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After more than 40 hours missing in a wooded area of the Ciénaga de Zapata municipality in the province of Matanzas, Carlos Santiesteban García, 61 years old, was found alive.
The news was confirmed by the Municipal Assembly of Popular Power in Ciénaga de Zapata (AMPP), which announced in a post on its official Facebook page that Santiesteban García was found this Thursday around 10:00 a.m., following an intense search that lasted for two nights and a day.
According to that statement, “around 10:00 a.m. on this Thursday, December 11, the citizen Carlos Santiesteban García, 61 years old, was found alive. He had suddenly disappeared from his home since the afternoon of Tuesday the 9th, with no information about his whereabouts until today.”
The neighbor was found in the locality of Sopillar, more than five kilometers from the town of Pálpite, by resident Ulises López Martín, who discovered him in his field (conuco) and immediately alerted the local authorities. "He wandered disoriented for over 40 hours, without sleeping or eating, under the relentless assault of the mosquito swarm," the report adds.
Despite exhaustion and dehydration, his health condition is stable, thanks to the swift intervention of rescue teams and medical services. The search was led by neighbors, local authorities, Ministry of Interior fighters, and Public Health specialists, who traversed a challenging wilderness and swamp area.
The delegate of District 11, Rosa Amelia Gómez Niebla, and the family of the rescued individual expressed their gratitude "to all those who, in one way or another, contributed to the swift and timely rescue of our fellow countryman."
On December 10, the AMPP had reported in another social media post about the disappearance of Santiesteban García, which occurred at 5:00 p.m. on Tuesday. In that initial notice, it was indicated that he was wearing "blue shorts and a pair of blue sneakers, and a gray shirt draped over his shoulders."
"A team of 15 men is still engaged in the search, with no results yet, and the local authorities from the Ministry of the Interior are already handling the matter," the note specified, which also mentioned the addition of a canine unit from the Colón municipality to assist with the efforts.
Pálpite, the locality where Santiesteban García resides, belongs to the municipality of Ciénaga de Zapata, in the province of Matanzas. It is situated on both sides of the road from Playa Larga to Jagüey Grande, about 5 km north of the locality of Playa Larga. It is surrounded by a vast area of marshes and swamps.
Although Carlos Santiesteban's case ended positively, unfortunately, not all disappearances in Cuba have a happy ending. Recently, other similar incidents have shaken families in various provinces.
In Manzanillo, the elderly Ángel Hung Ramos was found deceased after being missing for ten days. His daughter shared on social media that the man, who lived in Santiago de Cuba and suffered from senile dementia, had gone missing on November 26, and despite an extensive family search, he was found dead a week later.
Another case that still keeps the whole country on edge is that of the girl Lali Paola Moliner Bosa, who went missing in February 2024. Her mother was found dead the following day in Cojímar. Her grandmother, Beatriz Bosa Alfonso, recently reported the "total silence" of the authorities and the lack of progress in the investigation.
Further back in time, the story of Amarilis Muñiz Navarrete, the nine-year-old girl who disappeared in Banes (Holguín) in 1979, remains a symbol of institutional silence regarding violence against women and girls in Cuba. Her family never stopped searching for her, but more than four decades later, there are still no answers or justice.
These episodes reflect a common reality: on the island, there are no official protocols for searching for missing persons, and it is the families and communities that take on the task of locating their loved ones, often without real support from the authorities.
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