CAMAGÜEY, May 8 (Yoel Blanco García, CPIC / www.cubanet.org) - A
public demonstration by about 500 people and a woman threatening to set herself
on fire forestalled an eviction in Florida, Camagüey province.
The demonstration took shape when several police and officials of the
municipal Housing Authority tried to evict Edilda Rosa Pérez, 28, and her
5-year-old daughter from their home.
"Pérez, in an act of desperation, doused herself in alcohol,
embraced her daughter and threatened to set herself on fire if evicted. At the
same time, people crowded there criticized the officials. Therefore they decided
to retreat and not evict the woman," said one eyewitness.
A similar scenario unfolded April 26 when police and housing officials broke
into another home to evict Jorge Vegerano, 46, who is handicapped.
Vegerano resisted the eviction, and officials took out all his belongings,
including his medicines and those of his niece Greydis Chávez, 16.
As a result of the governments inability of solving the housing
shortage, many in Cuba opt for squatting in empty houses which local housing
authorities have reserved, usually for government officials.
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