HAVANA, Cuba. – What has left the DANA in Valencia, Spain, could well be the scene of the day after the Last Judgment. It has been such an absolute and monumental devastation that, for a moment, we Cubans who have not stopped lamenting the disaster and closely following the recovery of the province of Guantánamo after the passage of the Hurricane Oscarwe also join our sorrow with that of so many people who are currently going through similar conditions: people who have lost everything, who do not have electricity, food or water; people who have not been able to leave municipalities that remain blocked by the accumulation of mud and debris.
Both tragedies occurred barely a week apart, a circumstance that some have taken advantage of to try to minimize. what happened in the towns of Imías, San Antonio del Sur and Maisí compared to the events in Valencia, while justifying the island’s authorities because “in Cuba, like anywhere in the world, the Government sometimes cannot solve all the problems.”
Worse than the lack of solutions has been the lack of foresight, which has claimed victims alike on the Island and on the peninsula. Here and there there was negligence on the part of the authorities, but there are differences that must be pointed out so that the spokesmen of the dictatorship stop making complacent and inaccurate comparisons.
The autonomous government of Valencia issued the alerts late; The Díaz-Canel regime could not even warn the people of Guantanamo that a hurricane was approaching because Cuba was in the middle of a national blackout which lasted for more than 100 hours. Admitting that the Civil Defense could not begin the evacuation work due to the complex circumstances that the country was going through at that time, is a crude justification even for this government that every day breaks its own record of ineptitude, evil and ridiculousness.
The “complex circumstances” were caused by the same people who stole the million-dollar loans that should have been invested in repairing the National Electroenergy System (SEN), and who have spent three years spending millions on the construction of hotels, while neglecting the essential infrastructure for a country can be minimally functional.
In Spain the press has not rested. It has been recommended to be careful with hoaxes, but no one has been censored, while in Cuba the regime investigates and imprisons the perpetrators of an alleged fake news about the breaking of the curtains of the San Antonio del Sur dam.
The images of the tragedy in Valencia travel around the world, as do the testimonies of the victims and the harsh criticism of citizens regarding institutional delinquency. The monetary figures donated and the organizations that have come with provisions to assist, to the extent possible, those who are trying to regain the pulse of life in the midst of so much misfortune, are constantly made public.
The president of the Generalitat of Valencia appeared at a press conference to announce the first aid measures, including the granting of 6,000 euros to each family whose home was affected after the floods, a sum that will have to be processed through of utmost urgency so that the money reaches your hands before the end of this week.
The maxim that the people save the people, and the image of thousands of Spaniards marching towards the disaster zone to do everything they can for their compatriots, from sweeping mud to handing out sandwiches, speaks wonders about Spanish society and makes us Think about how much we Cubans would be able to do if this damn government got out of the way. Inside and outside the Island, people have mobilized to send what they can to those affected in Guantánamo, but few are in a position to come and lend a hand because there is no economy or means to do so.
In the state press there is talk of donations received, but the figures or the goods donated are not revealed, nor how or when they will be distributed among those affected. The Guantánamo catastrophe, displaced from the focus, is being buried by the permanent misfortune that is daily life on the Island. For this reason, Díaz-Canel calmly participated in a farce of a UNEAC congress, a mediocre Festival of Havana Ballet, there will be the Havana Biennial and the Camagüey Theater Festival, as if nothing had happened.
But what is truly inconceivable is that, while the president of the Spanish Government, Pedro Sánchez, had to be evacuated by his security team with sticks and kicks to the vehicle in which he was trying to escape from the crowd enraged with rage, and the kings of Spain endured insults and globs of mud thrown at them by the residents of Paiporta, in the very poor and devastated Cuban East, a group of unhappy people he received Díaz-Canel’s visit with praise. A lady even gave him a hug, and there is no other choice but to wonder what those people are made of who kiss the hand that kills them.
It is understandable that out of fear of jail no one throws sticks or mud, but people can remain silent, or simply lock themselves in their house. There is no reason to pay the slightest homage to that individual and his entourage. There hasn’t been since he took office, but much less now. So much useless servility is sad. The lack of civic vocation of so many Cubans is sad.
