If there is something surprising about the majority of those who disappeared in the extinction of the fire at the Matanzas Super Tanker Base, it is their youth. The Cuban government puts them at 14 –after having given the initial number of 16– and affirms that they are firefighters, but the desperate calls of family members on networks show that for the most part they were adolescents between 17 and 20 years old who They were undergoing military service. All, sent to the combat of the flames without any experience.
One of them, Leo Alejandro Doval del Prado, 19, was presumed dead by his aunt Yunia Doval and other relatives. “It is impossible to find survivors there. There is not even hope of finding the body,” Doval declared bluntly to Radio Television Martí.
The woman published this Tuesday a heartfelt letter addressed to her nephew, wherever you are, in which she describes him as “cute, affectionate and noble”. Student of the Vocational Pre-university Institute of Exact Sciences (IPVCE) Carlos Marx, from Matanzas, he was completing his Military Service in a fire department and his dream was to become a neurosurgeon.
“I always admired your values and your family know that you are not one of those who run, without imagining that today I would prefer that you had fled”
“I don’t want you a hero, my boy, I prefer you a coward!” Doval writes. “I always admired your values and we know your family that you are not one of those who run, without imagining that today I would prefer that you had run away. I would feel the same pride if you arrived now saying that you suddenly became cowardly, rebellious, defiant, and got off the truck of firefighters, because ultimately, you are not one of them.
The authorities, so far, have only confirmed the death of Juan Carlos Santana Garrido, a 60-year-old firefighter. whose body was recovered on Saturday, and at no time have they published the list of missing persons.
In the absence of government transparency, and as on other occasions, such as after the Saratoga hotel explosionon May 6, the relatives have dumped the information on social networks, through which their names can be traced.
Official journalists they gave death of Michel Rodriguez Roman, 20 years old, but later they deleted the information. A resident of the municipality of Santa Cruz del Norte, Mayabeque, he was doing military service in the Fire Department number 3 of the Juan Gualberto Gómez airport in Varadero.
Osley MarranteWar28 years old, has also been given as deceased, according to his cousin Iván Guerra in statements to Radio Televisión Martí: “At around 4:20 in the morning the GPS signal was lost, apparently it was the time of the second explosion and that was when he died. A co-worker of his and his boss too.”
One of the reported missing is Fabian Naranjo Nunezalso in publications of their relatives in social networks. The young man, of unknown age, was doing military service in the same fire department. “We don’t know anything about this boy. Please, if anyone sees him in any of the hospitals, let them know,” Yanelys Naranjo González wrote on Facebook.
“Around 4:20 in the morning the GPS signal was lost, apparently it was the time of the second explosion and that was when he died
In the same body served Luis Angel Alvarez Leyva, originally from Holguin. “The Matanzas authorities told us that we have to wait until the last moment, that for 72 hours he hasn’t appeared, that the vapor is so big that my brother may already be dead. But in real life, they didn’t tell us that he is dead, formally. They are going to keep informing us because it is not yet known if he is alive or maybe the explosion has thrown him to the mountain. I have faith that he will appear, ” said Luddvianka Alvarez in an interview with Radio Television Martí.
Meanwhile, relatives of Andy Michael Ramos He has also been reported missing. According to Andy Amarilys Ramos, nothing was heard from him after he went to the scene of the incident.
Of Osmany Blasco Sosa it is only known that he was on duty, putting out the fire. They have also asked for help to obtain information from those close to Raciel Martinez Navarro, God of Nazco, Adrian Rodriguez, Areskys Quintero Y Luis Raul Aguilar Zamora. The only thing known about the latter is that he worked at the Unión de Construcciones Militares de La Habana company.
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