The Cuban Revolutionary Armed Forces Ministry (MINFAR) announced on Tuesday that 13 Cuban military personnel were missing after two explosions occurred at an ammunition depot in the eastern city of Melones, Holguín department.
According to the communist regime, the 13 missing military personnel include two majors, two non-commissioned officers and nine soldiers. The explosion occurred late Tuesday night in a building used by the communist regime to store “war materials.”
Originally MINFAR said It said on social media that the explosion was “caused by a fire” and that an investigation was “ongoing” but that the explosion “posed no danger” to the local community. A few hours later, Cuba's state propaganda station Cubadebate reported. reported It was announced that 361 people who lived near the explosion had been “protected,” a term used as a euphemism for evacuated.
Outlet specializing in Cuba reported That Kubadebate and other regime-affiliated news outlets initially claimed that the warehouse contained “old ammunition” and could continue to emit explosions, but that information was abruptly deleted soon after. archived Snapshots of currently deleted posts are still accessible. Local residents captured footage of the explosion's smoke cloud and posted it on social media.
The Castro regime has not released much information about the explosion at the ammunition depot, but it did report the disappearance of 13 officials about 12 hours after the explosion at MINFAR. statement List the names and ranks of the missing persons.
“Their families have been officially informed, and the party, government and revolutionary army are paying the utmost attention to this situation and continuing to investigate on the ground,” the statement said.
Cuba's figurehead “President” Miguel Diaz-Canel addressed the explosion in public on Wednesday, saying he “deplored” the fire at the ammunition depot.
“We stand in solidarity with the families of the 13 missing persons and stand with them. The utmost attention is being paid to what happened there and the cause is being investigated,” his message read. was written.
cibel cuba reported On Wednesday, Cubans took to social media to denounce the nine missing soldiers, who are believed to be young men serving in Cuba's compulsory military service.
The Castro regime has not released much information about the incident, but the news agency Cubanet said: reported Local doctors announced on Tuesday that they had called on the community to set up blood donation groups to help those injured in the explosion “given the scale of the incident”. Another unidentified doctor reportedly claimed the situation was “critical” and called for volunteers and donors to be found at each clinic to collect blood.
This week's explosion was preceded by another nearby ammunition depot in Holguín that exploded in July. 2020. At that time, a similar fire caused an explosion, spread Flying objects caused damage to neighboring houses, evacuation More than 1,200 local residents participated.
Christian K. Caruso is a Venezuelan writer who chronicles life under socialism. You can follow him on Twitter here.
