Strength and solidarity to Cuba as it battles a devastating oil tanker fire.
Rock around the Blockade and the Revolutionary Communist Group send solidarity and our deepest sympathies to the Cuban people and their socialist state currently battling to control a devastating fire in a field of oil tankers containing millions of litres of fuel destined for the thermoelectric plant in Matanzas. The disaster started during a thunderstorm on Friday 5 August, after a lightning strike hit a tanker and the fire spread to another tanker causing a series of explosions and a massive fire which continues to rage.
Emergency workers responded immediately as people were rushed to hospitals, hundreds of local residents were evacuated and work began to extract the fuel onsite. Within hours, Cuban President Miguel Diaz Canel was at the scene. Later he thanked Mexico, Venezuela, Russia, Nicaragua, Argentina and Chile for offering to assist Cuba. The first planes carrying dozens of oil experts, with experience in tackling this type of disaster, have arrived from Mexico and Venezuela, with equipment and tones of supplies. By Sunday morning, the toll was 17 people missing, 1 dead and 121 injured. Smoke billowing towards Havana also threatens the population there 100 km away.
This ongoing emergency is more tragic in the context of Cuba’s current economic crises and existing fuel shortages that have seen electricity blackouts return to Cuba. This is largely the result of US sanctions designed to generate such scarcity. The Cuban state is working hard to reduce fuel scarcity, the impact of which is worst in the hot summer months. Last month, another fire caused damage at the Felton Thermoelectric Plant, near Holguin, shortly before it was due to be reconnected to the national electrical system after months of repairs.
Some solidarity organisations are collecting funds to assist their recovery from this disaster (Code Pink: https://www.codepink.org/cubafirerelief). Longer-term, we urge you to show solidarity with socialist Cuba and oppose the US blockade, which intentionally causes scarcity and suffering in Cuba, by participating in the ‘1 cent 4 Cuba’ campaign to ‘Make the US blockade Unenforceable’. Find out more here: www.1c4Cuba.eu.
