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FROM
CUBA
Wave
of evictions in Eastern Cuba
HAVANA, September 3 - The government is carrying
out a wave of evictions in eastern Holguín
province, a growing tourist destination.
Those evicted are typically relocated by the
authorities to Soviet-style apartment blocks.
Daisy Borrero, one victim of the evictions, suffered
a heart attack August 29 when she was thrown out
of her home, and is receiving treatment in the
coronary care unit at the V. I. Lenin provincial
hospital. Borrero was evicted because she lived
beyond her means with the help of her children,
who live in Miami.
The next day, Mirta Ávila, 49, and her
family were evicted. Housing inspectors told the
family they would be transferred to a house providing
better conditions for Ávila, who suffers
from skin cancer in the face. However, when they
got them out of the house, authorities took them
to the Psychiatric hospital and threw their belongings
in a container.
At about the same time, Melva Reyes, who was
waiting to be evicted, hung a sheet in front of
her house on which she had written with lipstick:
Long live human rights, and Down with evictions.
A police patrol car that arrived called State
Security agents to tell them what had happened.
The officers brought an ambulance, in which they
took out Reyes' husband, who suffers from renal
insufficiency, and their 12-year-old granddaughter.
Reyes refused to leave, saying the authorities
were killing her family in order to later render
aid and look good with the neighbors. "I
want everybody to know, that in Cuba there are
abuses against older people such as myself,"
she yelled.
César Román, a local independent
labor activist, said that the wave of evictions,
along with the constant home searches and the
police operatives to stamp out supposed illegalities
are driving people to panic.
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