NUEVA GERONA, August 21 (Carlos Serpa Maceira, UPECI / www.cubanet.org) -
Electrical service to four post offices in the Isle of Youth, south of Havana,
was cut off yesterday for lack of payment. Since then, the offices in the
capital city of Nueva Gerona, and in Sierra de Caballo, Santa Fe, and La
Demajagua, have not been able to provide telegraphic services, which are the
only way many residents have to communicate with relatives and others who live
outside the small island off the Cuban coast.
"The present financial situation has brought about as a consequence
that, for lack of proper financing, it has been impossible to pay for electric
service. We had reached an agreement with the Electric Company for them not to
cut off service to the central post office, and the one in Santa Fe, due to the
importance of these places, but it didnt happen that way," said
municipal post office director Santiago Fernández Leiva during an
interview broadcast through Radio Caribe.
A local resident who didnt want his name used said: "The
interruption of telegraph service is causing hardship among the population
because they cant get news from relatives who live elsewhere in the
country. There are some who have sick relatives, or who need to wire money and
they can neither get news or send money."
Both the postal service and the electric company are ultimately owned by the
government. This was not the first time that electricity to the post offices has
been cut.
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