[Marxism] First-hand report from Cuba, during and after Hurricane Gustav

[Walter Lippmann]

From: Maria Carla Baseggio mcarla at infomed.sld.cu
To: Karen Lee Wald kwald at california.com
Sent: Monday, September 01, 2008 2:38 PM

Karen,

Isla de la Juventud: practically 100 % destroyed. Boats lifted from the sea and
parked in the middle of Nueva Gerona, buses twisted and lifted in the air, doors
and windows ripped off, banana plants of course ripped out, communications down
100 percent, and I have not yet seen any videos because I got my electricity
back just one hour ago, a flamboyan fell on the lines feeding just our house so
I have been without any electricity for 48 hours,but enough water, small radio,
gas to cook on and the most wonderful neighbors and solidarity that only people
who have lived in Cuba can understand.

But I have been able to listen to the daily Mesa Redonda, where Arleen has
spoken over the phone with the heads of Defensa Civil and other organizations
and everything is "bajo[under] control". Never before has there been such
palpable organization: here in the city, loudspeakers all over town calling on
people to go home and not put their life in danger with electric cables, etc.,
and on Sunday calling everyone to come out and cooperate with cleaning up the
city. Trucks started cleaning up the city on Saturday evening already, and
yesterday everyone was out with brooms, saws, etc.. We had to put up signs and
yellow ribbons so people would not go near the fallen cable, they could have
been electrocuted.

Pinar del Rio: also very very bad situation, south coast had up to 7 km sea
inland, not a single life lost, not a single person wounded badly so you might
fear for his life, but very serious destruction in schools, tobacco drying
houses, communications and electric systems (already "linieros" from all over
the rest of the country have arrived with their trucks to help.

Las Terrazas: very very bad situation with most of the facilities (as you know,
they are ranchones, the roof just flies away and there is practically nothing
you can do about it); only rio San Juan and Las Ruinas de Buenavista held out;
private homes have also been very badly damaged, I am not going to call to
distract anyone from their intensive duties and only regret that because of age
I cannot join in the reconstruction brigade. The problem is going to be now that
such a huge part of the country must be reconstructed that building materials
are going to be hard to get.

But everyone is very grateful because for the very first time ABSOLUTELY
EVERYONE FROM THE HIGH SPHERES WAS GOING AROUND THE AFFECTED PROVINCES: Machado
Ventura and Lazo in provincia La Habana, Lage in Pinar del Rio after having been
in Isla de la Juventud, police cars all over the place helping neighbors out,
and of course all this makes people think how different things would have been
if we compare ourselves with poor Haiti or even Jamaica. Let us all hope for the
best for New Orleans.

I have plenty of mails to write to put people at ease, a lot of international
solidarity, I got a lot of calls from the US and Europe, it does a lot of good
to know people are really worried for you!

Love,

Maria Carla


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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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