Hurricane Victims Caught In A No Man's Land of Indifference [VIDEO]

The victims of the last hurricane have ceased to be newsworthy; they are only numbers in the statistics of those who have lost their homes. The politicians no longer travel to the disaster zones to have their photos taken next to the injured, and the materials to rebuild are lost in the machinery of the bureaucracy. A few towns have been lucky enough to be showcases for the reconstruction, but others--small and unknown--are still filled with abandoned houses.

Near Cienfuegos, a sheltered family suspects the cement and iron to raise their walls have been stopped by the hands of others who can pay more. Those who have grown tired of waiting for the rebirth of their home villages come to the outskirts of Havana to build their houses out of tin and cardboard. They don't want to be the victims of the next cyclone because these natural disasters, like Ike and Gustav, only throw light on the other disaster, the disaster of unproductivity and inertia that affects us all.

It will soon be a year since thousands of homes came to have only the sky for a roof. Caletone, a town near Gibara that doesn't even appear in the Atlas of Cuba, is still deep in destruction. Its inhabitants know that with the current economic crisis it would be a miracle if the necessary resources reach their hands. They have fallen into that no man's land caused by indifference, the triumphalism of the press and the winds--not of hurricane force, but of waiting.

This video shows the village of Caletone.
Music in the video is from Ernesto Leucona: "Noche Azul" (Blue Night)

Yoani's blog, Generation Y, can be read here in English translation.

Follow Yoani Sanchez on Twitter: www.twitter.com/yoanisanchez

Comments

[AGarcia]

The mainstream media are more concerned with who will get all of Michael Jackson millions than the plight of poor people, no money in covering it.... capitalism at it's finest.

[LMPE]

Are you sure that the video didn't show the Lower Ninth Ward in New Orleans after Katrina, cuz it sure looked like that.

[sandokan1]

Castro’s tyranny statistics conceal the results in most of the cases, manipulating or simply disappearing the information. In this specific case the manipulation take effect in the number of fatalities caused by hurricanes, as shown below in the excerpts of the article “CASTRO’S TYRANNY AND THE HURRICANES”:

Hurricane Flora caused havoc in Cuba. According to the Government statement 100 deaths were reported. Periódico Revolución, October of 1963.

Flora caused near 1,000 deaths. Speech by Fidel Castro May 27, 1969.

Hurricane Flora devastates Cuba: 1,159 corpses and numerous damages. Elmundo.com,
July 25, 2001.

A monument to remember the victims of Hurricane Flora, which killed more than
1, 200 Cubans. Juventud Rebelde, October 7, 2003.

The most deadly, however, was Flora in 1963, which left nearly 2,000 killed by the floods that occurred in the east of the island. Havana, September 13, 2004 (EFE).

The statistics of the Castro tyranny speak for themselves.[1]

[1]By Humberto (Bert) Corzo, “CASTRO’S TYRANNY AND THE HURRICANES”
La Nueva Cuba, Noviembre 8, 2008
Link: http://www.lanuevacuba.com/arc.....orzo-8.htm

[sandokan1]

For some reason the link above didn't work

New link: http://www.lanuevacuba.com/archivo/humberto-corzo-8.htm