Work continues to extinguish the fire at the supertanker base in Matanzas.

Photo: Irene Pérez/Cubadebate

“There are moments that are very important in the life of peoples;

there are minutes that are extraordinary,

and a minute like that is this tragic and bitter minute

that we are living in today”

[1]

Fidel Castro

Once again the irrational chances of nature test the strength of our people, the integrity of a nation that does not give up its effort to build itself in the face of all severity.

There is no consciousness in the emergence of so-called natural phenomena.

There is not and cannot be any intentionality, much less cruelty.

There is only the action of natural forces, which sometimes make life emerge and multiply, but at other times acts against it.

As much as the knowledge of nature has grown vertiginously, knowing does not inevitably control (and I do not say this with discouragement, but with realism and responsibility).

Predictions far outweigh predictions, scientific analyzes far outweigh speculation.

But as we well know

, the improbable is not impossible

.

If, in addition, the aggressive action against nature, sustained by so many years of "civilization", is added, then the unknown equation takes more advantage of vulnerabilities.

Once again, the Cuban firefighters, lifeguards, members of the security forces, did not hesitate even for a mini fraction of time to give themselves body and soul to save lives and prevent the danger from spreading.

They did and do so,

driven by duty and ethics

, like that fateful May 17, 1890 when the Isasi fire,

with the courage and integrity

that accompanied those who arrived at the dock where, the usual terrorists , blew up the La Coubre steamship,

with the values

​​that also built the immediate response of young students in 1964 when the fire at 12th and Malecón and more recently in the tragic and unfortunate accident at the Hotel Saratoga.

In all corners of the country, and beyond, people spontaneously come to offer whatever help they can to those who have been most impacted by the painful situation.

An act of human solidarity that emerges from spirituality, sensitivity, national unity, the shared sense of belonging to the homeland, to the nation.

Because Cuba lives, because she wants to live.

Because we want him to live.

Once again

Cuban men and women see their existence overshadowed by the deep pain of the loss

of relatives, loved ones who lie lifeless, some even without even knowing where because they are missing, people wounded in body and soul.

Traces that will be very difficult to completely erase, that will remain like sores thinly covered at the mercy of memory.

Pain is always pain, but when it comes from the hand of the unexpected, of the irrational, of what should not have happened, then it damages, lacerates.

This is a pain for which there is no medicine to cure, which has no unequivocal healing formula.

Of course, he needs and receives company, support, human warmth, understanding.

A helping hand, sister,

mercy

.

There is no effective consolation, but it is very comforting to have the right professional assistance

: doctors, nurses, fighters for health and well-being that are so necessary at such a difficult time.

(Thanks to my colleagues and psychologists who are there, where I would also like to be).

Once again we are subjected to

a test of strength, a test of resilience, a test of solidarity love

.

The strength of a country, of a nation, the strength of the human being, is measured above all in its ability to cope, to overcome, to get ahead.

That is why the sentence is axiomatic according to which

that strength lies not so much in not falling, as in always getting up and moving forward

.

Once again

a devastating blow hangs over our island

and falls with unusual force on the Athens of Cuba.

Slows down ongoing processes.

Dim hope.

Summons discouragement.

It imposes sadness.

After the storm, bad weather seems to come.

From Murphy's argued cynicism, it could be said that nothing is so bad that it can't get worse.

From the humanist vocation we can affirm that

nothing bad becomes so definitive where there are people, human beings, willing to build together the best designs of life

, of the founding ethics of the human, knowing that "in the world there is pain, but The world is not pain”, as the troubadour sings.

So,

once again the Cuban soul shines

with its own light

, embraces those who suffer irreparable losses, accompanies those who are impacted by the aggressive escalation, spreads confidence and security, projects its light forward, thinks and acts as a country.

Because when the moment “of counting, and of the united march” arrives, no one hesitates to “walk in a tight square, like silver in the roots of the Andes.”

[1] Words pronounced by Commander Fidel Castro Ruz, prime minister of the revolutionary government, at the funeral of the victims of the explosion of the ship "La Coubre", in the Colon cemetery, on March 5, 1960. http: //www.cuba.cu/gobierno/discursos/1960/esp/f050360e.html