Cuban Official media: Domestic airliner goes down in Havana

Many deaths. Government had suspended other flights recently due to maintenance problems and old age of Cuban fleet.

Havana official media says about one hundred passengers died in the crash today of a domestic airliner going from Havana to Holguin.  Apparently there are some survivors. Speaking on behalf of the Center for as Free Cuba, Ambassador James Cason, a former US chief of mission released the following statement:

“We just learned the terrible news of the Cubana Airlines plane crash. Our prayers are with the victims and their families. Cuba continues to suffer. Food shortages remain, the increase of tourism has reduced the amount of foodstuffs available for the Cuban people because of the need to produce foodstuff and vegetables for the foreigners visiting the island; repression continues; Cuban troops remain deployed helping the Venezuelan regime in Caracas. Many promises made by General Raul Castro including one glass of milk daily for all Cubans were unfulfilled,  and the recent appointment of Miguel Diaz Canel as president promises more of the same. And now this. It is too early to tell the reasons for the crash, but the regime’s track record dealing with disasters is not reassuring, as hundreds of thousands of Cubans impacted by hurricanes throughout the years –and still waiting for government assistance to help rebuild their homes, attest."