Antonio carries the grease stains on his hands, the calluses that tell his work history. The blue overalls are clean because we interviewed him today. He is rarely seen walking in the management building, he only comes here to be given a task or to define a maintenance strategy. The twenty years that he has been at the Ernesto Guevara Thermoelectric Power Plant have been spent inside the iron mass, in the workshop, in the depth of the boiler or 11 meters inland repairing the mesh or the circulation pump.
He is a man of few words, one of those who speak from the sincerity and nobility of his eyes. In the Mayan energy factory they know him as a brave man, one of those who do not know fear, nor impossible missions, nor schedules with limits.
Q:What is your name, surname and responsibilities?
TO:I am Antonio León García. I work in the mechanics workshop, in the traffic brigade. I am a mechanic B at the Ernesto Guevara Thermoelectric Plant. I started working here in 1994, in the same mechanical workshop, but in the valve brigade, from there I worked in different tasks, I was in the turbine brigade and then I moved to the circulation brigade, which is where I live. now. It has been my only workplace so far.
Q: How has the last stage been here?
TO: We all know from the situation that the country is going through with the generation deficit. We have spent a lot of time at the plant working in 12-hour shifts, tirelessly, repairing different breakdowns that we have had. Months ago we carried out a very difficult task, in my brigade we took the step forward to do a satisfactory job.
Q:What does your work consist of?
TO: My job is to be a circulation mechanic, but if support work is necessary in other brigades, in whatever is needed, the same as in a fuel pump, a valve to change, a plate, in anything that the workshop needs or the center I am there for whatever is needed.
Q:What are the difficulties and risks of your job?
TO:I left here from work at 5 in the afternoon and at seven at night they called me, at ten at night, at two and three in the morning and I had to come here and solve some problem. breakdown that has happened at that moment, and then until dawn or perhaps until part of the day.
In the conditions in which we work, I always say in a general sense because it is the brigade as a whole. Down there, apart from the meshes, are the circulation pumps, there are high temperatures down there. An anecdote I can tell you is one summer, in July and August when we were doing maintenance on unit 2, the temperature was 57 degrees at that time.
Q: A year ago, something unexpected happened to Tony, as his colleagues know him. Two of his great loves came together, each one unique in his feelings. The only daughter Ismabis began working at the Ernesto Guevara Thermoelectric Power Plant, where he has worked since he was 18 years old.
What did you feel when Ismabis started working at Central?
TO: At that moment I felt proud, but at the same time I was afraid, because in any case I know the dangers, but what I feel most is pride in being by his side. Sometimes we pass each other on the central street and talk and that is a source of pride for me, especially when my co-workers see us.
Q: Ismabis León is a Health and Safety technician at work, now she knows first-hand the risks to which her father is exposed.
What do you feel now as being responsible for enforcing the rules, at this moment that you know the dangers to which you are exposed?
YO: You feel fear, because you already know the work and the risks. In the end my work is based on the risks of human capital and one feels fear, but in the end at the same time one feels pride, since now I have the responsibility of ensuring that he and his colleagues comply with the established to take care of themselves, now I also take care of him very close.
Q: What does your mother say about Antonio’s work?
YO: At home I have had to be my mom’s tears many times when my dad doesn’t arrive, but I always have faith that nothing will happen, as long as they take all the safety measures.
Q:How do you define your dad?
YO: My dad is everything to me. My dad is unconditional, unmatched.
Antonio León García, the thermoelectric mechanic, is in 2024 the one who inspires President Miguel Díaz-Canel’s congratulations to all Cuban parents. In the postcard the dignitary says that in the depths of the boilers, at very high temperatures, always taking hours away from rest, this brave Cuban and his companions fight hard repairing meshes, heaters, valves… so that the old plants generate electricity. And next to them, following the example of his father, now there is also Ismabis.
Happy Father’s Day – Díaz-Canel wrote – and continued to thank Cubans for their example who, like Antonio, are capable of facing and overcoming the nation’s greatest challenges by inspiring their children.
