Holguin/Exactly one year has passed since explosions that shook the Melones military unitin the Holguín municipality of Rafael Freyre. But this January 7th, only a short and solemn note has appeared in the local pressmore concerned with exalting “surrender” and avoiding “blame” than with answering the questions that remain open since that morning in 2025, when 13 people died after a fire and a chain of detonations in a facility under the control of the Revolutionary Armed Forces.
From Holguín, the feeling is that Melones was frozen in limbo. The small town, with unpaved streets, a warehouse, some wooden houses and others made of masonry built with effort, has lost its pulse. “People have had to get used to the fact that this is a taken over town,” summarizes Joel, a resident of the city of Holguín who has family in the town and visited it frequently before.
Unlike the official story, which insists on the idea of an honest and closed scar, in Melones the wound remains open. The military unit remains practically closed. Access to the area is closed, the roads to the hills where the bunkers are located are still under surveillance and there are military posts that prevent passage. There is no visible reconstruction movement, nor signs that the facility will be reactivated. “That was dead,” Joel comments to 14ymedio.
Nor has it been explained why, a year later, the bodies of the deceased remain unrecovered.
This Wednesday the Facebook page of the Eastern Army released some images of an official act to pay a “heartfelt tribute to the 13 Combatants of the Revolutionary Armed Forces who fell in the line of duty.” A monument with rifles pointing to the sky, some flowers placed in front of the plaques with the names of the deceased and some relatives who attended the event formed the reminder.
However, the first anniversary arrives without the results of the investigation into what happened having been made public. Officially, there was talk of a “disaster of technological origin” and a possible electrical failure due to a short circuit. Nothing else. So far no responsibilities have been mentioned, failed protocols have not been detailed, nor has the presence of recruits been argued inside tunnels loaded with explosives in the middle of a fire. Nor has it been explained why, a year later, the bodies of the deceased have still not been recovered.
The 13 victims, nine Active Military Service (SMA) soldiers and four officers, have become names at official events and painful absences from their homes. Families are still waiting for answers. “There were many promises that they were going to help the relatives but nothing has materialized,” says a Rafael Freyre source who prefers anonymity. “Now for the anniversary there were several parents who even refused to take part in this whole spectacle.”
The relatives were warned from the beginning not to give statements to the independent press, not to publish on social networks about what happened and not to participate in WhatsApp groups where the topic was discussed. Some reacted with public outrage, despite the pressure. Several parents reported that a real search for the bodies was never carried out and that basic security protocols were violated. Others have chosen silence or to leave the country, according to testimonies collected by this newspaper.
The residents of Melones, furthermore, live with the certainty that under those hills it is still full of explosives that could detonate at any moment. Joel, who did his military service there when the unit was built in the mid-2000s, describes it as one of the largest arsenals in the country, with long tunnels and tons of war material.
In the twelve months that have passed since the incident, apparent calm has replaced the coming and going of high-ranking officers that was seen in the first days. There are no drones flying overhead like before, no trucks coming in or out. All that remains is surveillance, prohibition and fear. A fear that something will happen again and that other children will have to do military service in similar conditions.
The recent death of Eldis Leyva Nieves, 19, while serving the SMA once again fueled the debate about the security problems faced by recruits. The incident occurred on December 18 in the province of Guantánamo, when a rocket detonated in the air and its fragments hit the victim. The clamor to end compulsory recruitment flooded social networks and the demand to clarify responsibilities was redoubled.
This Tuesday, however, the note published by the official press about the fateful anniversary appealed to resilience, honor and sacrifice, and stressed that the tragedy of Melones should not serve to “place blame.” But in the small town, and in the rest of Cuba, the feeling is different: without transparency, there is no closure; Without bodies, there is no complete mourning.
