Even as storm Ian approaches, Cuba focuses on controversial referendum on gay marriage

Cuba, which held a high-stakes, island-wide referendum on gay marriage and other family rights on Sunday, downplayed preparations as Tropical Storm Ian approached, even as projections for the storm have it hitting the western side of the island as a Category 2 hurricane on Tuesday.

On its 5 p.m. advisory, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said Ian will intensify rapidly on Sunday and reach hurricane strength by late Monday when it will be approaching the island. The center forecasts that Ian is “expected to produce significant wind and storm surge impacts” in western Cuba.

Although the eye of the storm will likely pass to the west of Havana itself, the Cuban capital will be on the eastern, or “dirty” side of the storm and will likely experience hurricane-force winds and heavy rains. Havana is in a a low-lying coastal area and is at significant risk of flooding if hit by torrential rain or storm surges.

As of the latest advisory, the eye of Ian will cross Cuba over Pinar del Río, covering more of the island’s westernmost province than in previous projections.

On Sunday morning, Cuba’s Civil Defense authorities issued a hurricane warning advisory for the Isle of Youth and Pinar del Río and Artemisa provinces, but no government-led evacuations were announced. Havana, Mayabeque and Matanzas provinces are under a tropical storm warning.

At a government meeting on Saturday to discuss storm preparations, Cuban leader Miguel Díaz-Canel urged officials to take measures to prevent the loss of life.

The remnants of Hurricane Agatha left three dead in Cuba in June, and another 10 people died when powerful hurricane Irma battered the island in 2017. Cuban authorities blamed the deaths on the population’s failure to prepare for the storms.

“The effort made to preserve the lives of our people is hampered by lack of discipline,” Díaz-Canel said at Saturday’s meeting, according to Cuba’s Communist Party daily Granma. “These are times when we have to call for more social discipline, more responsibility.”

But on Sunday morning, most state media outlets were focusing on the ongoing referendum vote. Granma’s main homepage story portrayed a relaxed Díaz-Canel, wearing Nike sneakers and a Puma T-shirt, casting his vote. Raúl Castro, the 91-year old retired general who is still the island’s ultimate authority, also voted on Sunday morning wearing his military uniform.

Speaking to journalists afterward, Díaz-Canel said he did not expect the new family-law code to be approved unanimously.

“The expectation is not that it will be a unanimous vote, but I do believe that the majority of our people will vote for it,” said Díaz-Canel, acknowledging that “a criterion of patriarchy” persists “in some families.”

The referendum on a family code that would allow gay marriage and surrogacy pregnancies among other things is being held after strong opposition voiced by religious groups and activists reluctant to participate in what the government has also portrayed as a vote in support of socialism.

“I urge you to vote with your heart,” Díaz-Canel said during a meeting last week with LGBTQI activists and other supporters of the new family code. “A Yes vote is a Yes to unity, a Yes to the Revolution, to socialism, and it is to say Yes for Cuba!”

Cubans on social media have been sharing pictures of their ballots in favor and against the new law. Some denounced irregularities on the voting lists, such as the inclusion of dead people or those who have emigrated.

Throughout the day, Cuba’s National Electoral Council officials changed the size of the electoral roll, ranging from around 8.4 million voters to 8.8 million. The council’s secretary, María Esther Bacallao, said the difference was due to people being added or subtracted because they were voting in a place different from their permanent residence, were not included in the list or were deceased. She said the list was being updated, and all voter turnout numbers were unofficial.

As of 2 p.m., 54 percent of voters “in the updated list” or 4, 961 775 people had voted, a council official said, a figure that suggests abstention will be relatively high for Cuba, where the government usually presses citizens to vote.

Thousands of children were drawn to the process to serve as guardians of the ballot boxes in more than 23,000 precincts. Cuba does not have an electronic voting system, so paper ballots will be counted manually, and final results are not expected to be announced on Sunday. Most precincts were expected to be open until 6 p.m. but electoral officials said some could remain open for longer if the area had been affected by bad weather associated with Ian.