The young manMarlon Orlando Martínez Cos, and his motherMaria Cos, ask the Cuban government to keep its promises and improve the quality of life of the teenager affected by the explosion at the Saratoga hotel in Havana.
In statements toCubanet, this family claimed to be suffering fromgovernment abandonment and they fear that by making this complaint, State Security will visit them again.
Marlon and María live in the Marianao municipality. In total there are 7 people in his house. Two years ago the authorities promised them that they would improve their housing, give them furniture, and basic equipment, but those promises have never been fulfilled.
Marlon surviving in Cuba after the Saratoga hotel explosion
On May 6, 2022, Marlon went with some friends to Old Havana to buy a gift for Mother's Day. He was walking on the sidewalk of the Saratoga Hotel when the explosion occurred. He was trapped under the rubble for three hours. Some of his companions died.
A total of 47 people died in the accident. Marlon was 17 years old at the time.
"He had a fracture of the coccyx, pelvis, skull, he had a pneumothorax, he has a blow to the hip that hurts him from time to time, pain in one leg and in the spine that has it deviated, and a wound in one arm that has to be open again to remove a foreign body," explained Milagros, the young man's grandmother.
Marlon also suffers from a urethral problem and uses catheters constantly to urinate. The house where he lives with his family floods with sewage when it rains. All the furniture was damaged. The beds have rotten mattresses. The refrigerator is broken, and the same goes for the stove.
María made a broadcast on Facebook two years ago explaining her difficult situation and the unhealthiness in which she survives with her family. State Security showed up at their house to threaten them so that they would withdraw the complaint from the networks.
"The Counterintelligence, the Party, the Federation, the people from Urban Reform and the people from Education fell on me. They threatened to take my cell phone and take me into custody. So I deleted the publication. What was I going to do?" she asked herself. Cuban mother
Two years have passed and the government's promises are not fulfilled
After the young man left the hospital, the Marianao government said that in a month they would fix his house so that he and his family could live and recover. Two years have passed and the necessary repairs have not arrived.
Marlon's monthly pension for the damages suffered in the accident is 3,700 Cuban pesos. That money is not enough to buy medicines, catheters, food, and pay for the services necessary to live in Cuba.
What is most urgent and worrying to Marlon is the rupture of the urethra due to the fracture of the pelvis in the explosion. Hegovernment has delayed the surgical intervention for so long that the young man could soon need hemodialysis.
"She had to have her urethra operated on after six months and a year and a half has passed. Everything was a problem: the Pediatric team worked but it was for minimal access; the doctors have left the country or on maternity leave; they indicated a plate with contrast, but to do it you have to wait for more children, because when the bottle is opened it has to be used completely," said the mother.
"My son is only 19 years old. He deserves a better quality of life. It's not fair what we are still experiencing two years later," said the desperate woman.
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