One year after Hurricane Sandy ransacked Cuba’s eastern provinces in October of 2012, the idiom, “seeing is believing,” is entirely appropriate in the case of Segundo Naranjo Gonzalez, an elderly, sickly man whose battered and almost roofless home floods when it rains.
It’s been one year since the hurricane took the unsuspecting residents of Santiago de Cuba and Guantanamo by surprise. Half of the home seen in the video is still without a roof, and the rest of it (the part now used for shelter) resembles a lagoon when it rains.
Although the delegate of the National Assembly for the People’s Power visited the home after the disaster, Gonzalez died without having received any help for housing or his failing health. Gonzalez had to be carried from one room to another every time it rained. One witness complained: “He [the state official] has been given tiles, cement, everything for his house, but he has not helped us in anything.”
The testimony of Gonzalez and his family, who live in Palma Soriano, was filmed by members of the Ombudsman of Cuba, a section on the island created by the Cuba Independent and Democratic Party (CID), which was founded by former political prisoner Hubert Matos Benítez.
Nivaldo Amedo Ramirez, Coordinator of the CID to the eastern provinces, and the Ombudsman who interviewed Gonzalez and his family, told martinoticias.com that at least 30 people in Palma Soriano continue to live and survive in similar conditions. "The people express and explain in their own voice what the government is doing to them,” he says.
The Ombudsman of Cuba is a project started by the CID in January 2013 to train members of the organization in the aiding of disadvantaged citizens who are victims of abuse by local authorities.
The effort follows the tradition established by the Swedish Parliament Ombudsman in 1809, independent of the executive branch and responsible for defending the rights of citizens.
The website www.defensoriacuba.org has more videos of people who are still living exposed to the elements after the hurricane. Letters are also sent to the government in an attempt bring the situation to the forefront and find a solution.
It’s been one year since the hurricane took the unsuspecting residents of Santiago de Cuba and Guantanamo by surprise. Half of the home seen in the video is still without a roof, and the rest of it (the part now used for shelter) resembles a lagoon when it rains.
Although the delegate of the National Assembly for the People’s Power visited the home after the disaster, Gonzalez died without having received any help for housing or his failing health. Gonzalez had to be carried from one room to another every time it rained. One witness complained: “He [the state official] has been given tiles, cement, everything for his house, but he has not helped us in anything.”
The testimony of Gonzalez and his family, who live in Palma Soriano, was filmed by members of the Ombudsman of Cuba, a section on the island created by the Cuba Independent and Democratic Party (CID), which was founded by former political prisoner Hubert Matos Benítez.
Nivaldo Amedo Ramirez, Coordinator of the CID to the eastern provinces, and the Ombudsman who interviewed Gonzalez and his family, told martinoticias.com that at least 30 people in Palma Soriano continue to live and survive in similar conditions. "The people express and explain in their own voice what the government is doing to them,” he says.
The Ombudsman of Cuba is a project started by the CID in January 2013 to train members of the organization in the aiding of disadvantaged citizens who are victims of abuse by local authorities.
The effort follows the tradition established by the Swedish Parliament Ombudsman in 1809, independent of the executive branch and responsible for defending the rights of citizens.
The website www.defensoriacuba.org has more videos of people who are still living exposed to the elements after the hurricane. Letters are also sent to the government in an attempt bring the situation to the forefront and find a solution.
