A mother of two young children in Guantanamo
By Yenys Laura Prieto (El Toque)
HAVANA TIMES – “This is what’s left of my house after the hurricane,” Yisneidis Ramirez writes on her Facebook page. Five photos show the palm boards scattered around on the ground and some roof tiles from what should have been her home. The writer is a mother from Cuba’s far eastern Guantanamo province. When Hurricane Oscar devastated her tiny coastal community in the municipality of Imias in the early morning of October 20, 2024, she, along with her nine-year-old daughter and her 3-year-old who suffers from asthma, lost the only security they had: their home. For more than 4 months, their house has been “a tent” anchored in the ground.
Yisneidis is referring to the tents provided by the Action Plan of the United Nations System in Cuba, in which dozens of families in Guantanamo survive. However, what was supposed to be a temporary solution has become the new reality for this group of Cubans. When will they leave? There’s no precise answer. Nor much hope.
In a conversation with El Toque, Yisneidis detailed: “We’re living here, with a mattress on the floor.” She knows her accommodations doesn’t meet the minimum conditions to cope with her little girl’s illness, but she has no other options. What is left of her house is a bunch of debris that she now shares on social networks, looking for help, comfort, or some relief from her difficult reality.
A publication of the United Nations System in Cuba stated that, as of December 24, 2024, the World Food Program (WFP) had delivered 200 tunnel-type tents to Guantanamo province as a temporary housing solution. About 950 people, divided into 190 family groups, were the beneficiaries. One of the photos on their website shows Marnoldis, a 38-year-old man from Guantanamo, showing what the tents look like from the inside.
In November 2024, filmmaker Daniel Ross Dieguez also documented on his Facebook profile the situation of the families affected by Hurricane Oscar in Imias. According to his post, a dozen families were living in tents on the grounds of the municipality’s old airport, while waiting for their new homes to be built.
Almost four months after the tragedy, what should have been a transitory measure has become a permanent option for another Cuban mother, who also demands a solution. In a post on the Revolico Imias group, Ismandra Matos said she is going through a similar situation. “I am from San Antonio, I have a one-year-old child and I live in a tent. After all that happened with the hurricane, my son has gotten sick, and – why say more,” commented Ismandra. She added: ‘Here, nobody has done anything and they don’t give us any explanation’. As evidence, she shows the only thing she still has from her house.
San Antonio del Sur and Imias were the municipalities most affected by Hurricane Oscar. According to information in the local government newspaper Venceremos, about 11,402 houses were affected in Guantanamo Province, of which 257 suffered total collapses, 360 were partially damaged, and 9,198 lost their roofs. These “temporary facilities” also serve victims of Hurricane Matthew, which affected that area eight years ago.
These “facilities” are temporary accommodations, intended to address specific needs for a limited period of time. In other words, they’re designed to be a short-term solution. But in Cuba, solutions to the housing problem have moved at a snail’s pace for decades.
Another member of the social media group also expressed her frustration with the supposed aid to the victims: “At this point there are still families like this, without even the basic case paperwork. I say this because my family is in a similar situation and the Ministry of Housing always has a different story. Lie after lie. As far as the bosses are concerned, [the hurricane] is over and done with. They forgot about Imias”.
These denunciations contrast with a January 25, 2025, report in the State press stating that progress was being made in the recovery from damages caused by the storm. According to that article, 53% of the affected houses in the province had been recovered.
Speaking on the Cuban government television program Mesa Redonda [“Round table”], Alis Azahares Torreblanca, governor of Guantanamo, asserted that they were working on the construction of 60 new homes in the zone around the Imias Airport. The houses were slated to go to families whose homes had completely collapsed and were now living in tents. She also stated that another 200 houses were needed, and that over 36 sites belonging to government entities would be converted into 221 homes.
However, in the same speech, the official acknowledged that the lack of materials such as cement has imposed the use of brick and wood combinations in buildings. In other words, they continue to build very flimsy constructions that expose residents to further damage in the event of intense meteorological phenomena.
In similar matters, the recovery of more than 2,050 homes destroyed by Hurricane Matthew in 2016 is still pending. For this reason, Azahares stated that efforts are divided between current damages and the previously scheduled reconstruction projects. The situation in Guantanamo Province is very complicated. A video from the local television news station Solvision exposed the problems of more than 400 Guantanamo families in the town Maisi on the island’s far eastern tip, who lack a decent roof after suffering the impact of several meteorological events.
In that report, one of those affected since 2016 said: “[Hurricane Matthew] knocked down my entire house, and what they gave me was an awning and a roll of cardboard.” There are many Cubans in similar circumstances who, after years without solutions, continue to subsist in improvised housing. For some, the waiting times are so long as to last their entire lives.
First published in Spanish by El Toque and translated and posted in English by Havana Times.
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