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The Provincial Health Department of Camagüey issued an official statement this Sunday to refute the claim made by independent journalist José Luis Tan Estrada, who reported the previous day that the main generator of the province's Pediatric Hospital had caught fire.
Far from clarifying the causes of the issue, the statement released on Facebook ended up confirming the substance of the complaint while dedicating several paragraphs to attacking the journalist.
The official text, published about 12 hours after the original complaint, denies that a fire occurred and states that it was an “unexpected incident”.
"What really happened was an unexpected contingency in one of our generators. The technicians from HEMER, who are responsible for these units in the province, identified a malfunction in a part of the coupling between the engine and the generator, caused by years of accumulated wear," the statement said.
Tan Estrada publicly responded by highlighting the contradiction: "What stands out the most is that, in their own statement, they end up confirming the substance of my complaint. They say that there was no fire, but rather an 'unexpected contingency' caused by the failure of a part of the generator due to wear accumulated over the years. In other words, they acknowledge that the generator malfunctioned and that the hospital had to deal with an emergency situation."
According to the original complaint by Tan Estrada, when the hospital workers inquired about when the broken equipment would be repaired, the response was that "there are no spare parts to repair the hospital's generator."
The journalist, exiled in Mexico since December 31, 2024, also questioned why the institution did not provide any explanation regarding the lack of preventive maintenance or who is responsible for the deficiencies.
"When a public institution dedicates more effort to attacking the messenger than to explaining the causes of the problem, it becomes clear what its priorities are. The people of Camagüey do not need discredit campaigns; they need safe hospitals, with functioning equipment and timely maintenance," he emphasized.
What stood out most in the statement was the use of the journalist's personal information as a tool for discredit. The official text refers to his academic history, his time at the University of Camagüey, and his involvement in the Young Communist Union and the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution, which is clearly interpreted as a tactic of intimidation.
Tan Estrada rejected the questioning of his connection to Camagüey: "I am a true-born Camagüeyano. It is precisely because I love my land deeply that I denounce the corruption, neglect, and everything that harms my people."
The journalist concluded his response with a warning: "My commitment remains the same: to expose what others try to hide. If every report leads to an official statement, it means journalism is fulfilling its role."
The incident occurs during a particularly critical week for the hospitals in Camagüey. On July 8, a fire in the generator at the Amalia Simoni Hospital forced the evacuation of newborns precisely to the Pediatric Hospital.
The next day, a severe storm caused a power outage at the Provincial Hospital and the Oncology Center.
All of this is happening during the worst electricity crisis in Cuba in decades: on July 6, the country experienced its seventh total disconnection from the National Electroenergetic System in just 18 months, and the electric deficit reached a historic maximum of 2,341 MW on July 9.
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