Sweeping away hopelessness in western Cuba

PINAR DEL RÍO, Cuba, Oct 12 (ACN) It was enough for José Luis Valdeolla Hernández, a Havana resident, to watch on TV the destruction caused by Hurricane Ian to decide to leave for this province, so he took his working tools and traveled on his own for more than a hundred kilometers, which is no easy task.

“What I saw struck a chord with me," said this employee of Communal Services, “so I came to help in any way I could.”

Now he is a familiar sight in the streets that he is helping to clean with his broom, dustpan and basket, oblivious to the fact that his own house in the capital city suffered some damage as a result of the strong winds. “Those worse hit come first,” he insists, “so I will be here as long as there is a leaf left to pick up from the ground. I’m Cuban, and first and foremost a revolutionary; I will go wherever I am needed.”

It was not his first gesture of this kind. He did the same thing in the eastern city of Santiago de Cuba in the aftermath of a powerful storm that battered that part of the country some years ago.

José Luis’s greatness outmatches his small height and moves those who for days on end have witnessed his devotion as his arms sweep away hopelessness and his solidarity takes on huge proportions in the midst of adversity.