Cuban authorities appealed to the governments of several countries for help in extinguishing a major fire in oil tanks on the outskirts of the industrial city of Matanzas. This was reported by the AFP agency on Sunday, August 7.
As specified in the office of the President of Cuba, the country turned to “friendly countries with experience in handling fuel” for help. President Miguel Diaz-Canel thanked Mexico, Venezuela, Russia, Nicaragua, Argentina and Chile for their “quick delivery of assistance”. The US has offered technical advice, writes AFP.
The largest fire in the history of the country
The fire in the northwest of the country began on Friday, August 5, after a lightning strike in a crude oil storage tank 100 kilometers from Havana. As a result, an explosion occurred, the flames first engulfed one tank, and on the morning of August 6 spread to a neighboring one, which also exploded.
The fire was the largest in the history of Cuba, notes AFP. The first tank contained about 26 million liters of crude oil, the second – 52 million liters of fuel. The fuel depot belonged to the largest Cuba thermal power plant.
By the evening of August 6, firefighters were unable to completely extinguish the flames. As a result of the accident, at least one person died, 121 people were injured, including Lebanese Energy Minister Arronte, and 17 firefighters are missing.
Cuba suffers from fuel shortages and power outages
The fire came amid fuel shortages in Cuba, whose population faces daily power outages due to intense summer heat. Power outages led to protests in the country.
According to Jorge Pinon, director of the Latin America and the Caribbean Energy and Environment Program at the University of Texas at Austin, there are a total of eight large tanks with a capacity of 300,000 barrels each in the fire area. “This area is a transfer point for various thermal power plants, and not just the one located nearby, so this (fire. – Ed.) could be very bad news for the country’s energy system,” Reuters quoted the expert as saying.
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Fidel Castro – The Life and Death of the Last Leader
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Fidel Castro – The Life and Death of the Last Leader
“Barbudos”
It was Castro who became the author of the myth about a handful of heroic “barbudos” who had no chance of winning, but outplayed the regular army and seized power. The first years of his reign were years of euphoria and mass repressions.
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Fidel Castro – The Life and Death of the Last Leader
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Fidel Castro – The Life and Death of the Last Leader
Telman Island
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Fidel Castro – The Life and Death of the Last Leader
Two heroes
Yuri Gagarin and Fidel Castro, two icons of socialism, exchange hats in Havana in 1961. This is both a symbol of the “honeymoon” in relations between Cuba and the USSR, and the perpetuation of these people in the status of national heroes.
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Fidel Castro – The Life and Death of the Last Leader
Pop star
German tourists traveling to Cuba still meet many people there who were trained in the GDR and greet them in good German. And Castro himself in the GDR was a real pop star.
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Fidel Castro – The Life and Death of the Last Leader
Speaker
Castro was a brilliant orator, his many hours of speeches fascinated. According to one legend, Fidel was included in the “Guinness Book of Records” for two achievements: he survived 638 unsuccessful assassination attempts and delivered the longest political speech in history, lasting 27 hours.
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Fidel Castro – The Life and Death of the Last Leader
Eternal Castro
In the nineties and by the beginning of the 2000s, it seemed that Fidel was and always will be. He survived the collapse of the Soviet Union and most of his political friends and opponents. Gerhard Schroeder retired in 2005. Fidel Castro – only in 2008.
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Fidel Castro – The Life and Death of the Last Leader
Two patriarchs
In 2015, one of Fidel’s last appearances in the media took place. Castro met with Pope Francis who was visiting Cuba. The agencies said the meeting was held in a “very cordial atmosphere.”
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Fidel Castro – The Life and Death of the Last Leader
Thanks Fidel
There are flowers near the fence of the Cuban embassy in Berlin. There are not too many of them – Castro is forgotten, disappointed, aged and many of his fans and supporters have died. Only the most persistent came.
Author: Dmitry Vachedin
