Vol. 72/No. 39      October 6, 2008

According to the Cuban government, the storms—the most devastating in the history of Cuba—caused at least $5 billion in damage across the country. This includes: 444,000 homes damaged, 63,249 totally destroyed; 150 transmission towers toppled and 4,500 electrical posts knocked down in the hard-hit western part of the country; all electric lines down on the Isle of Youth, which like Pinar del Río, was hit by both hurricanes; and large parts of the tobacco, coffee, rice, beans, sweet potato, and banana crops wiped out.

“It is impossible to resolve the magnitude of the catastrophe with the available resources,” Gen. Carlos Lezcano Pérez, president of the National Institute of State Reserves, told the Cuban daily Granma September 12. All of the reserves of food, fuel, construction materials, medicine, and all types of equipment, including those of the Revolutionary Armed Forces, are being used to meet the needs of “our people, which is the number one priority,” he said.

Washington had the audacity at first to “offer” Cuba an insulting $100,000 in aid if Cuba allowed a U.S. team to do its own damage assessment. When Havana rejected that pittance, the U.S. government upped its offer to $5 million and said it didn’t need to send anyone to see the hurricane’s effects firsthand because it already had the information. The Cuban government also rejected the $5 million.  
 
Fidel Castro: ‘Dignity has no price’
“If instead of five million they had said one billion, they would receive the same answer,” wrote Cuban leader Fidel Castro in a September 17 column. “It’s obvious that the government of that powerful country cannot comprehend that the dignity of a people has no price.”

A front-page article in the daily Juventud Rebelde printed the position of the Cuban government.

“If the government of the United States really wanted to help Cuba,” the article said, “it should authorize, at least for six months, the purchase of indispensable construction materials from U.S. companies, as well as authorize normal credit for commercial transactions. A true demonstration of solidarity would be the definitive lifting of the blockade that was imposed on Cuba almost 50 years ago.”

Washington has maintained an economic embargo of Cuba since 1960, in an attempt to punish Cuba for making a revolution that nationalized U.S.-owned industries and distributed land to peasants. Washington prohibits most U.S. businesses from selling or trading with Cuba. In 2001, Washington made an exception for some food items, but requires that Cuba pay up-front in cash.

One example of the difference a socialist revolution makes in facing natural disasters is the number of deaths due to hurricanes Gustav and Ike. In Haiti more than 500 died in the course of three hurricanes. In the United States, the death toll has reached at least 84. But in Cuba, due to the mobilization of mass organizations, including the country’s civil defense network together with the armed forces, no one died during Hurricane Gustav; only seven people died during Ike.  
 
3 million people evacuated
More than 3 million people were moved to safer locations in the course of the storms, most of them staying with neighbors and relatives.

Even before the last effects of the storm were over, the Cuban government began putting into place recovery measures. Steps are also being taken to save as much of the current crops as possible and to plant crops with a short growing season immediately.

In the central mountains of Cuba, where Hurricane Ike affected almost half the production of coffee for export, volunteer brigades were immediately organized to salvage coffee beans tossed to the ground by the high winds.

Seventy brigades with the ability to build 100 houses a year each are being created, two each for the 35 most affected municipalities. Construction equipment for these brigades still needs to be imported.  
 
Land distribution
In response to the hurricanes, the Cuban government moved up a program to distribute idle land to those who want to work it. On September 17, less than a week after Hurricane Ike left Cuba, 5,515 people turned in applications to farm or raise livestock on idle land.

While the efforts to salvage crops, repair damage, and replant fields is the priority, the Cuban government has also organized musicians and theater troupes to visit the most affected areas and raise morale.

The National Union of Farm and Forestry Workers announced a campaign to make up for the storm damage by using the workday to the fullest extent, including working extra hours and organizing volunteer work on Saturdays and Sundays from September 11 through January 2009.

The Association of Revolutionary Combatants and the Committees in Defense of the Revolution are postponing conventions that had been scheduled to take place later this year so that their members can participate to the maximum in the rebuilding work.

Granma has initiated a discussion on ways to more effectively withstand storms of this magnitude. The paper noted that some buildings resisted high winds better than others.

In some areas, like Ciénaga de Zapata and Pinar del Río, Granma said, people learned the lesson of previous hurricanes and built roofs that resisted the high winds. It pointed to the schools in Jagüey Grande. “Not a single computer was damaged,” Granma reported. “Workers, students, and territorial authorities” took preventative measures. But this was not the case everywhere.

“We need to think about what happened because there will be other hurricanes and we have to get used to living with them. The important thing is to learn from the experience left by both hurricanes,” the paper said. “We can do much more to minimize the misfortunes.”
 
 
Related articles:
Cuban gov’t leader speaks in New York
Socialist candidate: ‘Lift the embargo on Cuba!’
End the embargo against Cuba!
Calero visits workers hit by Ike  
 
 
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