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A 45 kg cylinder of LPG gas that was poorly secured in a residence on Delicia Street caused an explosion early Monday morning, which collapsed three houses and damaged another 16 in the municipality of Rodas, province of Cienfuegos.
The human toll is five injured: two minors treated at the "Paquito González Cueto" pediatric hospital and discharged, two adults with minor injuries, and a man identified as Juan de Dios who is in critical condition with burns covering 95% of his body.
The technical investigation determined that the origin was a leak from a valve and the connection of the hose, "which was activated by some fire or electricity source," according to the report released by the regime's spokesperson page "Las Cosas de Fernanda" on Facebook.
Local authorities responded with immediate medical assistance and designated the recreational center "La Playita" as a shelter for affected families. Cleanup crews were continuing to work among the rubble at the time of publication.
Beyond the immediate tragedy, the incident highlights an underlying issue: in the owner's home, five gas bottles, both large and small, were found without contracts with CUPET, amidst a severe supply crisis that has been affecting Cienfuegos for months.
"The gas, turned into a clandestine commodity, accumulates in homes without proper conditions, multiplying the risk of explosions that do not distinguish between the guilty and the innocent," warns the source.
This crisis has structural roots. In January 2025, the Cienfuegos Refinery experienced a breakdown that suspended the supply of LPG "until further notice," affecting more than 100,000 households in provinces such as Matanzas.
In May 2025, Cuba kept a gas ship anchored for nearly four months due to lack of payment, with available coverage for only between 17 and 20 days. By July of that year, the sale of LNG was suspended in almost all provinces after the inventory from the last received ship was exhausted.
The black market that emerged from this scarcity reached exorbitant prices: in September 2025, “balitas” were being traded in Cienfuegos between 30,000 and 50,000 pesos. In March 2026, it was reported that illegal networks were overloading gas cylinders to 80 pounds, compared to the 60 allowed, further increasing the risk of explosions in homes in Havana and Cienfuegos.
This is not the first accident of this kind. In October 2025, the explosion of a gas cylinder at the Brisas del Mar hotel in Caibarién, Villa Clara, resulted in three injuries.
The chronic shortage of LPG, a result of decades of mismanagement and economic collapse under the Cuban dictatorship, is driving citizens to store gas in a clandestine and unsafe manner.
"When gas hides within the walls, the spark that awakens it not only destroys homes: it destroys lives," concludes the report on the tragedy in Rodas.
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