A video shared by Martí Noticias has moved thousands of Cubans both on the island and abroad. In the footage, recorded in the area of San Germán and Báguanos, in the province of Holguín, a woman breaks down in tears upon seeing her house completely flooded after the passage of Hurricane Melissa, while a family member attempts to console her with a phrase that has become a symbol of resilience: "Don't cry, we are alive."
"Oh, my daughter, the house is flooded with water, Mari..." we hear the affected woman say through tears, as the water covers the front of her home. "Calm down, don’t cry, we are alive; thankfully, no power lines fell from the trees," replies the voice behind the camera, trying to instill calm amid the disaster. The scene encapsulates the tragedy experienced by thousands of families in eastern Cuba following the passage of the year’s most devastating hurricane.
"We are alive, that is what matters."
The video published by Martí Noticias garnered thousands of reactions and over two thousand comments in just a few hours. "That man understood everything: they are alive, that's what matters," wrote one user, while others sent messages of faith and hope: "May God protect them," "strength," "material things can be recovered." Among the comments, there were also criticisms of the lack of effective responses and calls to the exiled community to assist those affected.
“This video breaks the heart. How much poverty and how much need. Until when will the people of Cuba have to suffer,” wrote César Cárdenas Cabrera. Another user lamented: “And Sin Casa says that the dictatorship will provide them with everything, that they are keeping an eye on them… those poor people have lost everything.”
Citizen solidarity in the midst of the emergency
While the authorities continue to assess the damage, civil society has mobilized on its own. Social and religious projects such as Aliento de Vida and Palomas are collecting donations in Havana to assist those affected in the eastern part of the country. “We still have time, and that time is worth lives, homes, and hope,” said Pastor Yankiel Fernández, a key figure in the solidarity campaign, who established a collection point in the Cerro municipality to receive food, clothing, and medicine.
In parallel, the Palomas Project keeps its doors open in Almendares, also in the capital, to receive donations of any kind, while Cubans in exile organize in Miami fundraising campaigns and humanitarian aid shipments. These self-managed and spontaneous actions have become a testament to the solidarity spirit that characterizes the Cuban people in times of crisis.
"Nobody has come to care."
In rural communities like Jiguaní, in Granma, the feeling of abandonment is widespread. Cuban Marisbel Pantoja reported on social media that no one from the government has come to help them: “No water, no electricity, and nobody cares,” she wrote alongside photos of the devastation. In her municipality, as in many others, families remain cut off and without assistance, while trying to recover on their own.
Citizen reports show entire neighborhoods underwater, impassable roads, and collapsed homes. “There is no one from the government here, no one has come to ask if we are alive,” recounted another user in the group Jiguaní Denuncia Expediente, reflecting the frustration of a community facing tragedy with limited resources.
The pain of losing everything
The stories that emerge from eastern Cuba depict the suffering and resilience of its people. The influencer Yaya Panoramix urgently requested help for her 78-year-old grandmother, who completely lost her home. “I won’t show the videos out of respect, but I need help; my grandmother has nowhere to sleep,” the young woman wrote on social media, with a message that quickly went viral and generated a wave of solidarity among users.
In Contramaestre, Santiago de Cuba, another Cuban shared on TikTok how the hurricane reduced her mother's house to rubble. “Thank God she is alive, but it still hurts,” she wrote, showing the remains of a collapsed home covered in mud.
In the town of Velasco, Holguín, neighbors tried to save, tears in their eyes, what little remained of their homes as the water rose over half a meter. “What a great pain,” one woman can be heard saying through sobs in a video shared on TikTok. The images show furniture floating, streets turned into rivers, and families attempting to rescue documents and memories before losing everything.
In Holguín capital, the stylist Verónica Dantés showcased her beauty salon completely flooded and recounted that she faced the storm without electricity or communication since the previous afternoon. “What a sadness, my little heart feels so tight… I only ask my guardian angel that nothing has been broken,” she wrote, describing the helplessness of those who see years of work ruined in minutes.
A country standing between water and pain
Hurricane Melissa has left a trail of destruction in eastern Cuba, with collapsed homes, impassable streets, devastated crops, power outages, and a shortage of drinking water. Although authorities are assessing the damage and have promised assistance, Cubans once again show that solidarity among neighbors and communities is the first response in times of emergency.
The video from Holguín, featuring the phrase “Don't cry, we are alive,” has become a symbol of hope for a community that, despite its losses, stands strong, clinging to life and mutual support in the face of adversity.
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