Cuba's homeless mysteriously vanish prior to the papal visit

The homeless, mentally ill and poor returned to the streets just as mysteriously as they left, following the Pope's visit

The streets of eastern Holguin, Cuba are now flooded with homeless people, following Pope Francis's visit; the homeless went missing during the Pope's tour of the country.

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - Dozens of homeless now re-flood the streets of eastern Holguin, Cuba. Residents claimed that prior to the Pope's visit the homeless "disappeared as if by magic."
Reports released by independent journalist Yusnaby Perez revealed that a significant number of homeless beggars were "cleaned up" before the Pope's visit. Most had been removed from the streets by state police. However, evidence of where they were hidden during the Pope's time in the country remains unknown.
"It was strange to us that from one day to the next these poor people disappeared as if by magic," Enrique Dominguez, a local resident in the area, said. Resident opinion were divided when it came to the clean-up. Some saw the incident as "a shameful act of social cleansing." Others were dismayed by the "invasion of homeless people" following the Pope's departure.

Several storefronts were also ordered to be renovated by the Cuban government as well as other dilapidated buildings in Holguin to make the streets appear cleaner.
Cuban civil rights activists and pro-democracy groups are protesting the so called "social cleansing" performed in cities the Pope planned to visit before he arrived. The Cuban Commission for Human Rights and National Reconciliation released a statement September 18 expressing their "profound indignation before the operation of 'social cleansing'" that occurred in Holguin, Havana and Santiago de Cuba, all located at the easternmost part of the regional capital of the island. 

The organization revealed that homeless people, beggars and the mentally ill had been eradicated from the streets and no indications of where the government took them has surfaced.
Pope Francis often spends time with the poor in the nations he visits. In the United States, he went as far as declining an invitation to lunch with members of Congress so he could meet and eat with a group of poor and homeless people. However, during his visit in Cuba he met with the former dictator Fidel Castro in lieu of the homeless.

---

'Help Give every Student and Teacher FREE resources for a world-class Moral Catholic Education'

Copyright 2021 - Distributed by Catholic Online