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The Hotel Saratoga, a five-star 96-room hotel in Old Havana, was preparing to reopen after being closed for two years when an apparent gas leak ignited, blowing the outer walls into the busy, midmorning streets just a block from the country's Capitol building on Friday.
The Health Ministry said 84 people had been injured in Friday's explosion. The dead included four minors, a pregnant woman and a Spanish tourist, whose companion was seriously injured. Authorities said the cause of the explosion was still under investigation, but believed it to have been caused by a gas leak. A large crane hoisted a charred gas tanker out of the rubble Saturday.
Crews have worked to clean up streets around the hotel and by late Saturday, substantial pedestrian traffic had resumed. Tourism had started to revive somewhat early this year, but the war in Ukraine deflated a boom of Russian visitors, who accounted for almost a third of the tourists arriving in Cuba last year.
Lopez Obrador met Sunday with Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel, who awarded him the Order of Jose Marti "for his great achievements for humanity." It is the most important award the country gives to a foreigner.