Santiago de Cuba Two Weeks After Hurricane Melissa
56% of the residents are still without electricity
Diaz-Canel and Marrero tour the province devastated by the cyclone amid controversy over the sale of water and mattresses.
HAVANA TIMES – President Miguel Diaz-Canel traveled to Santiago de Cuba to see firsthand what the situation looks like two weeks after Hurricane Melissa passed through. A meeting of the National Defense Council was held there and broadcast on the television program Mesa Redonda. Paradoxically, few residents of Santiago would have been able to watch, since nearly 60% of the province is still without electricity. And those who do have it continue to receive scheduled blackouts.
“Many communities remain without electricity and without drinking water service. Hundreds of evacuees remain, and the greatest amount of work still lies ahead in all the areas that were flooded,” said the president. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Manuel Marrero rushed to contain criticism over the sale of supplies, including water. Donated products are “completely free,” he said “while others must be paid for, which sometimes causes confusion among the population.”
Marrero explained that “the community group is the one that decides” whom to give items to, since they know “the situation of each family.” This process must be carried out “with transparency, with popular oversight; people need to know what is arriving and who it is being given to.”
The official explained that “the community group is the one that decides” whom to give items to, since they know “the situation of each family.”
The issue was timely, in a week when questions about donated and subsidized aid began circulating on social media. On Wednesday, the director of Commerce and Food Service in Granma stated that water was being sold in the 10 Zone Defense Councils, at a price of 40 pesos per bottle per household. “This resource comes from the state disaster reserve, it is not a donation, and it covers logistical costs with a symbolic price,” she said in an official message. Criticism quickly multiplied among those who found it shameful to have to buy a basic necessity in the midst of a disaster.
The sale of mattresses has also been on everyone’s lips, to the point that authorities in Granma were forced to issue an explanation that many do not agree with. A note from the Department of Prevention and Social Work describes two types of mattresses, so that “victims receive the necessary support in an equitable manner, considering their economic situation.”
It refers to “cameros,” (queen size) which are foreign donations distributed free of charge, and “individual” mattresses, which the State has purchased for emergencies. These cost 911 pesos but are subsidized by 50% for those with “economic solvency.” The note adds that the State funds 100% of the mattresses for vulnerable people and mentions the “payment facilities” available for families in need, although details of these credits have never been provided. As for the mattresses themselves, it emerged at yesterday’s meeting that more than 8,300 were lost or damaged, so production in Jíbaro has had to be increased and donations relied upon.
Díaz-Canel acknowledged that the situation in the affected area is “extremely difficult,” and Marrero added that more than 149,000 homes and 158,000 hectares of crops are affected. Along with restoring the electrical sector—now at 98% in Guantánamo, 86.2% in Granma, and 44% in Santiago de Cuba, which only means a return to the long scheduled outages—and the epidemiological situation, these are the main concerns.
Palma Soriano, Songo La Maya, San Luis, and Santiago have been identified as municipalities with epidemics, the same ones shaking the entire nation, mainly dengue and chikungunya. In response, officials said fumigation protocols have been reinforced.
The president of the Provincial Defense Council of Santiago de Cuba, Beatriz Johnson Urrutia, said that 43% of the provincial capital has already been cleaned—an ideal breeding ground for mosquitoes—and expects 100% to be completed by the 28th. In her own way, she acknowledged the Government’s failure by admitting that 6,900 households have lacked housing solutions since Hurricane Sandy in 2012, now joined by more than 2,300 total collapses and more than 19,000 partial or total roof damages. More than half of the 1,244 schools are affected, and students have had to be relocated.
In Granma, Yanetsy Terry Gutierrez highlighted progress in recovery but acknowledged that many homes are damaged (more than 8,000), along with 52,000 affected hectares. Holguín is somewhat better, though it still has more than 900 total collapses and half of its educational institutions damaged. The provincial Party secretary, Joel Queipo Ruiz, said the province is focusing on the population’s psychological damage. But not only that: there were more than 4,700 product seizures from people who took advantage of the situation to impose abusive prices. “There are people who have not understood the moment we are living in,” he snapped.