The mortal remains of actor Carlos Massola Escandell, who passed away early Wednesday morning, have been cremated as per his wishes, as reported by CubaNet citing family sources.
After seven hours of waiting for the hearse, around four in the afternoon this Wednesday, the artist's corpse was taken out of his home in Cerro municipality with the help of firefighters and transferred to Bernardo García funeral home located on Zanja Street.
Fabio Corchado Borroto, a close friend of the actor, told the aforementioned media outlet that when they arrived at the funeral home, without even seeing the coffin, they were told they couldn't cremate him because the coffin was too large.
"I confronted Mari, a worker there, and told her that as I saw it, Carlos Massola did not have a single penny, that there was no one there because the family had decided not to have a wake. I told her 'either they cremate him or I'll leave him there' and we'll see what happens," the mentioned source recounted.
However, when the funeral home director arrived, he said it could be done, that the decision not to cremate him had been a mistake.
The popular actor - who in recent years raised his voice several times against the Cuban government - passed away at his home in the Cerro municipality in the early hours of July 3rd.
The aforementioned independent media outlet specified that the family doctor, who arrived at the home around 9:00 a.m. on Wednesday, determined that Massola died from hypovolemic shock.
It is "an emergency condition in which severe loss of blood or other fluids causes the heart to be unable to pump enough blood to the body," and can cause many organs to stop functioning.
The ashes of the actor - whose unexpected death has caused consternation among both colleagues and Cubans in general - must be collected at noon this Thursday in Berroa, in the municipality of Habana del Este.
Since the death of Carlos Massola became known, the mother and friends of the actor have been involved in a long and painful process.
Massola's 84-year-old mother spent many hours accompanying her son's lifeless body. Due to the lack of hearses and the authorities' delay, the corpse remained on his deathbed without a solution for many hours.
In the midst of those dramatic circumstances, it was possible to see a State Security agent stationed around the building where the artist resided.
Born in Havana in 1962, Carlos Massola gained popularity mainly for his work in soap operas and other dramas on Cuban television. In film, he participated in the movies Pata negra (2001), El Benny (2006), and Juan of the Dead (2011).
So far, no Cuban cultural institution has echoed the actor's death. Neither the Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba (UNEAC), nor the Ministry of Culture (MINCULT), nor the Cuban Institute of Radio and Television (ICRT), nor the ICAIC have commented on the artist's death.
Carlos Massola died while waiting for a humanitarian parole that would allow him to leave Cuba and fight for a better life.
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