Dalhi and the heroes: a love story

If taken into consideration the title and the way they look at each other in the photo, many may have thought they were a couple. Well, no, he is a boy serving his active Military Service at the Matanzas Firefighters Command No.1 and was one of the first to step into the Super Tanker Oil Depot Base in the face of the biggest accident this island has ever experienced.

We talked for a while. He confessed that in a few months he will start studying History at the University, but he was not sure what to do, because what he experienced that night fueled his vocation to become a professional firefighter. My colleague Yirmara Torres interviewed him in the industrial zone, shortly before the fateful explosion from which the boy managed to escape and was happy to see him again. So this was an informal talk and he took the opportunity to tell us about her, about this young woman who works in front of the Fire Station, at the Plaza la Vigía cafeteria. She became their guardian angel, while firefighters were the guardian angel of the entire city.

Her name is Dalhi Aliette Pérez Abrahante. He introduced her to us and challenged her to put aside her shyness and tell us about her experience: “I felt very moved by everything that happened, and I was there for them since day one and gave them the support they all deserved. It has been wonderful for me to be able to help them and see their faces and how they show gratitude to me, when we are the ones who must be grateful to them. It's very exciting, it makes me feel good to be able to help them, look them in the eye and be able to say thank you...

“I did not know many. I knew a few who come here and drink coffee, and the husband of one of my co-workers. I am getting to know them little by little. I have engaged well with them and I have felt good. I have no words to tell them how great their work has been.”

When the boys from Command No.1 say that she has taken good care of them, Dalhi assures that a lot of people have contributed through her:

“We had the collaboration of my colleagues and we brought them soft drinks, French fries from work. A girl from Versailles, Gretel, also offered some soft drinks and I bought others from my own effort. It does not matter if you have to pay from your own pocket in these difficult times. It does not really matter at all. I had people who helped me with transportation. I also had the collaboration of a bakery that made bread for me, my mom made me ham spread...”

She was also responsible for the photo of the intimate tribute that they themselves paid to Eliecer Correa, the young officer that his colleagues managed to rescue from the fire and who fought for his life like the brave man that he was: "When I arrived at the Photo Service, they charged me nothing. I have found solidarity everywhere I go.”

“I have been there, next to each one of them, giving them a hug that you feel fills your soul, and there is nothing like that,” then, even if it is not the love story you imagined, I dare to suggest you to stay with someone who looks at you the way they look at each other. 

Translated by Sergio A. Paneque Díaz / CubaSí Translation Staff