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With her gaze fixed on what remains of her home and her voice broken by pain, Mariannis, a mother of five from Guantánamo, sums up the disaster that changed her life in a single sentence, stating that “the cyclone took everything from me, it took my house, it left me with nothing.”
According to statements made to Telemundo 51, the woman returned to her home after being evacuated and found only debris. “When I came back from the evacuation, I found the place like this, destroyed,” she shared tearfully, while showing the remnants of the roof and walls that once protected her family.
Mariannis claims that she barely survives on the little that the father of her children can provide. "I don't have a checkbook; I live off the little that the father of my children gives me," she explained. Her story adds to the suffering caused by Hurricane Melissa, which struck the eastern part of Cuba with great force and left hundreds of families homeless.
"The cyclone took everything from me."
Also affected by previous storms, Mariannis showed the influencer Luis Suárez, from Guantánamo, the house where she lived with her father, which was also destroyed by the hurricane. “Whoever can help me, please help me, I’m in a difficult situation,” she pleaded, a cry that today represents thousands of those affected.
Meanwhile, hundreds of homes in Santiago de Cuba, Granma, and Las Tunas have been reduced to ruins, according to reports from local media; impressive images of the Cauto River flooding have even emerged, with entire towns submerged and communities cut off without electricity or food.
In the municipality of Río Cauto, in the province of Granma, residents have reported that evacuees are still without mattresses, milk, or basic products, while the Government maintains that "there were no human losses."
Solidarity from the diaspora
In light of the magnitude of the disaster, Cuban-American residents in South Florida have mobilized to send aid to those affected.
“I believe it is a matter of humanity for all Cubans who are here, who have our brothers over there struggling,” said Dale Pututi to Telemundo 51.
The organizers confirmed that next week a shipment of over four thousand pounds of humanitarian aid will be sent to the island, which will be delivered directly to the affected individuals, without the involvement of the regime.
Hurricane Melissa not only left visible destruction. It also once again exposed the structural vulnerability of the country to natural disasters and the lack of effective responses from the authorities.
In the eastern provinces, thousands of people continue to live without electricity or potable water, and many families, like Mariannis's, are caught between fear and uncertainty, not knowing how to start over.
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