Funeral services in the province of Santiago de Cuba are going through a profound crisis, exacerbating the suffering of the relatives of the deceased at the crucial moment of saying goodbye to a loved one, as reported on social media this Wednesday.
The Santiago resident Yanelis Rodríguez Semanat told the independent journalist Yosmany Mayeta about the ordeal she experienced this Tuesday when facing the precariousness of this service in Santiago de Cuba, following the death of her aunt.
Mayeta shared this complaint on Facebook, warning that the main funeral home in the area collapsed with 29 deceased, whose coffins were placed in the corridors and even on the chairs intended for mourners during wakes.
Rodríguez said that on Monday, at 3:20 PM, his aunt passed away at the Clinical Surgical Hospital, but paperwork, the autopsy, and the transfer of the body caused them to arrive at the funeral home at 9:00 PM.
"The vehicles being used for transportation are vans or station wagons, because the hearses are broken, without brakes, and the dead bodies are being tossed around," warned the complainant, a situation that, although extraordinary, has occurred several times on the streets of Santiago de Cuba.
According to Rodriguez, they were placed in Room I2 at the funeral home, but in the hallway due to lack of space: "The dead even in the hallways," lamented the woman from Santiago.
The complainant described the ordeal they experienced at the funeral home: lack of seating, shortage of flowers for the wreaths, and the few available were dry; in addition, there was poor service in the cafeteria where they had no gas to make coffee, which is no longer served in the rooms as usual, requiring them to go to the cafeteria to consume it if it was available.
The distressing situation continued the next day, when it was time to bury their relative: "In the morning, we still didn't know where they were going to bury my aunt, there were five dead bodies lying unclaimed, waiting for the cemeteries to be called so they could be granted burial plots."
According to her account, at 7:00 AM, during the shift change, she tried to get information about the location where her aunt would be buried; however, the explanation was shocking: "There were 21 dead and two at their homes that needed to be picked up. By 10 o'clock, there were already 29 dead," she pointed out.
Finally, due to the lack of capacity to accept new burials in the cemeteries of Santa Ifigenia and El Caney, Rodríguez had to bury his family member in a graveyard in Playa Siboney, nearly 20 kilometers from the city center.
The crisis in funeral services in Santiago de Cuba is evident in the constant complaints made by people on social media.
This week, a man who lived alone in this city passed away, and his body remained in the residence for almost 24 hours without the authorities showing up to collect it.
The residents of Diego Velázquez Street, in the historic center, reported the situation on social media. The case has sparked outrage among the residents of the area.
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