Cuban activist Bárbara Farrat Guillén, mother of 11J protester Jonathan Torres Farrat, requested assistance this Thursday to rebuild the roof of her home in Havana, which has collapsed.
In recent days, the structure supporting the roof of the house began to make unusual creaking sounds. Alarmed by the noise, she and the rest of the family took refuge in her mother's house, Ferrat told Cubanet.
Immediately after hearing the sound of the tiles and beams collapsing, her son and husband came upstairs and confirmed the nearly complete collapse of the roof.
"The next day, they brought down another piece that had been left in the air," the woman lamented, clearly upset after losing part of her home.
Farrat explained that the emotional ties that bind her to her home are very deep-rooted. She mentioned, for instance, that her son lived there and was arrested for participating in the protests on July 11, 2021.
Orlando Ramírez Cutiño, the husband of the activist, held the regime responsible for the collapse of the roof of their home, citing the difficulty in obtaining construction materials: "This is the result of 63 years of Revolution, of neglect, poverty, and misery."
Ramírez reported that state stores do not have the necessary supplies to repair a house, while warning that in the informal market it is impossible to buy them because "a block costs 200 pesos, and a bag of cement costs 7,000 pesos."
"But if we are going to build the tower in El Vedado, we do have materials for that," emphasized the activist who regularly denounces corruption and human rights violations committed by the regime.
He also emphasized that the issue of access to materials affects all Cubans, and “unless there is a change, we will not be able to live as we should,” he noted.
In January, the activist Farrat called for help because she was without resources to support her family.
"I need someone to help me, please. If I can't find help, I will have no choice but to sell my phone. It makes me so sad that I can't even bring myself to say it. I am fully aware that my family doesn't eat out of pride, and I am in a very difficult situation," the woman wrote on her Facebook profile.
The message received numerous reactions from followers. One person asked him to elaborate on what he was going through, and Farrat responded briefly: "The problem is that I have nothing, neither money nor food. Nothing." In another reply, he added: "They won’t let me work, and my situation is quite difficult."
Since her son's arrest, this woman's life has been turned upside down, transforming her into an advocate for him and for others imprisoned for protesting in Cuba.
As a result, she has faced harassment from the regime. In 2022, for instance, while suffering from dengue symptoms, she reported the threats she received from State Security.
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