By Juan Sanchez
HAVANA, February 28, 1997.- On February 10, two trains collided head-on: one of which was used for transportation in the sugar harvest, while the other was transporting hundreds of military recruits, in addition to civilian passengers. The total of deaths amounted to about twenty, along with many injured.
The next day another accident happened in the town of Limonar, Matanzas province, when, according to "Granma", 300 projectiles, of 122 mm. each, caught fire and shot off their supports in the transports. Official radio offered news about the train collision. Regarding the accident with the projectiles, two radio stations gave the news on February 12. But later it took it (the news) off the air. From what we could learn, the order to suppress was due to (the countryís) leadershipís concern for the effect that the news would have. News of two accidents caused by rampant irresponsibility. They took under account the accidents at Chernobyl and the collision of two ships in the Black Sea during the first years of perestroika, which were considered by many analysts and press sources, as a sign of the general crisis in which socialism had taken the Soviet Union.
Over several days following the train accident, the Cuban media barely informed about the condition of the victims, up until the day when Cuban television presented a lengthy interview of Fidel by the journalists during his visit to the area of the crash. After Fidel spoke, all of the information concerning the accident dissappeared from the media to make room--- on February 18, in other words, some six days after the fire and explosion of the rockets--- to some version of what happened at Limonar, which by then had turned into a spreading rumor.
The televised interview, of which there was no mention in the written press, as the delayed version which "Granma" gave of the accident with the projectiles, are two precious samples of the manipulation of the press in a country like Cuba. Once again this operation was based on the premise of "turning challenges into victories".
In Fidelís televised interview, which was never mentioned in the written press, he talked, only in passing, about the causes of the accident, and placed all the emphasis on the good attention given to the injured at the hospitals near the accident site and about the mobilization of the people to render assistance to them, only to conclude that the former was possible only thanks to the strives of the revolution in the field of public health and that the latter was due to the degree of preparation, which the population has, to confront the imperialist enemy should they dare invade Cuba.
The article in Granma, titled "The worth of a people ready to defend themselves- Preparation, discipline, bravery and solidarity- characterized the municipality of Limonar when faced by a tragic accident. The heroic attitude of the fighters from FAR and MININT (Revolutionary Armed Forces and the Interior Ministry) prevented further damages". The article didnít even bother to point out the causes of the accident. It points out, to be sure, the orderly and speed with which the population was transported to shelters, since, in the beginning, according to the newspaper, they thought it was an air attack. That a Liutenant Colonel of FAR lost his live and that three soldiers were injured, we only saw a glimmer of in a paragraph which emphasizes the bravery of soldiers and officers in the armed forces and MININT fighters in the struggle against the flames.
The projectiles didnít explode because they were missing the firing mechanism, but flew within a radius of twenty kilometers from the accident, which led to the need for a detailed search over the entire area to "pick up even the last lead fragments".
The news report points out to this incident as justification for the construction of tunnels and other plans for protection, (something) which irritates a population which lacks the materials to repair their homes, while tons of materials are geared for these projects.
According to the interview and the news article, they (were able to confirm) so many preventive measures, so many lessons were learned, so many virtues were proven, that it wouldnít surprise us if someone proposed to cause another accident so that we could again pick up so many benefits from it.