Two of the young people who helped rescue residents after the flooding caused by Hurricane Oscar in the municipality of San Antonio del Sur in Guantánamo were identified as Henry and Freidi.
This was announced by the Guantanamo visual artist Daniel Ross Diéguez, who dedicated heartfelt words to the two young people who are still assisting in the recovery of the devastated area.
According to Ross Diéguez, the neighborhood of Henry and Freidi was evacuated once again due to the false alarm regarding the breaking of the gate at the San Antonio del Sur dam. They, just as they did during Oscar's passage, stayed on the second floor of one of the few concrete houses in their village to wait for those they could help. Ultimately, it turned out to be a false alarm that caused a great deal of panic.
"Henry boarded his wife and young daughter at that moment to the distant town of Acueducto, and they haven't seen each other since, but they have communicated. I found him removing mud from a motorcycle and, like a good Cuban, making an improvised electrical repair so he could go pick them up," said Ross Diéguez, who has been helping and providing solidarity to the people of that area.
The visual artist commented that both young individuals are hoping for the waters to recede in order to retrieve a Lada car from under the mud in the neighborhood of El Fanguito, where the houses remain buried in sludge up to the roof.
The friendship between Henry and Freidi –says Ross Diéguez– transcends the realm of solidarity to also intertwine with football, despite their support for rival teams: one for Real Madrid and the other for FC Barcelona.
"They get along well like brothers, living side by side and putting aside their passion to help and remove the stench of rotten dead animals," he notes.
Regarding food, he added that they only have what he has provided for them, and it will only last for two days. "It hurts me, but no one has brought them anything before me—no help with food, hygiene products, or medicine. Neighbors have given them some food from a church that passed by, but nothing in person," he pointed out.
The needs in the town also extend to medications and even to cigarettes, which, according to this visual artist, is “a better smell of nicotine than the smell of mud with rotten meat.”
He also left his cards so that anyone who can send help can do so. “I leave you my cards at the end, with which I have already fed 27 households, 103 families living with up to four in a house, and anyone I have encountered personally on muddy roads,” he expressed.
What Henry and Freidi, along with other young people in the area, have done reflects the brave efforts of some individuals to assist neighbors, many of whom are elderly, who would have lost their lives without help.
A previous testimony from Ross Diéguez reports that the search for the missing has extended to the southern coast of the province, where a helicopter has been seen surveying the area for individuals who may have been swept away by the floodwaters.
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