September 12, 2008
HAVANA (AP) _ Cuba raised its official death toll from Hurricane Ike to
seven on Friday, announcing that three more people were killed after not
following government evacuation orders.
The island's death toll from Ike - which hit eastern Cuba on Sunday and
is now roaring toward Texas - was the highest for any storm in years,
exceeding 5 deaths during Hurricane Michelle in 2001.
The toll was also a relative surprise in an authoritarian state that
orders mass evacuations and uses police, soldiers and volunteer brigades
to ensure almost everyone complies.
A story published in the Communist Party newspaper Granma and signed by
"Civil Defense's National High Command," largely blamed the victims for
their own demise.
Friday's story described the death of a 55-year-old man who evacuated
but returned to his apartment along Havana's seaside Malecon boulevard
before authorities said it was safe. Part of his aging three-story
building collapsed, trapping him amid the rubble for hours before he died.
Carlos Velazquez, 53, from Puerto Padre in the eastern province of Las
Tunas, was a member of a brigade that helped coordinate evacuations, but
returned home before dangerous winds subsided, Granma reported. He was
asleep under his bed when a wall collapsed, crushing him.
The newspaper also reported that Antonio Mendoza, 55, left a neighbor's
house where he was waiting out the storm and drowned trying to cross to
a nearby creek in the eastern city of Santiago.
The government earlier blamed Ike for four deaths in eastern and central
Cuba. Granma also blamed those deaths on a failure to obey authorities.
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/cuba/sfl-cubadeathtoll0912,0,2342350.story
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