Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
And the situation of the victims of the hurricane in Cuba continues to be terrible,
as shown by these images and stories.
After Hurricane Sandy, the inhabitants of the neighborhood Frutti Huaso,
located just north of the city of Guantanamo, again felt the weight
of the destructive power of this natural phenomenon.
Approximately 19 homes make up this area that shelter 56 inhabitants.
Among them: 22 children; 2 weak individuals; and one who is physically challenged;
an older woman with terminal cancer; and four persons with mental disorders.
All of them, victims of previous hurricanes,
waiting for a home with adequate conditions in which to live.
-And they did not come by to evacuate you?
-No one.
-Nobody, there was no one here.
-No one.
-And the child that is impaired is yours?
-Yes, I have him evacuated in a house over there.
But some of us had run over there with nothing, and now the matter is even worse.
-And this is where the two children sleep?
I see two children over there, two children. Look, that is where two children sleep.
The children you saw sitting on the skirted bed sheet, they sleep.
-Here, look, here. You think that someone can stay here?
-You cannot stay here - not for one second! Look, it is a, how they have their barrel.
I had to pick up the water bucket because it was seeping inside
and also getting in the roof, take a look.
They do not even have school uniforms because everything gets wet.
The conditions of these homes are far below what is necessary to live.
Much less, to resist the severity of more weather.
The place was a large market, where they were temporarily
housed with the promise of delivering to them repaired houses.
-And are you victims of, of, of another previous cyclone?
-Victim?
-Yes, victim.
-We have, we have for ten years, because, because of the matter of the house
over there, it got hit and that is why they placed us here.
They placed you here, and now with the situation of the cyclone, nobody came?
Nobody.
To evacuate you??
Nobody came here, not even to ask.
-Nobody.
Not if they were coming for people, not if they were going to evacuate. Nothing.
Oh, and it was after what happened, had happened, that a government representative came to see...
to see what happened.
To make himself seen. After he passed through...
he is not missed.
-That perhaps there were people who were dead here from...
Did they also promise you a home?
-Yes.
How long ago was that?
-Some ten years.
Ten years?
-and, and...
And, and the person that is behind...what family, is?
-It is my daughter.
Your daughter?
-Because twelve years, after telling lie after lie after lie...
and them doing whatever they feel like doing, here in Guantanamo.
-That guy is terrible.
-To those people over there, we have our homes and that is not like that.
-We do not have anything, it is a lie.
And we do not have anything. What we are going through, I work here.
Necessities.
Look at the room of my child who has not eaten lunch. Look!
If I did not go complain there, there would be no milk, no nothing.
When I returned to my house, when I went to see. Do you know what they did?
They gave it to a boss and they left me over there; and I for one lost a son.
-In the swell of the river.
-I lived on the side of the river.
There are still those who confide in the much longed for government help.
-I am a revolutionary, here wherever you go.
-And they are also not revolutionaries?
-No, I do not know.
-We are ALL revolutionaries.
-I am telling you, I know Estela.
-So, it is true that she is a counter-revolutionary?
-No, no, you are not going to solve my problem, never ever in this lifetime.
The popular discontent has become stronger after Hurricane
Sandy, adding yet more problems to the inhabitants.
The false promises, the lack of attention, and the bad conditions of subsistence
in the daily life of the neighborhood of Frutti Huaso - each sink the hearts of these victims.