In just 24 hours, Matanzas has been the scene of two landslides. Until now, No deaths or injuries have been reported as a result of these two collapses, bringing the number of deaths in Cuba to six. in just a week.
The most recent of these two events was the partial collapse of a building located at the intersection of Martí and Gonzalo de Quesada streets, in front of Parque de La Libertad, also known as Parque de Colón, in the municipality of the same name. Occurred due to intense rains that have hit western Cuba and leave floods in Havana.
Former political prisoner Iván Hernández Carrillo reported the event on Facebook and shared images showing that the building lost its roof and part of the walls and balconies.
Hernández Carrillo explained that in the building there were, at the beginning of the 20th century, lThe El Confite cafeteria and “the Marrero barbershop”. The upper part, exactly the one that collapsed, had been declared in danger of collapsing by the authorities and was uninhabited. On the ground floor, there was a private cafeteria, in a premises rented from the State, and next to it there was a house.
The general secretary of the Independent Trade Union Association of Cuba (ASIC) tells DIARIO DE CUBA that the same Municipal Government officials seen in the videos he published on Facebook had not done anything so far to save the building. He also believes that, if the partial collapse had occurred on a weekday, the misfortune would have been much greater.
“That is a heritage building, which is located in the Historic Center of Colón. It is on the corner and the headquarters of the Municipal Assembly of People’s Power is in front. The same municipal authorities who now act concerned had been watching the deterioration of that heritage building for years and never did anything. Now, with what it has rained these days, the roof and part of the walls have fallen,” says the former prisoner, one of the 75 opponents and independent journalists that the regime imprisoned in 2003, during the so-called Black Spring of Cuba.
Regarding the family that lived on the ground floor of the building, it says that they were evacuated by firefighters and that the house suffered no apparent damage. In any case, they were taken with their belongings and Hernández Carrillo hopes that the authorities will not allow them to return.
“That is a danger there. There are walls left standing that could collapse at any moment. There is a wall that is in the air. I hope that the authorities, who until now had done nothing, do not allow those people to return to live there, because a misfortune can happen. It is a matter of common sense. Now what they have to do is finish demolishing that building.
Regarding the private cafeteria that operated on the ground floor, he explains that it only worked in the mornings, “luckily.” He’s also glad the partial collapse didn’t happen during the week.
“Do you see in the images where everything fell? Well, there, every day, there are cars parked, there are people who take transportation to go to Calimete, to Jagüey Grande, to Cienfuegos. There are always many students. There are also people who cross from the park to go buy something at the cafeteria. Imagine, if that had happened on a weekday,” she says.
The testimonies of local residents collected by the independent media 14 and a half confirm the state of abandonment in which the building was found, which was confiscated from its owners when Fidel Castro took power. As time went by, it fell victim to deterioration and lack of renovations.
On Friday night, A house located on General Betancourt Street, in the town of Alacranes, in the Unión de Reyes municipality, also partially collapsed, According to a Facebook post by journalist Hanoi Moreno Enríquez, from the local state station Radio Unión.
The first secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba (PCC) in Unión de Reyes, Arlen González Luis, reported that the owner of the house was not inside at the time of the event, according to the journalist’s post. Thanks to this, his life was not in danger. There were no other victims either.
This Saturday, the total demolition of the property was carried out, according to another Facebook post by Moreno Enríquez. Neither of his reports indicated the causes of the house collapse.
The two partial collapses that took place in Matanzas add to four reported in Havana in just one week. One of them left one dead and four people injured.
Just this week, The Government of Cuba reported that in the first five months of 2024 it has only built 3,579 homes, which represents just 0.8% of those needed to eliminate a deficit that, according to official figures, is 800,000 homes.
While housing problems accumulate, worsen and generate protests, mainly from mothers to whom the authorities have responded with threats, the Government prioritizes the tourism sector. And the official figures prove it.
To the construction of hotels and tourist facilities, the Cuban Government allocated a quarter of the 41,616,003 million of state investment in the first half of 2023according to a publication by the state National Office of Statistics and Information (ONEI).
This sector accounted for 10,406 million pesos in the first half of the year, despite the fact that seven out of every ten hotel rooms were unoccupied in the same period.
