November 10, 2025
Written by Rosa Miriam Elizalde and published in Cuba Debate on Nov. 6, 2025, translated by Resumen-english.org, edited by Workers World staff.
An eloquent paradox. On October 29, two people died in New York, trapped in a basement by autumn rains; that same day, the worst hurricane in decades swept through eastern Cuba without a single fatality.
Military medic Lieutenant Daianis Ramírez Reyes during the rescue of a newborn baby in Granma province following hurricane Melissa. Credit: Cuba Debate: Taken from FaceBook page of Joshua Suarez
The difference speaks volumes. It can be explained by the organizational capacity of a country trained to face the annual hurricane season, which is becoming increasingly fierce under the impact of climate change. In the Caribbean, a region excessively punished by natural phenomena, 7 out of 10 people live near the coast and almost all of its major cities are less than 1 mile from the sea.
“The damn circumstance of water everywhere,” as the poet Virgilio Piñera referred to when evoking Cuba, became painfully true.
A week after Melissa receded, the material toll was devastating. The eastern part of the island, where the provinces of Santiago de Cuba, Guantánamo, Holguín, Granma and Las Tunas are located, has the densest river networks in the country — such as the Cauto and Toa river basins — in mountainous areas where dozens of smaller streams converge. In recent days they experienced historic flooding.
In just 24 hours, the reservoirs in that area received more than 100 million cubic meters of water. The Cauto River overflowed its banks and rose to the roofs of houses. More than 240 communities were cut off by flooding, landslides and telecommunications network outages.
With maximum sustained winds of around 120 miles per hour, thousands of houses lost their roofs and frames, while destroyed roads on the south coast of Santiago — including the Uvero bridge, which was swept away by the sea — left villages isolated for days.
Many agree that Melissa is the most devastating hurricane since Flora (1963), when 1,800 people died in torrential rains. Today, thanks to the national Civil Defense system, recognized by the United Nations as one of the most efficient in the world, Cuba has managed to reduce the death toll to zero.
In 48 hours, 700,000 people evacuated
In just 48 hours, more than 700,000 people were evacuated in an orderly manner.
Meanwhile, schools, workplaces and private homes were transformed into shelters. Emergency communications and prior drills made it possible to anticipate what challenges people would face.
Despite this efficiency, the catastrophe is visible. The United Nations Resident Coordinator for Cuba, Francisco Pichón, reported that around 2 million people are in great need of shelter, food, drinking water and medical care.
“Cuba needs broad international support,” Pinchon said, “but Cuba has been excluded from international financial institutions due to the U.S. blockade and sanctions. This makes it extremely difficult to finance the disaster response.”
Pinchon’s words reflect that the Caribbean nation has not been hit by a single hurricane, but two — Melissa and the blockade — one natural and the other political and economic. Both hurricanes are devastating.
However, confronted with Washington’s intent to isolate Cuba, solidarity is on the move. Numerous countries and international organizations, as well as local governments, relatives inside and outside the island and the general public have mobilized to bring aid to the victims. In many neighborhoods in western and central Cuba, collection points for clothing, medicine and food are still active, and neighbors are sharing what little they have with their siblings in the east.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the Florida Straits, the discourse has been as predictable as it is cynical. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio initially posted a message about the devastation caused by Melissa in Jamaica, Haiti and the Dominican Republic. He did not mention Cuba. The next day, faced with evidence of the devastation and media pressure, the State Department announced a “declaration of humanitarian assistance for Cuba,” without specifying how it would be carried out.
It took several days to clarify that the State Department would channel aid only through the Cuban Catholic Church and Caritas, thereby denying any cooperation with the Cuban authorities under the toxic pretext of “extending a hand to the people, not the regime.” This belated aid, given with conditions, reminds Cubans that even the most basic gesture of humanity can be reversed by the blockade’s absurdity.
As Melissa was already moving away, a report on National Television showed several residents of Santiago de Cuba, who had been evacuated as a precaution, standing in front of the rubble of what used to be their homes. They consoled each other with the words, “We’re alive!” And on an island hit by one passing hurricane and a second permanent one, those two words are a tremendous victory.
