[Marxism] Gustav in Cuba: Hope Overcomes the Enormous Inventory of Destruction

[Walter Lippmann]

Fidel's reflection "The Hurricane"

In my last reflection of Tuesday afternoon, August 29, when hurricane
Gustav unexpectedly formed and started to threaten our country on the
same day when our Olympic delegation returned, I wrote: “We are lucky
to have a Revolution! It is a fact that nobody will be neglected…Our
strong, forceful and farsighted Civil Defense protects our people…The
growing frequency and intensity of these natural phenomena show that
the climate is changing due to the action of man. The current times
demand ever increasing dedication, steadiness and conscience. 
We don’t mind if the opportunists and traitors also benefit even if 
they do not make any contribution to the safety and wellbeing of our
people.”

I know of the colossal efforts that the Revolution has to make after
the national territory is hit by a hurricane. I could add that Cuba
counts with keen and persevering scientists such as José Rubiera.

FULL: 
http://www.cuba.cu/gobierno/reflexiones/2008/ing/f310808i.html
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Gustav in Cuba: Hope Overcomes 
the Enormous Inventory of Destruction

The images and figures appearing every hour corroborate
the disastrous trail of destruction left by Hurricane Gustav through
the western part of Cuba. With the encouragement of not having lost a
single human live, the island’s people now begin the recovery

By: Margarita Barrios and Jesus Arencibia

Email: digital at jrebelde.cip.cu 2008-09-01 | 14:47:19 EST

Year after year, like a gypsy curse for its eternal rebelliousness,
hurricanes lash out at Cuba. Though no such storm had hit the island
in more than 24 months, now Gustav has pounded it in a terrible way.

Aerial photos taken over the province of Pinar del Río, and the
pictures that have been sent via the Internet from the Island Youth,
corroborate the devastating power of this meteor with a German name.
Houses stand without roofs; tree plucked from the earth, roots in the
air; coastal flooding; overturned trucks, with their cargo spewed on
the ground, and faces —many faces— with the uncertainty of having
lost everything, except the great fortune of their own lives.

The most destructive in 50 years

“The most devastating meteorological phenomenon in the last half
century in the Caribbean,” – this was how Gustav was described by
news agencies. And it was perfectly verifiable when hearing from
those who suffered the damage of the storm on the Island of Youth or
in Pinar del Río province.

As much in the general overview as in the details of the disaster,
the devastation can be observed. A chair, launched as if a rocket, is
stuck in the door of one of Computer Science classrooms on the Island
of Youth; and 80 high tension towers were demolished in Pinar del
Río; while 86,000 housing units were damaged in the western-most
territory and 600 electrical posts demolished across the small
island...

Three towers television transmitters were out of service in Pinar del
Río. Sixty-three poultry farms and 3,500 tobacco-curing houses were
damaged. More than 60 percent of the territory of the province was
directly affected, but not a handful of earth escaped the lashing of
this Category 4 strength hurricane.

Logistical support

Army General Leopoldo Cintra Frías, who is also member of the
Political Bureau and a designated Hero of the Republic of Cuba, stay
fixed to his post at the Provincial Defense Council in Vueltabajo.

Vice-president Carlos Lage Dávila, a member of the Secretariat of the
Central Committee; María del Carmen Concepción and other leaders of
the party and the government also offered their support to the
territory.

Provincial Council of Defense President Olga Lidia Tapia noted that
work teams from other provinces are already working in Pinar del Río,
and the guarantee of the assignment of needed resources for the
recuperative phase has been offered by the leadership of the country.

An additional delivery of liquefied gas has been made for the
population on the Island of Youth, and the three large transport
boats that shuttle people to and from the island —which fortunately
were not affected— will go back into operation starting Wednesday.

The first secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba in Pinar del Río,
in a tour of the municipality of Las Palacios, one of those most
affected areas, said that the population there have received the
government's support and that it will face the recovery works with
all due seriousness.

Olga Lidia said that Las Palacios is a district in ruins, but that
people are looking for alternative solutions, although many remain in
shelters and cannot return to their houses because these were
destroyed.

“We have the response of this people, whose capacity and organization
are being put to test their, though they are all sure of the support
they have from the government,” she said.

“We are receiving,” she added, “the help of eight teams of electrical
workers from different parts of the country eight. They arrived and
began working; that has had an important impact on the population.”

“Some are trying to restore their damaged houses, creating basic
living conditions; and they are doing so with optimism.”

“We have in state centers that have been affected, among them 372
schools. The same occurred with the tobacco industry, we have 3,414
damaged curing houses, and there was also harm done to the cattle
raising sector. And this is just the preliminary inventory of the
damage suffered.”

On the Round Table television program, aerial images taken on Sunday
morning were shown of the Pinar del Río municipalities of Candelaria,
San Cristóbal, Las Palacios and Consolación del Sur.

The panorama demonstrated by those images is devastating. There were
large extensions of land with crops mowed over, with the banana
harvest being one of those most affected. Tens of thousands of
housing units were damaged, many beyond repair.

Havana City recovers rapidly

David Lahera, member of Havana’s Provincial Defense Council, said
that damage in the capital of the country was not as bad as in other
territories.

He pointed out that the economic resources as well as the people’s
assets were preserved.

“Almost all evacuated families have returned to their homes. Recovery
works which begun on Saturday continue. Water and gas supplies have
been reestablished, while we still working on power supply,” he said.

Lahera added that on Sunday and Monday works would be carried out in
schools for the beginning of the academic year on September 2. Only
one school located in the municipality of Habana del Este was
severely damaged.

“Most of the work must be focused on the cleaning of the city. There
are some fallen trees that still need to be cleaned up, but we are
working fast and have the support of the people.

“We can recover rapidly, but we need to work hard,” Lahera said.
Havana Province also recovers

The Round Table TV program showed a report on the tour held by José
Ramón Machado Ventura, first vice president if the Council of State
and Ministers, and Esteban Lazo, member of the Party’s Political
Bureau, to Havana Province, which was also severely damaged by the
passing of Gustav.

The two leaders talked to the people living in affected areas and
could see the damage caused in agriculture, where the harvest of
bananas, oranges and grapefruits were affected.

Esteban Lazo spoke about the role of the press, which informs and
educates the people, putting the lives of reporters at risk. “This is
the extraordinary role of our press and media outlets,” he said.

Machado Ventura described Gustav as a very hard blow to the country.
“I could not imagine the extent of the destruction caused in Pinar
del Río and the Isle of Youth, although these are areas where
cyclones usually pass. The damage caused surpassed previous levels. ”

The general director of the Union Electrica Co., Vicente La O, said
that electricity was cut off when winds reached 50 km/h for citizen
safety. “When the wind velocity started to weaken, early Sunday
morning, we began to inspect power lines for damage. In the eastern
region of Pinar del Río province where the hurricane passed, we have
a heavy concentration of electric equipment.

“One hundred and thirty-six high-tension power line towers were taken
down. The towers can’t withstand winds above 200 km/h.”

La O said that in Pinar del Río generators are being used to run
basic services such as bread making and water pumps. He said that it
would take four days to restore electricity from Guane to Pinar del
Río and that in the eastern zone, crews would start working to
restore electricity by Monday afternoon.

He said that in the Isle of Youth the central electrical generator
facility was completely destroyed and that basic services were being
provided by generators that were not damaged. In the City of Havana
he said that by Monday all electricity services should be restored to
normal.


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     WALTER LIPPMANN
     Los Angeles, California
     Editor-in-Chief, CubaNews
     http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CubaNews/
     "Cuba - Un Paraíso bajo el bloqueo"
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