MIAMI, United States. – Cuban activist Adelth Gamboa, collaborator of CubaNetcalled this Friday to rebuild Babilonia, a cultural center located in the municipality of Güira de Melena (Artemisa) and focused on the LGBTIQ community that was completely destroyed by the impact of the Hurricane Rafael.
“Together we can, kilo by kilo and half by half, we are going to raise Babylon,” Gamboa said in a post on your Facebook account. “Today I ask for the solidarity of all my followers to help these two friends [Jesús L. Pérez Hernández y Enrique Leal, creadores y gestores de Babilonia] “I feel like family in this test of destiny.”
Babilonia, which celebrates its 11th anniversary this month, is “a cultural project focused on the LGBTIQ community and drag queenism, but it is for the whole family,” Gamboa explained in statements to CubaNet. “The owners help the community a lot, the poor people,” he added.
The center was completely destroyed. “What they described to me when there was communication – because now Güira is incommunicado – is that they lost everything. We have to make it completely new,” explained the activist.
Gamboa highlighted the importance of Babylon for the LGBTIQ community. “In the entire province there is no equal place for the community. In fact, people from here in Havana go there for the atmosphere, for the type of party, for the drag shows for the entire community.”
In his message, Gamboa expressed his regret for the situation: “It is very sad to see a place that you have in your mind visualized as a place of relaxation in these conditions. “A happy place reduced to rubble.”
The activist shared information for those who wish to contribute to the reconstruction of the center and emphasized: “Thank you very much in advance. Together we can achieve it!”
In Havana alone, Hurricane Rafael caused around 461 total and partial landslides, according to information from the Cuban authorities.
“Havana has been strongly shockedToday we are counting more than 461 total and partial collapses (due to light roofs, falls from walls and stairs),” Yanet Hernández Pérez, governor of the Cuban capital, told the official press.
Hurricane Rafael, category three on the Saffir-Simpson scale, strongly impacted western Cuba, where it caused serious damage to homes, infrastructure and agriculture, as recognized by the Cuban Government in its first damage assessment.
The cyclone made landfall at 4:20 pm on Wednesday, November 6, along the southern coast of the province of Artemisa and left the national territory more than two hours later along the northern coast of Pinar del Río.
The Cuban Institute of Meteorology (INSMET) recorded sustained winds of up to 185 kilometers per hour and intense rains that reached 200 millimeters. The towns of Alquízar and Güira de Melena, in Artemisa, were particularly affected, with flooding that left entire neighborhoods under water and significant destruction of homes and crops, according to local media reports.
The Cuban ruler, Miguel Díaz-Canel, reported on social networks after a meeting of the National Defense Council: “Major damages in Artemisa, Mayabeque and Havana.”
For his part, the regime’s prime minister, Manuel Marrero, in a televised intervention described that the damage had been “very heavy in housing, infrastructure and agriculture.” He also referred to the total blackout that affected the country ―presumably due to the cyclone―, the second in less than a month.
