Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel warned of the impact of the dangerous hurricane Melissa

Published at: 28/10/2025 07:58 PM

The President of Cuba, Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, urged the population to stay in safe areas and to strictly comply with protection provisions in the face of the imminent arrival of Hurricane Melissa, classified as category 5.

“This is the time when we must take advantage of taking the measures, because then the hurricane passes with its devastating effect and there is no time to do more,” he said on his social networks.

In addition, the Cuban head of state specified that the meteorological phenomenon will cross the national territory between the afternoon and the night of October 28, with departure scheduled for Wednesday the 29th in the afternoon.

Faced with this scenario, he insisted on the need to strictly comply with the guidelines issued by civil defense bodies and local authorities.

Díaz-Canel emphasized the magnitude of the event, noting that winds could exceed 260 kilometers per hour, with destructive capacity on unreinforced infrastructures. “We want to insist on the magnitude of the event, on the population's necessary understanding of the risk posed by the hurricane because of the magnitude it brings,” he said.

He also referred to a high number of people transferred to safe shelters, especially in areas prone to flooding, in addition to stressing that travel to private homes should not be made until the corresponding authorizations are issued.

“It is necessary that no one ventures to bathe in the flooded rivers, that no one returns from the evacuation sites to their homes, when the instructions for return have not yet been given,” he warned.

The eastern provinces of Granma, Santiago de Cuba and Guantánamo concentrate the greatest threat due to the cyclone's trajectory. In these areas, brigades specialized in electrical services, construction and telecommunications have been deployed, with the aim of ensuring an immediate response after the phenomenon has passed.

The Cuban president acknowledged that the damage will be significant, but he assures that the country has the necessary capacity to advance in the recovery.

“There will be a lot to work on. We know that there will be a lot of damage that this cyclone will cause, but we will have every capacity to recover in food production, in the recovery of homes that are destroyed or damaged, in the recovery of the economy and also in the recovery and vitality of the country's main productive and social processes,” he explained.

National agencies, in coordination with United Nations agencies, activated emergency protocols to mitigate the effects of the hurricane. Actions include securing resources, constant monitoring of the system and priority attention to the most exposed communities.

Mazo News Team