The young Cuban Catholic and journalist Adrián Martínez Cádiz clarified that the fire reported this Sunday in facilities linked to the Escolapios of Guanabacoa did not affect either the temple or the residence where the priests live.
As explained by Martínez Cádiz in a post on Facebook after consulting directly with the Calasanz Fathers of Guanabacoa, the fire did not occur in the church or in the current residence of the religious.
The affected area corresponds to an old space that is registered to the Escolapios, but was expropriated by the Cuban government in 1961 and used for other purposes for decades.
According to the confirmed information, the property has been allocated in recent years to the Ministry of Education of Guanabacoa, which used it for offices and classrooms.
However, the place was abandoned by that institution more than a year ago and since then it had been in a state of disrepair, which facilitated thefts, acts of vandalism, and intrusions.
The journalist clarified that the fire affected one or two classrooms of that old abandoned building and did not impact the areas where the church currently operates or where the priests reside.
He also recalled that there had previously been thefts at the temple after intruders gained access from that abandoned area.
Martínez Cádiz also pointed out that the Calasanz Fathers have been working for a while to reclaim those spaces, with the aim of stopping the deterioration and preventing ongoing security issues in that part of the complex.
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