old, pregnant, resident in the municipality of San Juan y Martínez. The young woman had entered an abandoned premises after losing her house to the hurricane.
