Díaz-Canel visits Artemisa for the third time after Hurricane Rafael

President Miguel Díaz-Canel arrived in Artemisa on Wednesday for the third time since Hurricane Rafael hit eastern Cuba to check on the recovery efforts in the province, the most affected by the cyclone.

According to the X profile of the Presidency of Cuba, the head of State visited the Ciro Redondo General Teaching Hospital, which serves a population of more than 250,000 people and was seriously damaged by the hurricane’s winds.

At the hospital, Díaz-Canel, who is also the president of the National Defense Council (CDN, activated in response to the weather emergency), was told that several wards were damaged, but no patient or equipment were damaged. The hospital always maintained its vitality because the Ministry of Public Health began the recovery of windows and roofs, and several companies from the territory, workers and relatives of the patients joined in these tasks, the president learned.

Diaz-Canel considered that the restoration of this and other health centers in Artemisa would leave the local health system much stronger to provide its service, the source added.

Later, the CDN president visited the 7th constituency in Reparto Nuevo, in the city of Artemisa, where he learned about the sanitation work being done to erase the traces of the hurricane.

The delegate of that electoral district, Dinorah Acosta, explained to Diaz-Canel the tasks that they are doing to recover from the ravages of Rafael, which crossed Cuba as category 3 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson scale.

There, the president visited the home of Aida Calderín, an elderly woman assisted by Social Security, who lost part of the roof of her house and with the help of the community was able to have it restored.

“Always take care of the most vulnerable,” urged the president.

Díaz-Canel met with the members of the brigade that is working to restore all six high-tension towers that were knocked down by the winds on the Havana-Pinar highway, a task that will take about 18 days, they told him.