The nightmare of hurricanes

Hurricanes have become my worst nightmare, since in 2008 I saw, for the first time in my life, the destruction that these natural phenomena can cause, after the passage of Hurricane Ike through the province of Holguín. Economic losses, thousands of homes destroyed, power lines totally destroyed, flooding, families living in pain because they lost everything.

I hoped not relive that ordeal, until the morning of Thursday 25 October, when Sandy began lashing the island as a Category 2 hurricane. Then I felt a lot of fear and pain at the thought that when we had managed to recover from the ravages of Ike, history repeated itself.

The fury of wind and rainfall from Sandy let painful images of Holguin flooded, houses floating in water, homes destroyed, power lines on the ground, thousands of hectares of crops almost lost, the sugar cane we worked so hard planting, lying down, filled with water and the sugar mills whistled fulfilment in the last harvest, without the protective covers of our irons are still active, thanks to the ingenuity of this noble people working hard to produce sugar. Sandy left us destruction and billions economic losses, but the will of our people is unwavering. We will turn our pain into effort and will work hard to recover, we will build, plant, produce. That's the way Cubans are.