Cuba Cleans Up After Hurricane Irma

Written by Ian Sergeant

More news from Cuba yesterday:

Roger Martinez was able to access the news at his grandmother’s house. Electricity, water, and internet (essential for Cuban millennials) are all being restored neighborhood by neighborhood at a faster pace than was initially expected.

Some of the damages: A few deaths have been reported, mostly from fallen debris from buildings a century or older in a couple of the more densely populated areas of the city that hadn’t been evacuated. A few neighborhoods on the outskirts of Havana set low and close to the water were prone to frequent flooding anyway, and sections were completely destroyed.

Among the destroyed zones in the suburbs was Fuster’s decades old community project, Fusterlandia (this was a section of a Havana suburb with wild structures completely covered in mosaics in the style of Gaudi).

The architect Fuster gave a live interview on TV. He said the only thing Irma didn’t tear down was a wall where a tiled mural of a Mambí General is exhibited (these were the guerrillas who fought fiercely against Spanish colonial overlords for more than a decade to win Cuba’s independence in the late 1800’s – it’s a major part of their national identity). He went on to say, “I don’t care about Irma nor the mother of tomatoes” (according to Roger, a local saying for ‘I don’t give a hoot about it’). “I will build this up place again. I’ll make it new – BETTER, and I will leave the remains as history. Fuck Irma; we are all stronger than you!” During the interview, Roger’s grandfather was yelling at the tv, cheering Fuster on, “Yeah, hell yeah! He is right!”